DeWalt Power Planer leaving streaks

[Blake Barnes]

I'm trying to plane a board and I don't have access to a super wide, industrial planer so I'm trying to use my 3" wide, DeWalt power planer to get out all the humps. But every time I plane across the whole thing it makes these little streaks from the edge of the blade. Is this normal? Should I just get a belt sander to smooth them out or is there a particular planing pattern that I need to follow to help prevent these streaks? See attached file. (the wood is white oak).

[Blake Barnes]

I'm trying to plane a board and I don't have access to a super wide, industrial planer so I'm trying to use my 3" wide, DeWalt power planer to get out all the humps. But every time I plane across the whole thing it makes these little streaks from the edge of the blade. Is this normal? Should I just get a belt sander to smooth them out or is there a particular planing pattern that I need to follow to help prevent these streaks? See attached file. (the wood is white oak).

[ChrisK]

White oak is traditionally a very hard wood to plane. Couple that with a tool that is meant to trim doors and the like and you are going to chop that oak up big time. You can try taking the smallest amount possible and using overlapping angles of attack but maybe go to Woodcraft and by a hand plane. The No 4-1/2 is a great finishe plane but Stanley makes a phenomenal low angle jack plane for about 140ish bucks tht will allow you to get a smooth finish. For rough stock go with a larger plane and use the 4-1/2 for finish or go with the low angle jack for it all. 

[kiwi_in_oz]

Use your router 

 

http://samuraicarpenter.com/woodworking-hacks-52-wide-planer-with-a-router-samurai-carpenter/

[Pouet]

Would it not be possible to build a sled like that but for the planer instead?

[khariV]

3 hours ago, Pouet said:

Would it not be possible to build a sled like that but for the planer instead?

In theory, yes you could.  The problem is going to be that routers are designed to go up and down / back and forth, are built to include an adjustable base and have bit depth setting capability.  There's just no easy way to do this with an electric hand planer as it only goes in one direction and has to have the front base plate at the correct depth.  You would essentially have to mount the planer from above on a jig that could set the depth and then run it across the wood. The depth setting component would itself probably be more expensive and complicated than buying a consumer grade planer.

 

I admit that I don't have tons of experience building these sorts of jigs and I image the mounting of the planer itself would be problematic unless there's empty space to screw into the body of the tool without hitting something important inside, but I am quite certain that it could be done.

[Pouet]

7 minutes ago, khariV said:

In theory, yes you could.  The problem is going to be that routers are designed to go up and down / back and forth, are built to include an adjustable base and have bit depth setting capability.  There's just no easy way to do this with an electric hand planer as it only goes in one direction and has to have the front base plate at the correct depth.  You would essentially have to mount the planer from above on a jig that could set the depth and then run it across the wood. The depth setting component would itself probably be more expensive and complicated than buying a consumer grade planer.

 

I admit that I don't have tons of experience building these sorts of jigs and I image the mounting of the planer itself would be problematic unless there's empty space to screw into the body of the tool without hitting something important inside, but I am quite certain that it could be done.

 

I know the guy from eureka zone use to do it. I always wanted to try it. Looks safer than a big jointer.

[khariV]

I love the Eureka Zone stuff.  I always wanted to get into their system.  Recently, however, I've come to the realization that I'm just not as much into tinkering as I was when I was younger.  I have so little time to enjoy my hobbies that hacking together a solution from a box full of parts just isn't the fun that it was back in my 20's when I'd swap out speed crystals on my video cards to squeeze a few extra MHz out the chips.  As I watched more and more of the EZ videos and read posts on their forums, I kind of got the impression that there's a lot of hacking that goes on to get the most out of the EZ system and I honestly just don't have the time anymore.

[Pouet]

46 minutes ago, khariV said:

I love the Eureka Zone stuff.  I always wanted to get into their system.  Recently, however, I've come to the realization that I'm just not as much into tinkering as I was when I was younger.  I have so little time to enjoy my hobbies that hacking together a solution from a box full of parts just isn't the fun that it was back in my 20's when I'd swap out speed crystals on my video cards to squeeze a few extra MHz out the chips.  As I watched more and more of the EZ videos and read posts on their forums, I kind of got the impression that there's a lot of hacking that goes on to get the most out of the EZ system and I honestly just don't have the time anymore.

Totally agreed but I like the idea. The jointer is one of the tool that scares me the most.

[HiltiWpg]

Looks like the blade is cock-eyed!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[rrich1]

Does the board rock when you are planing? The planer seems to be jumping a bit. Those small planers are not meant for that type of work and will ride up and down in the valleys causing issues. You need something with a longer base line a jointer plane.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[Kato]

Belt sander or random orbit sander. Make your passes with the planer to get you close, then sand it smooth. Small-width planes are for stuff like the sides of doors, and can't do wider boards without issues. Possibly change the depth of cut as you go, make it shallower so the "streaks" aren't as obvious, then sand it smooth

[ChrisK]

Wasn't this already posted?

[ChrisK]

Merged!

[Blake Barnes]

On 9/1/2017 at 6:04 AM, ChrisK said:

White oak is traditionally a very hard wood to plane. Couple that with a tool that is meant to trim doors and the like and you are going to chop that oak up big time. You can try taking the smallest amount possible and using overlapping angles of attack but maybe go to Woodcraft and by a hand plane. The No 4-1/2 is a great finishe plane but Stanley makes a phenomenal low angle jack plane for about 140ish bucks tht will allow you to get a smooth finish. For rough stock go with a larger plane and use the 4-1/2 for finish or go with the low angle jack for it all. 

Ok great thank you for the reply!

[Blake Barnes]

On 9/1/2017 at 7:26 AM, kiwi_in_oz said:

Use your router 

 

http://samuraicarpenter.com/woodworking-hacks-52-wide-planer-with-a-router-samurai-carpenter/

I'm going to try this since I already have a router. Thanks!

[Blake Barnes]

On 9/3/2017 at 5:53 PM, rrich1 said:

Does the board rock when you are planing? The planer seems to be jumping a bit. Those small planers are not meant for that type of work and will ride up and down in the valleys causing issues. You need something with a longer base line a jointer plane.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 

The planer doesn't jump and the board doesn't move. It seems to be a smooth throughout but it just leaves all this edges. I'm going to try the router. 

[Blake Barnes]

On 9/3/2017 at 7:18 PM, Kato said:

Belt sander or random orbit sander. Make your passes with the planer to get you close, then sand it smooth. Small-width planes are for stuff like the sides of doors, and can't do wider boards without issues. Possibly change the depth of cut as you go, make it shallower so the "streaks" aren't as obvious, then sand it smooth

I've tried the orbit sander. I think it's just tough to sand off the amount of depth the planer is leaving with its passes...even with a 40 grit.