Thickness Planers - How Thin??

[Travis Porter]

The sled with stops can help the stock from being flung out and will eliminate the problems caused by bed rollers, but there are a couple of other issues with planing thin stock that depend on the design of the planer.

The blades being close to or actually striking the bed is a non-issue.

Cutterhead and blade design and sharpness are factors. It is easier to plane thin stock with a segmented head like a Byrd Shelix.

Bed and feed roller design, pressure, and spacing can cause flex in a thin piece which is the problem. The stock can be pulled up causing unever planing or even buckle and get caught in the cutter with any number of negative results.

I think you will find that folks who do a lot of work with thin stock, like luthiers, only use a planer to get close, then switch to a drum or wide belt sander to achieve final thickness (or should that be 'final thinness'? :wsmile: )

A shelix head would do better than a straight blade head? I'm not disagreeing, I just find that surprising. So, my next question is why? I would have thought all those little teeth would make it more risky for tearing on thin stuff.