A trick for planing cutting boards

[FS7]

Something I stumbled onto by accident has helped eliminate snipe when planing. The easiest way, especially when using offcuts or scrap, is just to cut the snipe off, but when you're using edge grain I found it helps dramatically to space out a couple of longer pieces in the middle. If I want the final dimension to be 18" long, then I'll try to make most pieces 18" but if possible make whatever pieces are at roughly 1/3 and 2/3 of the board 24" or longer. I stumbled on to this because I had some scraps that were only about 26" long, so not long enough for two boards. The longer pieces are grabbed by the feed rollers first (and last) and help prevent the bounce that causes snipe.

Nothing ground-breaking, but it made my life significantly easier.

[bennybmn]

Great idea! Beats gluing a sacrificial board to the side.

[FS7]

Great idea! Beats gluing a sacrificial board to the side.

You also don't lose the width you would if using a sacrificial board (or boards) and there's no cleanup.

It works even better if you have included inexpensive lumber (like plain old hard maple) that's cheap and available in long lengths. This lets you use some of the more readily available lumber (maple) rather than the more expensive bloodwood, bubinga, or even walnut.

[GlenS]

I usually leave the 2 outer strips 3" longer.