End grain cutting board without thickness planer

[photobug]

I have made up the blanks for a cherry/maple cutting board.  After gluing up the blanks I used my ROS to flatten the glued up boards and remove glue lines in preparation for passing them through my Dewalt 734 thickness planer.  My concern is getting some kind of snipe and losing 2-3 inches off the board when passing them through the planer.  

Is it possible that I can skip the planer and just rely on a good ROS to surface the boards before the next cut to make the final glue up?

[Rob Young]

I have made up the blanks for a cherry/maple cutting board.  After gluing up the blanks I used my ROS to flatten the glued up boards and remove glue lines in preparation for passing them through my Dewalt 734 thickness planer.  My concern is getting some kind of snipe and losing 2-3 inches off the board when passing them through the planer.  

Is it possible that I can skip the planer and just rely on a good ROS to surface the boards before the next cut to make the final glue up?

Yes but you must be careful with the ROS to keep things flat so you get a good glueup later.

Alternatively, can you come up with some scrap to feed along with the blanks? Two ways, one is a pair of long strips that get glued along side the blank(s). Maybe 2" or 3" longer than the blanks at each end. Then these take up the snipe.

2nd way, just have some extra material that you can feed in front and behind the blank(s). Again, that takes up the snipe. They should be at least as long as the minimum length specified by the planer's instructions.

And should you have only one spare, you can feed it followed by the blank and then quickly bring it around to follow the blank.

[Scoony]

I found that I can flatten end grain cutting boards pretty fast with low angle bench planes. Got to keep the blade sharp and wax the sole of the plane.

Since I added a sheilx head to my Ridgid planer, I can flatten one side with the hand plane and run the other side through taking very very light cuts. Not sure that I would run an endgrain cutting board through with straight knives. I chamfer the trail edge with a hand plane before sending them through the planner. Again, the lightest of cuts with a shelix head seems to workout safely.

   

[EdL]

DeWalt 734 planer? no way in he11 would I run anything end grain thru it, that won't end well.

Thats a 2 knife head and feeds to fast, being a lunchbox planer there isn't much ridgidity when compared to a large cast iron planer.

Ed

[Bill Holt]

I've not done it with a 734, but have with the 735.
What I did the first time:
1. put a heavy chamfer on the edges
2. ran them through at an angle
3. took very, very light cuts
4. used round over bit to remove chip-out

The next time I made the boards over sized, trimmed to size after planning, and used round over bit to remove chip-out.
 

In the future I will use "photobug's" suggestion, gluing runners on the sides.

[Rob Young]

As I read his post, he is still running long grain through the planer. So nothing but the usual concerns there.


And yes, you can run end grain through a 2 knife planer. But hard on the equipment, but it works. Light passes, spritz with water (barely damp, no puddles!), sacrificial blocks to protect leading and trailing edges, don't stand in line of fire, it will work.

Remember kids, don't try this at home, try it at a friend's home.

And order new blades.

[joe1086]

I've run about 15 cutting boards through my Delta 13" lunchbox planer using the same precautions Rob mentioned (didn't dampen the surface though....will do that next time). Both the planer and I survived just fine. I glued the side runners 8 inches longer on each leading and trailing edge to eliminate snipe. Also made the runners slightly thicker than the board so I could creep up slowly on the depth.

That planer is loud under normal circumstances but doing the cutting boards it seemed 2 or 3 times as noisy...

[kdouglaslee]

I have made up the blanks for a cherry/maple cutting board.  After gluing up the blanks I used my ROS to flatten the glued up boards and remove glue lines in preparation for passing them through my Dewalt 734 thickness planer.  My concern is getting some kind of snipe and losing 2-3 inches off the board when passing them through the planer.  

Is it possible that I can skip the planer and just rely on a good ROS to surface the boards before the next cut to make the final glue up?

In my opinion a belt sander would be much better than an ROS (to be honest, over the years I've grown to dislike my ROS for most things).  If you use the 734, glue boards to the front end and back end so the snipe will be there, not on your hard work, then just cut off those additions when you're done.  Only use the lightest of passes, in fact you can make two passes before making each adjustment and you'll probably find you take off material on both passes.  But the suggestion I'd go with if you have the time and cash is investing in a low angle jack plane and grinding the blade to achieve the lowest angle you can, and even then skew your passes in a sort of side-slice motion.  Once you get the hang of it, you can flatten end-grain that way with less effort than a sander, and less worry than a power planer.  But you'll still have to sneak up on the right blade depth, and you'll want to practice on other wood first, it's not a difficult skill to learn but it's still something you have to take some time to learn before you get it right.  And keeping your blade sharp is a must.

Another thing, if you use the 734, you might consider putting it in diagonally.  Less chance of tearing out the grain that's parallel to the planer blades.  Unfortunately that makes it much harder to glue boards to the side in a way that helps with snipe.  

Just my two bits.

[kdouglaslee]

I found that I can flatten end grain cutting boards pretty fast with low angle bench planes. Got to keep the blade sharp and wax the sole of the plane.

Since I added a sheilx head to my Ridgid planer, I can flatten one side with the hand plane and run the other side through taking very very light cuts. Not sure that I would run an endgrain cutting board through with straight knives. I chamfer the trail edge with a hand plane before sending them through the planner. Again, the lightest of cuts with a shelix head seems to workout safely.

I don't know why but I've never thought about waxing the sole of my LAJ before doing this kind of work, thanks for the tip.

I'd love to add a shelix head to my planer, and my jointer.  Then again, I'd also like a 2020 Vette, and I can afford one about as much as the other!

[Terry W]

I've run about 15 cutting boards through my Delta 13" lunchbox planer using the same precautions Rob mentioned (didn't dampen the surface though....will do that next time). Both the planer and I survived just fine. I glued the side runners 8 inches longer on each leading and trailing edge to eliminate snipe. Also made the runners slightly thicker than the board so I could creep up slowly on the depth.

That planer is loud under normal circumstances but doing the cutting boards it seemed 2 or 3 times as noisy...

 Way back when I didn't know any better, I did the same. Maple & Purpleheart. They all survived.