ronnie Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Is it possible to plain an end grain cutting board? without chipping it out. I have a Dewalt 735. It has an 3 blade cutter head.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 No.. Doing so is begging for trouble. Find someone with a drum sander to run it for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob493 Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 I've planed smaller end grain boards without much of an issue. SERIOUS burning though, pain in the but to sand off. These were 12" x 18" long, so not one of those massive ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jfitz Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 "Chipping out" would be a nice outcome. You risk having the board almost explode in the planer. It's viewed as a pretty dangerous operation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Don't try it ! Could damage the planer as well as destroy the cutting board. Drum sander or router sled and lots of rotary sanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefmagnus@grics.net Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 I tried it and dented my garage door before I came here. Took a couple to the local shop and had them demo a sander or two to me. Learned about and made a router sled and haven't used anything else since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pghmyn Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Router sled gets my vote here. Glue up your board as flat as possible to begin with, and you wont have to take off much to get it perfect. No need for the biggest baddest router with equally impressive bit if all you need to do is shave off 1/16" high spots that would take forever to sand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikem Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 I am not condoning this, or would ever recommend it, but I still found it interesting. There is a series of videos I saw awhile back where a woodworker was successfully flattening his end-grain cutting boards with a planer. That said, there was a considerable amount of prep work he did to the work pieces to make sure the planer didn't blow apart the work piece, including gluing straight grain backer blocks to the cutting board.. I will try to find those videos this evening as I am not able to dig for them now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raefco Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 I made this one in three hours, it's not great but I had never noticed an end grain cutting board till I joined this site so I decided to make one, it has a couple issues but it was practice, I'm going to make one with a letter "R" in the center.https://fbcdn-photos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-0/10003523_797300733644437_8605522519667152947_n.jpg?oh=1b6a4e5e763cbc04ba82e40e2b31c07d&oe=54E36102&__gda__=1423909259_00efb6b5d373da1f2a04347fbf6db81c I knocked it down using a small plane and a belt sander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 I am not condoning this, or would ever recommend it, but I still found it interesting. There is a series of videos I saw awhile back where a woodworker was successfully flattening his end-grain cutting boards with a planer. That said, there was a considerable amount of prep work he did to the work pieces to make sure the planer didn't blow apart the work piece, including gluing straight grain backer blocks to the cutting board.. I will try to find those videos this evening as I am not able to dig for them now. Search MTMWood I think he has a business just making cutting boards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikem Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 I think that as him. His work speaks for itself. I should slightly modify what I said earlier, I do think his method is a valid option for him, but he has a lot more experience with those tools than most hobbyists. For everyone else, it is not a process I will recommend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Watching the MTM Wood. There at the last, he laminated the two light colored pieces to the board and then ran it thru the planer. Then ripped them away from the cutting board and ran it thru the drum sander. What was the purpose of the lighter strips? For cauls while he glued the padauk or as a sacrificial piece to absorb the potential snipe when going thru the planer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefmagnus@grics.net Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 To add stability and to prevent the ds from pulling the piece apart as it removed the high spots. After the high spots were gone he didn't need the extra strength. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Keeps the planer from blowing out the last end grain strip on entry and exit. Had nothing to do with the sander. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raefco Posted November 14, 2014 Report Share Posted November 14, 2014 I haven't watched the vid but I was considering gluing a couple long boards down the sides and running it throught the planer, only my line of thought was to give the planer consistency for the rollers too pull it through as well as keep it planted and eliminate the possabity of a violent chatter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodger. Posted November 14, 2014 Report Share Posted November 14, 2014 I usually make edge grain cutting boards - no worries with a planer there! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnie Posted November 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2014 Thanks for the input, and the advice it is much apreciated. I have made a small end grain cutting block before. It wasnt all that easy. trying to get all those pieces to stay in place as i was glueing them up. I got some maple and I am going try to get some black walnut and build an end grain cutting board. Its going to be fun,I cant wait. Id like to do some inlay work on it too. I think that it would set it off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnie Posted November 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2014 I made this one in three hours, it's not great but I had never noticed an end grain cutting board till I joined this site so I decided to make one, it has a couple issues but it was practice, I'm going to make one with a letter "R" in the center.https://fbcdn-photos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-0/10003523_797300733644437_8605522519667152947_n.jpg?oh=1b6a4e5e763cbc04ba82e40e2b31c07d&oe=54E36102&__gda__=1423909259_00efb6b5d373da1f2a04347fbf6db81cI knocked it down using a small plane and a belt sanderNice work.. looks pretty good. what kind of wood is that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4riskreward Posted November 14, 2014 Report Share Posted November 14, 2014 I have the same Dewalt plainer and have plained more than 12 endgrain boards. I also have a drum sander and prefer the plainer due to major burn marks leading to much more sanding. Here is my method process. First I smooth the boards using a hand plain and a Stanley #80 scraper working from the edges toward the center being careful not to plane off the adjacent edge as this will cause tear out. Once the board is reasonable flat i round over the edges on the router table. This is important to prevent tear out at the plainer. If the edges are not rounded over the edges will blow out. Next using new or newly sharpened knives in my plainer I make very light incremental passes. The process yields a very smooth board that requires very little sanding. If not done correctly and with very sharp knives the process will certainly lead to disaster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4riskreward Posted November 14, 2014 Report Share Posted November 14, 2014 Here's a project plan I wrote for some interesting end grain boards and I outline my method of plaining the boards.http://lumberjocks.com/dewoodwork/blog/2597 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefmagnus@grics.net Posted November 14, 2014 Report Share Posted November 14, 2014 Very nice blog article... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raefco Posted November 14, 2014 Report Share Posted November 14, 2014 Nice work.. looks pretty good. what kind of wood is that? Thanks It's white oak and walnut. It had a couple spot where its not as tight as it could be but after looking through the article above I feel like a caveman, all I did was run everything through the planer to the same thickness, cut 1-1/4 squares, throwing in a few random slivers and glue it together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnie Posted November 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2014 Here's a project plan I wrote for some interesting end grain boards and I outline my method of plaining the boards.http://lumberjocks.com/dewoodwork/blog/2597Thats skills right there..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 Yikes. I was about to respond with, of course, I've done it a bunch with no problems, very light passes, but evidently I've been getting lucky this entire time, or I've been slowly destroying my planer, or both. Nice thing about asking questions around here, it often helps many others asking the same question, or shining a light on something others may have been doing wrong/dangerously. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnie Posted November 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 I think i might try it one day when i get some new blades for my planner. I will just make sure that I put a backer board. Then again its still up in the air. I would hate to put all that work into a piece and then see it tear all out like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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