Planer Chewing Up Chunks out of Wood


nimbus117

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I am a hobbyist woodworker, am pretty much new at this, and about 3 years ago, my father and I bought a Steel City 13" helical thickness planer.  We use it when I am in town and want to do woodworking projects lol (ie. probably just a few times a year).  It has always worked great, no issues.

Unfortunately it has just started acting up.  Initially, when passing a board through, it would chew up chunks out of the wood.  I thought it was just me, or just that piece of wood...and continued on.

A month later I got some yellow cedar and it did something I have never seen before.  I passed the board through the planer one way, and it TOTALLY chewed up the board (see attached picture).  I was like OMG what is going on?

I then passed the board through the planer in the opposite direction so that the grain was going the opposite way...and this fixed the chew marks up probably about 95%.  I unfortunately do not have a picture of the board once I passed it through this other way...so I only have the picture where it looks the worst.  But my issue is that the chunks are still being taken out of the wood when I pass it through...though definitely not in the quantity shown in the picture below.    

Two questions

1.  Why did passing the cedar through one direction cause it to be so badly mangled?  I never paid attention to the grain before...this is really the first time I have ever had this happen.

2.  When I do pass it through so the grain is facing the opposite direction, I am still getting those chunks that are getting taken out of the wood.  Why?  I wouldn't think the blades are dull yet...and I don't know if that is actually what the issue is.

Help!!!!

Planer.jpg

Planer2.jpg

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Planing against the grain with even slightly dull blades will cause this. The blades are actually pulling up the grain before cutting it. By turning around and cutting with the grain will stop most if not all of the problem. If the blades are dull it will just make this even more apparent!

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