How do you use a power hand planer?

[ryan.s]

What is the correct technique to using one of these? I picked up one of the GMC hand planers when it was on sale and ended turing flat surfaces to curved surfaces. I noticed the front and back bases weren't parallel so I sent it back and got a replacement. The replacement was the same as the first. I'm guessing they are all like this which leads me to believe that the good reviews on amazon for this item is from a bunch of people that don't know what they are talking about or the technique I'm using is wrong. I'm kinda leaning towards the latter.

I can't imagine it being that complicated. What I do is adjust the front base so that it is higher than the blade and back base. Run the planer over a board first using the front base as a guide then putting weight on the back base as it cuts. What am I doing wrong? How come my flat edged boards keep coming out curved after using this thing? Is it because the bases aren't parallel?

[SARGE..g-47]

Greetings Ryan...

I have a Bosch I seldom use (carpentry and sometimes on work-bench tops to whack large areas in lieu of a scrub plane before the jointers and smoothers get the call) but it functions as it should.

Assuming that you have checked the entire base for flat.. assuming that this model has adjustments as on a jointer to raise and lower the toe.. assuming that you are keeping constant pressure to the front of iron while a firm hold on the rear to steer as you do have a blade back there spinning at 22,000 rpm attacking wood graind...

I'm not sure where your problem lies? But you might give more detail on precisely what you mean by turning a flat surface to a curved surface. Exactly what is your decription of curved surface? And.... why are you planing an already "flat" surface to begin with?

Can't say that this will reveal what is going wrong with your technique.. but it will be a good first step in trouble-shooting!

Regards...

[Tequila]

Are they long troughs parallel to the way you're pushing the plane? If so either your blades are not flat, or they're mounted at an angle.

If they're short cuts perpendicular to the way you're pushing the plane, then you are probably gettting snipe from moving too fast or taking off too much material.

I think Sarge has it right - let's talk a little about your technique first. Are you planing only in one direction?

[gwyneth]

I've got two, the Bosch and the GMC. My first answer was going to be, "the same way you use a non-powered one."

It then occured to me that you might be trying to cut too deeply, and perhaps moving it too slowly. While the plane does the cutting work, you have to do the moving, just as with a non-powered plane, which I'm sure you realize but may feel alien with the heavy weight of the GMC.

Also, I'd check the dust bag to make sure it's empty. If your early scoops have partially filled it, it could possibly affect the cut.

[ryan.s]

Thanks for the responses guys. I'm only planing in one direction and set it so that it's only taking off less than 1/32 of an inch on each pass. Here is a crude drawing on what I was trying to say. The edge of the board is flat before planing, the little block on the big block is suppose to be the planer. After planing there is a curve on the edge of the board. If the drawing doesn't work I'll try to take pictures when I get a chance. I've been putting weight on the back base of the planer while making each pass. Should the weight be on the front? Thanks!

Gwyneth, were you able to check if the bases are parallel to each other on your GMC?

[SARGE..g-47]

Evening Ryan...

First.. are you moving the planer with half the base off the edge of the stock being planed as in the 1st illustration?

Second.. is the back of your plane actually slanted down as you show in that 3rd illustration? If so.. the rear should be at a level slightly lower than the front as the front acts as your reference. But.. but.. but... in no way should it be at a slant as in the illustration. It should be parallel to the front, just lower as the cutter-head has to be lower to take a bite.

These power planers act a slight bit different than a hand-plane. The pressure should be more to the front and the rear just gets constant but slight pressure to guide the spinning cutter-head. Basically just the opposite of a hand plane as more rear pressure is required to make the blade slice (yeah slice.. as it is hand powered and not motor backed) through the wood.

The problem I have with hand planers is this. They don't have the at least 48 inch talbe of a real jointer. And they don't have the long bed of even a good #7 or #8 hand jointer. These are 22" and 24" respectivley.

The hand "power" plane is around 12" on average which is between a #4 1/2" smoother at 10" and a #5 jack @ around 14". So... you don't get a reference to the stock fore and aft as a hand plane. The longer jointers are made to ride dips and valleys fore and aft with their lenght and take out any high spots till you basically get the stock flat. Then you go to a #4 or #4 1/2 "smoother" once flat to take the ridges out. Those shorter hand planes were not made to flatten stock in essence because of the short reference points on thier shorter base.

So.... you are asking a short power planer to flatten when it is really not a true design to flatten as it will ride in the dips and valleys. You're just taking stock off rapidly IMO.. not really reaching flat without some finesse on your part. In other words.. don't expect it to perform the task a real jointer or hand planes do. That's why there are so many lenghts of hand planes. As on the golf course... you ain't gonna make the green from 190 yards out with a shorter, higher angled "pitching wedge".

And if you are running half of that base off the outer edge with the rear sole at a tilt as it was in your illustration.. good luck as you are not going to be able to hold the other half flat with all that power doing it's best to take it's own direction.

As I stated IMO.. they're good for trimming doors to size quickly on a job site or hogging stock quickly as a scrub plane with less effort.. but a jointer.. planer or trusty, tuned hand plane it ain't! ha.. ha...

Regards...

[gwyneth]

The planer is on loan tonight but when I took a quick look last week they seemed to be.

Meanwhile, I got some info about setup for parallelism from the Australian woodworking forum, www.woodworkforums.com (which also has some mysterious references to attaching hand held planers, including a Dewalt, via a "planer attachment" to a Triton! Couldn't be a Triton router, but I can't imagine what it would be).

1. Unplug the planer. Set the depth adjustment to "0".
2. Use a steel ruler as a straight edge. Hold its edge against the rear sole plate of the planer, so it sticks out over the blade/drum assembly. Now by hand rotate the blade drum till one of the two blades is as close as possible to the ruler. The blade should JUST barely skim the ruler as it passes - no clearance but not lifting or biting at the ruler either. The clearance needs to be exactly the same at both sides of each blade. (that means four measurements/adjustments in total - left and right of first blade, left and right of second blade.) The instructions should show you how to loosen and adjust the blade.
When the blade is adjusted, rotate the blade drum till the blades are away from the drum. Hold the ruler in place again, this time noting the gap if any between the front shoe and the ruler. With the adjustment set to "0", there should be no gap, the two shoes should be precisely in line.

[ryan.s]

Thanks sarge you made some good points. The two bases are not parallel for sure. So either way there is a problem with the GMC. I guess you get what you pay for. I did expect to make the edge of board flat with a hand planer but after reading what you wrote it makes sense that the hand planer is not a good tool for this. I wasn't really planning to use it to joint boards but since it was a really good deal I thought I'd pick one up just to have in the event that I ever needed one. I think I'll stick with my jointer and return the item, don't think i'll get too much use out of it now that I think about it. Thanks for the insight.

[SARGE..g-47]

Morning Ryan...

You're quite welcome... The bases on my Bosch are parallel, but it still sits on the shelf in it's box for the most part for the reasons I mentioned. I have seen two guys in my journey that mounted one upside down on a cabinet similar to a router table and used it to edge joint. But you can do the same thing with the router itself by making a fence that has ajdustable quick take-off faces. You just take the fence face off the out-bound side and place a piece of 1/16" aluminum bar or plate between the sub-face and the main base of the fence. I did it for years...

If the planer is off as bad as your illustration, that's really bad. But you learned a valuable lesson about getting to know just how tools should work and "looking under the hood" of tools you consider before you write the check.

Sometimes getting something at a cheap price "will" relate too getting a "cheap" (poor design and poor machine tolerance) tool! And sometimes you get a bargain. Getting to know how tools should work is what distinquishes how to differentiate between getting a bargain or getting "the shaft". :>)

Regards...