Wood Planer, Important Basic Tool in the Woodworking

Wood planer is a machine that work to remove thin layers of wood from the surface of a work piece to create even thickness. The wood board come out from the kiln cannot be expected to be uniform in terms of thickness, then it needs to be flattened by planer before go to the next process. The planer is also used to flatten the laminated board made from wood pieces are glued together.

Even though many modern machines have been invented, planners are still an important tool in the woodworking industry. The small planer machine are used by carpenter or workshop to do the woodworking process in the small amount volume. The big planer machines are used in the big woodworking manufactures to process the big volume production. 

The types of wood planer

Wood planer is available in various types, each designed for specific tasks and specially design to fulfill different woodworking needs. 

• Hand planer

The most traditional type, operated manually by pushing the plane along the wood surface. The use of this tool in the woodworking industry is very rare. This tool is more widely used in carpentry workshops to touch up or repair wooden products, or in the finishing workshop to do physical distress to make antique finishing.  

• Electric hand planer

Electric hand planer is a planer machine that uses electric power to replace the man power. This tool has a rotary blade that rotates inside that work to shave the wood surface. The carpenter just needs to move this machine to the desired surface and the knife in the machine will shave the wood according to the movement of this machine. It is manual tool, the carpenter has high control to the flattening process but with less muscle power. 

This machine is widely used in the woodworking industry, from small wood workshops to big wood industries. In a small wood workshop, this tool is a mainstay for shaping and flattening wood and making components before sanding and assembling. In the large-scale wood industry, this machine is an auxiliary tool for doing jobs that the big planer machine cannot do.

electric hand planer

• Bench top planer

Bench top planer is also known as table planner or thickness planers. It is the stationary planer which is equipped with table as a place to put the word pieces on it. This machine is used to do planning for the big and wide board. This machine is available in many sizes to accommodate the needs of the wood industry.

Bench top planer

• Jointer planer

Jointer planer, is the machine that is used to flatten the edges or ends of boards. It consist a flat table and a rotating cutter head with blades that remove material from the edge of the board as it passes through.

jointer planer

• Wide belt sander

The wide belt sander may not work as planer, but it functions similarly in leveling the thickness of a wood board. The machine does not uses knife to scrape the surface, but uses an abrasive sanding belt. The aggressive and coarse abrasive can scrape the surface and produce a flat surface. With gradually sanding, the flat, even and smooth surface can be produced. 

Choosing the planer

Each type of wood planer has its advantages and is designed for different woodworking tasks, from rough measurements to fine finishing. As woodworker you can choose the planer type depends on production factors such: as project size, desired level of precision, available work space, and budget. 

Maintaining a wood planer machine is essential to ensure its longevity, accuracy, and safety. Here are some steps to follow for regular maintenance:

Maintenance the planer

Maintaining a wood planer machine is important things to ensure its longevity, accuracy, and safety. 

• Cleaning

Cleaning is simple process but very useful in the maintenance. Always clean the machine after being used.  Remove sawdust and wood chips from the machine. Use a brush or compressed air to clean the cutter head, feed rollers, and other parts.

• Periodic checking

Regular checks will find problems when they are small and can be easily treated before they become big and expensive. Check the moving parts such as the feed rollers, cutter head bearings, and any other components and lubricate them as user guide. Check the blade and replaced when it dulls. Dull blades can cause tear-out and leave rough surfaces. Check the belt and tension, adjust it according to the standard, replace the belt when it tear. Check the electricity if the machine use electric power and pneumatic if the machine use air pressured power. 

• Safety Checks

Basically, wood machine is dangerous, but it always equipped with safety tool to protest the user. Make sure all safety guards and shields are in place and functioning correctly. Don’t let the carelessness hurt people. 

By doing the good maintenance, you can keep your machine in optimal condition, longer lifespan for the machine, ensuring smooth operation and at the end will save production cost.