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G0550/G0551 15" Planer -27-
The species of wood, as well as condition, will
affect planing ability. The harder the wood, the
more difficult it will be to plane. Below, we have
included below, a list of wood characteristics you
may encounter when planing. The following
descriptions of defects will give you some possi-
ble answers to problems you may encounter
while planing different materials. Possible solu-
tions follow the descriptions.
Chipped Grain—Usually a result of cutting
against the grain, or planing wood with knots or
excessive amount of cross grain. Chipped grain
can also be caused by dull knives or misaligned
chipbreaker. Often, chipped grain can be avoided
by slowing down the feed rate and by taking shal-
low cuts. If those options do not work, inspect
your lumber and determine if its grain pattern is
causing the problem. If the wood does not show
substantial crossgrain, inspect your knives for
sharpness and inspect the chipbreaker for proper
alignment. See the Adjustment Section.
Fuzzy Grain—Usually caused by surfacing lum-
ber with too high of a moisture content.
Sometimes fuzzy grain is a characteristic of some
woods, such as basswood. Fuzzy grain can also
be caused by dull knives or an incorrect grinding
bevel. Check with a moisture meter. If moisture is
greater than 20%, sticker the wood and allow to
dry. Otherwise, inspect knife condition.
Glossy Surface—Usually caused by dull knives
taking shallow cuts at a slow feed speed. Surface
gloss will usually be accompanied by overheat-
ing. Often, lumber will be scorched and eventual-
ly damage to knives will occur. If knives are sharp
on inspection, increase feed speed or cutting
depth.
Snipe—Occurs when board ends have more
material removed than the rest of the board.
Usually caused when one or both of the bed
rollers are set too high. Can also be caused by
the chipbreaker or pressure bar being set too
high. However, small amount of snipe is
inevitable.
Snipe can be minimized by proper adjustment of
the planer components, but complete removal of
snipe is extremely unlikely. More likely, you will
be able to reduce it to a tolerance of .002". If
snipe under that level is a problem, consider plan-
ing lumber longer than your intended work length
and cut off the excess after planing is completed.
Uneven Knife Marks—Uneven knife marks can
occur when the chipbreaker is set too high.
Inspect cutterhead bearings if re-adjustment of
the chipbreaker fails to remedy the situation.
Chatter Marks—Usually caused by incorrect
chipbreaker and pressure bar setting heights.
Chatter marks can also be caused by running a
narrow wood piece through the planer at either
the right or left end of the cutterhead. Chatter, like
uneven knife marks, will show in the form of a
''washboard'' look. Chatter marks are more likely
to be inconsistent in appearance than uneven
knife marks.
Wavy Surface—Caused by poor knife height
adjustment, a wavy surface appears when one
knife is taking deeper cuts than the rest of the
knives. Remedy by resetting the knives to a toler-
ance within 0.003" of one another.
Pitch & Glue Build-up—Glue and resin build-up
on the rollers and cutterhead will cause overheat-
ing by decreasing cutting sharpness while
increasing drag in the feed mechanism. The
result can include scorched lumber as well as
uneven knife marks and chatter.
Chip Marks—Occur when chips are not properly
expelled from the cutterhead. The knives catch
the chips and drag them across the lumber being
planed. Chips tend to be random and non-uni-
form (as compared to chipped grain). Can be
caused by exhaust blockage or too much room
between the cutterhead and chip deflector. Using
a dust collection system in combination with the
planer can help reduce chip marks. Inspect the
chip deflector and readjust (as described earlier
in the text).
Planing Difficulties