Thread: Planing Plywood Edges

The glue in plywood is very abrasive; as long as you use carbide blades it's not too bad, steel blades will die quickly though.

Most electric hand held planers have carbide blades and are not expensive to replace. Buy a spare set with the plane. Pity you have sanded first so give it a good brushing or blow over with compressed air to remove grit. Take light cuts.
Regards
John

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

The glue in plywood is very abrasive; as long as you use carbide blades it's not too bad, steel blades will die quickly though.

Terrific, thanks. Will pick one up tomorrow (comes with TCT blades, so should be good)

Originally Posted by orraloon

Most electric hand held planers have carbide blades and are not expensive to replace. Buy a spare set with the plane. Pity you have sanded first so give it a good brushing or blow over with compressed air to remove grit. Take light cuts.
Regards
John

Thank you! Yes that's the plan. Just have to figure out a way to ensure a level pass over the surface. I don't want a raised edge angling my cut.
Thanks also for the tip about the dust. I'll make sure to get as much off as I can first.

Use a strait edge and winding sticks to find the high spots and take them off first. This clip shows the process. It is using hand planes but the same rules apply.
how to plane a table top flat - Google Search
Handplanes would be best for the job but if you are not up to keeping them set up and sharp then electric can get it done. As I said take a very light cut as an electric plane can ruin a job like that fast if you go too hard. They also leave track marks so thats another reason to go light. In fact for a job like this think of it as a handplane. It will need sanding with lighter grits after you plane it flat to remove the track marks.
Regards
John

A planer will likely cause chip out if you try to use it to level the assembled box joints later as the joint segments perpendicular to that being planed will have unsupported edges. Use a sacrificial caul clamped into place to to support these segments to minimise chip out and plane through the caul as well. Not an issue when prepping surfaces, but can become one when cleaning up the finished assembly.

Originally Posted by malb

A planer will likely cause chip out if you try to use it to level the assembled box joints later as the joint segments perpendicular to that being planed will have unsupported edges. Use a sacrificial caul clamped into place to to support these segments to minimise chip out and plane through the caul as well. Not an issue when prepping surfaces, but can become one when cleaning up the finished assembly.

Thanks mate. I haven't yet assembled, but was toying with the idea of planing when assembled. Trouble is because I sanded aggressively on the first go, I've actually cut fairly deep into the top on one side, so I'll have to plane it all to the same thickness later before assembly. I guess that works in my favour.

Thanks for the tips.

thinking outside the square, if your only going to use it occasionally contact one of the local cabinet makers and see if they would run it through a wide belt sander

I'd use a router and a cradle to flatten your board. A cradle of that size is easy to make, all it needs a cradle with 2 sides with equal length and a flat board mounted on top. The router with a straight bit is sitting on the board and you move the cradle around your work piece to remove the high spots. Nice and easy.

Originally Posted by Tonyz

thinking outside the square, if your only going to use it occasionally contact one of the local cabinet makers and see if they would run it through a wide belt sander

Exactly what my Mrs said except then I can't buy new tools?
But yes, definitely an option in future. Those things are amazing machines

Originally Posted by justonething

I'd use a router and a cradle to flatten your board. A cradle of that size is easy to make, all it needs a cradle with 2 sides with equal length and a flat board mounted on top. The router with a straight bit is sitting on the board and you move the cradle around your work piece to remove the high spots. Nice and easy.

Ugh, never thought of that. I've seen enough videos of it being done, I didn't think about doing the same thing. Great option, thanks! (although I've already bought the planer, but maybe I can use this method in future too)

Originally Posted by aussieadam

Exactly what my Mrs said except then I can't buy new tools?
But yes, definitely an option in future. Those things are amazing machines



Ugh, never thought of that. I've seen enough videos of it being done, I didn't think about doing the same thing. Great option, thanks! (although I've already bought the planer, but maybe I can use this method in future too)

In my experience, it is quite difficult to get a truly flat surface using an electric planer, coz the shoe is generally quite short and not wide enough. you may want to move it from different orientations to even out the surface a bit more. On the other hand, the cradle gives a true reference point across the whole surface of your slab, provide you are doing it on a flat surface.

Originally Posted by justonething

In my experience, it is quite difficult to get a truly flat surface using an electric planer, coz the shoe is generally quite short and not wide enough. you may want to move it from different orientations to even out the surface a bit more. On the other hand, the cradle gives a true reference point across the whole surface of your slab, provide you are doing it on a flat surface.

Honestly, I've been thinking about this the whole afternoon. I still might build it. I've got a spare sheet of 18mm plywood sitting in the garage, I'd only need a quarter of it I reckon, it should take me a morning's work to do.
But the flip side is I really want to use the planer as well An aluminum straight edge will help me find the high spots fairly easily, though I'd have to make sure it's parralel to the workbench (could build simple supports with dados/grooves to slot the straight edge into, and run it on the workbench with the bottom edge being as close to the tabletop as possible.)