"Puckdropper" puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote
Is there anything I should know before I get going too far? I've never
used a planer before, and while operation seems simple enough, I don't
want
to miss something important.

Plane only clean wood with not nails, brads, or screws in it. They can nick
the blades. Or so I'm told, I'd never do that, of course, but a guy that
lives on my street missed a nail once.