In article ,
Alan Witt wrote:
I hope someone could teach me a few things about those portable electric
planers like the Dewalt DW680K 3-1/4" portable planer.

Are these only for use on stock that's the same width as the blades, or can
it be reliably used to plane down something as big as 12" stock? I need to
plane a 12"x18" 2/4 piece of stock to 3/8" thick and all of the wood stores
in town I've talked to won't do it unless I buy the wood from them and I
already have all the stock I need.

I don't have much money, so I figure I can put it to better use purchasing
a good quality portable planer as opposed to a very cheap 12" planer. Any
advice is appreciated. Thank you.


The handheld planers are not good for surfacing wider boards,
they are really designed for door edges and similar work. It is very
easy to make a mistake & go too far when you use them on wider
surfaces, and you will still need to use a handplane or sander to get
a finished surface.

Do you have a tablesaw and dado? Set the dado up for maximum width,
and make multiple passes in the middle of the board, leaving about 2
inches or so on each edge at the original thickness. (to support the
stock while using the dado.) Then you can install the regular blade,
turn the stock on edge, using a tall auxiliary fence attached
to your rip fence if necessary, and rip off the 2 inches on
each side. Finish with a handplane or sander.


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Larry Wasserman Baltimore, Maryland