I have had a Dewalt planer for about 3 years now. I love the thing. About a
week ago I finally got around to changing the blades for the 1st time. Wow
what a difference that made. It is funny how something like tool sharpness
can slowly degrade over time and you don't really notce a difference until
you go to fix it then you ask your self why you didn't do it sooner. Next
time maybe I won't wait 3 years. (Table saw blade is next)

Anyway, back to my story. I am building a sofa table for my Brother for a
wedding present. The top is figured maple (12" x 48"), and I routed a
groove around the perimeter of the top, set in one inch. I filled this with
black epoxy for a high contrast inlay detail. After the epoxy cured, I sent
the top through my planer about 8 times with pretty light cuts to level it
and remove the very top layer that had a few bubbles. By the time I was
done, the planer had two grooves set into the knives where the the inlay
strip ran along both edges of the table top. So now when I run a full width
board through., it leaves two raised bumps about 0.020 thick. I am pretty
sure that I can remove them through a sharpening, but it sucks anyway. I
didn't guess that the epoxy would have been that hard and/or abrasive to
cause that kind of damage after just a few passes. Oh well, live and learn.
Next time I will sand instead of planing, or run it through during that
magical time window when the epoxy is mostly cured, but not full hard yet
(instead of letting it full cure over night.)

The table by the way is turning out awesome. I painted the leg asembly satin
black and the combination of the light Maple top, black legs, and black trim
on top is very impressive. (this is not really my typical style of
furniture, I ussualy don't go for paint. But, my brother is more into modern
design, so that is what led me here.) I'll post a few pictures on my webpage
after the wedding, so I don't give away the surprise.


--
Joe in Denver
my woodworking website:
http://www.the-wildings.com/shop/