How to destroy a BRAND NEW set of planer blades
 

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/

Hehe, that story reminds me of when I ran some high quality
5 or 7 ply baltic birch through my jointer. My jointer knives
subsequently had several small grooves from the adhesive used in
the plywood... You never realize that adhesives are that hard... :-)

Tim Henrion

Joe Wilding wrote:
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.

Tim Henrion writes:

Hehe, that story reminds me of when I ran some high quality
5 or 7 ply baltic birch through my jointer. My jointer knives
subsequently had several small grooves from the adhesive used in
the plywood... You never realize that adhesives are that hard... :-)

They're hard, but not that hard. Many are much more abrasive than wood, so they
grind away really quickly. Don't know if that's the case with epoxy, but it is
with a bunch of the adhesives use with manufactured wood products (plywood,
OSB, MDF and such fun things).

Charlie Self
"A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never
learned to walk forward." Franklin D. Roosevelt, radio address, Oct. 26, 1939

Thanks for sharing your experience before I tried something
like that!!!
"Joe Wilding" wrote in message
...
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/

In article , Joe Wilding
wrote:

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.

Can you offset the blades so that the notches don't line up? If so,
then the other blades will remove the notches left by the other blades.

Kevin

Yeah, that works on jonters for small knicks.
Two problems he
1. The notches are 1/2 inch wide.
2. the dewalt knives are indexed with screws in holes and slota, so there is
virtually no lateral adjustablility in the knives.

Thanks for the advice though.

Joe


"Kevin Craig" wrote in message
...
In article , Joe Wilding
wrote:

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.

Can you offset the blades so that the notches don't line up? If so,
then the other blades will remove the notches left by the other blades.

Kevin

In article , Joe Wilding
wrote:

Yeah, that works on jonters for small knicks.
Two problems he
1. The notches are 1/2 inch wide.

Ahhhh... I was thinking it was simple glue line notches.


2. the dewalt knives are indexed with screws in holes and slota, so there is
virtually no lateral adjustablility in the knives.

Shame. Ya suppose they make more money selling blades that way? :-/


Thanks for the advice though.

As it turns out, it wasn't advice for you, but maybe a useful
suggestion for someone else who has a different setup.

Sorry about the knives, and good luck on the project!

Kevin