Safe Working Practise For Planer/Thicknesser

[custard]

I was edge jointing some boards and had one where both long edges were slightly convex. I placed one side flush against the fence and lowered the board onto the knives. missing the front few inches and lifting before the final few inches, thereby jointing the centre section repeatedly until it was concave, I then ran the whole piece across in the usual fashion. A person in the workshop at the time commented that this was an unsafe working practise.

It didn't feel unsafe, the board was a manageable size and I wasn't taking a heavy cut, furthermore it's common practise to perform a similar operation on a router table or even a spindle moulder when you want a stopped cut.

What's the view of the forum, safe or unsafe?

 

[Chrispy]

Thats how I straighten timber too.

 

[marcros]

Same here. As long as it is suitably guarded I can't seethe problem. I use a separate planer rather than a PT but I imagine it is similar.

 

[Jelly]

So long as you never have a hand directly inline with or close behind the block, I can't see why it would be dangerous.

Even with the hand close behind, so long as you have good control of the board (and are aware of what's happening so you can minimize the risk of a kick-back drawing your hand in) it should be a safe operation.

Did you inquire as to what they felt was wrong, because it's puzzling me.

 

[Lons]

Did you inquire as to what they felt was wrong, because it's puzzling me.

ME TOO :?

That's how I do it and it's never crossed my mind it might be unsafe.

 

[Jacob]

Not sure why had to lower and lift it. I do the same thing on convex sides of edges or faces but just push it across keeping it level so it only cuts in the high centre. One way of doing this is to keep downwards pressure in the middle, like sitting in a boat without it tilting. After the first cut you have a straight section which you just keep extending with subsequent passes. No lowering or lifting.

 

[mailee]

I always use the same method too! Can't see any problem with it.

 

[Shrubby]

Put this one to bed :
WIS17
Matt

 

[Jacob]

Put this one to bed :
WIS17
Matt

Yep http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/wis17.pdf
I tend to use push sticks more than it shows here. Not trying to be virtuous or anything - at first was to safeguard fingers but after a while I found it increased dexterity - you can reach further behind or ahead, poke things close to the cutter safely, flip things away from the TS blade etc. Not plastic as supplied with machines - save that as a pattern and make two from ply instead. Plastic shatters and sends shards flying but wooden ones just get neatly trimmed. Nearly always use two, sort of Oscar Pistorius style. If necessary the ends can be shaped on the band saw e.g. to help hold thin sections down and in.

 

[custard]

So he was right then, technically at least it's not safe working practise,

"Stopped work should never be done on a hand­fed planing machine – eg only use the machine for jobs involving the full length of the workpiece."

 

[Jacob]

So he was right then, technically at least it's not safe working practise,

"Stopped work should never be done on a hand­fed planing machine – eg only use the machine for jobs involving the full length of the workpiece."

Well yes. As you drop it on you don't know that it won't be snatched. But what I do (see posts above) isn't dropping on, and does involve the whole length of the workpiece, though the whole length doesn't actually get planed (until the last pass). Not unlike the reverse situation where you pass the concave side over - it gets planed from ends and/or edges which finally meet somewhere near the middle.

 

[G S Haydon]

I think the key point here is that in effect this is "dropping on". This can be a dangerous process and if possible best avoided but if you need to do it (and lets face we sometimes need to) a backstop amoungst other considerations should be used to prevent a speedy ejection of timber. Like others have said though I don't think In this case I would of lifted it over. Jacobs steady boat is a good analogy.

 

[custard]

I understand you Jacob, and I've done the same thing myself, the problem is it's easy to end up with a wedge shaped board. Where as taking out the centre hump and replacing it with a shallow concave dish, means that the board then rides on the ends, which in turn means there's a better chance of avoiding the dreaded "wedgie"!

 

[Jacob]

I understand you Jacob, and I've done the same thing myself, the problem is it's easy to end up with a wedge shaped board. ....!

Practice, practice! It's easy to do it exactly how you want it, without dropping on. And quicker and safer.
The trick is to keep the weight central. Think boat - if it's going down by the bows move the weight astern a bit, on the next pass.

 

[Jacob]

Just been having a crack at 100mm square 3.3 metre redwood newel posts on a short planer bed 1300mm. These can be a bugger if they are bent, twisted etc unless you use the float-a-boat handling system see above and as follows:-
An evenly distorted piece if timber has one magic property - roughly the centre of the board is going to be parallel to the best face you can get out of it, whether this is on the concave or convex side.
If you try to straighten the concave side of a heavy timber the handling can be tricky on a short bed - keeping the far and near ends down and twisting at the same time.
But if you start in the middle of the convex side you are starting close to parallel with the finished surface and it's also easy to handle balanced near the centre. So no holding down or twisting required - you just float it over and extend the flat centre portion until it reaches the ends.
This works - I've just been doing it. A bit of finishing with a no7 might be needed, but not every time.

 

[longinthetooth]

Despite HSE advice the described practice isn't necessarily unsafe. You must relate it to (1) the length and weight of the timber and (2) the cut depth. For instance, a 600mm length of batten and a 3mm cut - unsafe - but a 2m length of bigger section and a 1mm cut - ok.

Safety in machining is partly about method, partly about experience (knowledge of what CAN happen) and partly about cultivating a sort of consciousness where you stay focussed on the first priority which is your hands. You keep your hands in the foreground of your attention. The survival of the wood is secondary.

 

[Jacob]

Actually I'm not advocating dropping on so it's OK by HSE in principle. More float past than drop on.

 

[longinthetooth]

Nicely put, if a bit over-delicate ...

 

[Jacob]

..
Safety in machining is partly about method, partly about experience (knowledge of what CAN happen) and partly about cultivating a sort of consciousness where you stay focussed on the first priority which is your hands. You keep your hands in the foreground of your attention. The survival of the wood is secondary.

Also nicely put!
You can condition yourself to a point where having your fingers anywhere near the cutters (or TS blade) feels unnatural and alarming, even when it's switched off.
And safety measures can be freeing rather than a burden - you can take risks with a push stick which you couldn't possibly attempt without e.g. flipping away little offcuts just before they jam down the side of the blade.

 

[jhwbigley]

http://youtu.be/eS41T2Bxfc4

An interesting technique at 2.58 in. . .

JH