What push blocks

[Phil Pascoe]

:idea: I cut the back of my wedding ring and rounded the ends. I caught it badly one day and ripped it off, never to be seen again. I still have the finger though.

 

[ayuce]

Just for cuiosity, is there any simple cheap aftermarket power feed for planer ? Smtg like simple rubber roller on the outfeed table. Even the simplest thicknessers have power feed and anti kickback claws, but no planer ?

 

[PAC1]

Mike, I agree with you. I said nothing about pressing down on the infeed table. I said I prefer to push rather than pull the wood. For some reason I think you can maintain pressure better pushing than pulling. If you pull the wood there is a tendency to lift it even if ever so slightly and sub conciously.

 

[Jacob]

Mike, I agree with you. I said nothing about pressing down on the infeed table. I said I prefer to push rather than pull the wood. For some reason I think you can maintain pressure better pushing than pulling. If you pull the wood there is a tendency to lift it even if ever so slightly and sub conciously.

Push sticks - it's push all the way. Pulling is not good.

 

[Jacob]

Just for curiosity, is there any simple cheap aftermarket power feed for planer ? Smtg like simple rubber roller on the outfeed table. Even the simplest thicknessers have power feed and anti kickback claws, but no planer ?

I think power feeds don't work too well with a planer as sawn timber needs a lot of thought given as to how/where to push, push down, etc. Once you have one flat face or edge a power feed (thicknesser, spindle etc) comes into its own.

 

[Beau]

Hello,

The outfeed table is actually the reference side of the machine. Once the wood has passed the cutters, the flattened, or partially flattened wood needs to be in contact with the outfeed table for the rough side to be planed parallel to it. If the In feed side is pressed down, there is a likelyhood that a bow will cause the outfeed side to lift and the flat reference is lost. The action of pressing the wood down and moving it forward on the outfield table is no different to pressing and moving it forward on the infeed, so there is no issue with maintaining pressure, it is just Wobblies on the infeed.

If the OP feels safer with push pads, then fair enough.
Mike.

This

Also if you keep your knives sharp the cutting almost holds the wood down against the tables. It's when the blades get blunt that you start needing more downward pressure

 

[custard]

if you keep your knives sharp the cutting almost holds the wood down against the tables. It's when the blades get blunt that you start needing more downward pressure

+1

Because the change in performance of your planer happens quite slowly it isn't always easy to recognise when your knives need sharpening or changing. I link knife changes to emptying the dust extractor bags, which makes sense because the great majority of the waste comes from the planer/thicknesser.

If I'm using normal HSS disposable blades it normally works out at 600-1000 litres of waste per knife change (that's on a 17" four knife block), if I'm using carbide knives then that can be doubled or trebled...unless I've been planing Iroko or Rosewood when it can be halved! Most commercial workshops have a regular knife changing cycle that isn't too different. During a period of heavy use that might mean knife changes every couple of days. If a workshop was running the planer or thicknesser non stop they might not get through a working day without a knife change.

I suspect that's way, way more frequent than the changing/sharpening regime of many hobbyists. I was talking to one chap who bought a new machine three years ago and had never removed the knives! For a hobbyist he was a reasonably serious user as well, I worked it out that he was probably running his blades at least ten times as long as I ran mine, maybe twenty times!

No surprise there are accidents. Once knives get as blunt as that you have to really push hard to get the board over the planer tables, and gluing up edges straight from the planer would be just asking for a joint failure because the board would be bouncing along over the knives.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

"I link knife changes to emptying the dust extractor bags" You get used to this way of thinking. I always touched up the chain on my chainsaw every time it ran out of petrol.

 

[woodpig]

How about making a flat board say 150x250mm, with a nice shaped handle (perhaps a D shaped arch or a plate tote style) and gluing that grippy rubber stuff you can get for car dashboards to the underside?

-Matt-

Should work just as well as the bought ones but at one tenth of the cost. :wink:

 

[PAC1]

Jacob - I use push sticks on the saw all the time but on the planer I cannot see the advantage. I keep my hand at least 1 foot away from the blade with the guard properly fitted. I do not plane short lengths so I cannot understand why the loss of control outweighs any safety concern

You can use a power feeder for planer but I do not see how you can properly straighten the wood when using a power feeder as you have no ability to let the planer plane out the bow.

 

[Jacob]

Jacob - I use push sticks on the saw all the time but on the planer I cannot see the advantage. ....

You may not see it but if you get into the habit the advantage soon makes itself apparent.
I wouldn't use machines without them except for obvious exceptions such as when the workpiece is so big there is no chance of getting your fingers too close to the cutters. Even then the last push past the exposed cutters (or saw blades) is safer done with a right hand push stick - steadying it with the left hand stick.
They also increase your reach - you can reach over the cutters to flip a piece out of the way, or to touch the off switch, etc.
NB I see them as sacrificial - occasionally losing the end and reshaping/remaking. This is why plastic is no good.

 

[DiscoStu]

I've got a couple of plastic push sticks but I made one out of 18mm mdf and that works well.

I'd suggest that I use them when I think I need to. Not often on the planner though as generally the material is big and I don't need to get near the blades. I tend to find I move from pushing the work through to pulling the last foot or so through - but maybe this is all wrong?

 

[custard]

Jacob - I use push sticks on the saw all the time but on the planer I cannot see the advantage. I keep my hand at least 1 foot away from the blade with the guard properly fitted. I do not plane short lengths so I cannot understand why the loss of control outweighs any safety concern

You can use a power feeder for planer but I do not see how you can properly straighten the wood when using a power feeder as you have no ability to let the planer plane out the bow.

When I specced my machine I chose the option of having the power feed on a longer arm, allowing it to be used on the planer. I should have saved my money! Apart from occasional and largely theoretical benefits on edge planing it's pretty useless for exactly the reasons you say.

I don't agree however with your point about push sticks. To keep your hands at least a foot away from the cutter would mean the shortest length you could practically handle would be something over two foot long. Anything shorter would just sit on the cutter block as you couldn't pull it on the outfeed table, nor push it on the indeed table without being in breach of your sensible rule. So under these, and other circumstances, I follow the guidelines of the Health & Safety Executive and use a push stick,

http://www.hse.gov.uk/woodworking/planer.htm

 

[memzey]

These are the kinds of push sticks I favour using:



Always using two, one pushes the stock against the fence the other, keeps it flat to the table and directs it the through the saw/cutter. I see that the push block type seem to be quite fashionable nowadays but I can't for the life of me see how having your hands that close to a blade can be advisable in the name of safety. I also find that having a push stick in both hands obviates any urge to use fingers in split second situations which is often when accidents happen.

 

[PAC1]

HSE recommend push blocks not sticks. I use the method stated in the HSE leaflet
You can avoid planing wood shorter than 2ft by either cutting the piece longer. And then trim to size after planing or if say you are making 15" rails invariably they come in pairs so cut the wood long enough to make two rails. Anything really short hand plane and then use the thicknesser.
Custard -same here I fell for the line that you could use the power feeder to surface plane when I bought my power feeder five years later it has never happened.
Jacob I get all you say just I do not get it for planing. On the table saw and spindle I agree but on the planer I was taught the left hand jumps over the bridge as soon as there is enough wood for it to land on and the right hand never passes over the block whether surfacing or especially edging

 

[Jacob]

......
Jacob I get all you say just I do not get it for planing. On the table saw and spindle I agree but on the planer I was taught the left hand jumps over the bridge as soon as there is enough wood for it to land on and the right hand never passes over the block whether surfacing or especially edging

Exactly the same but with a push stick in each hand.

 

[PAC1]

Jacob, so if you were planing a 2.1m 115 x 75 door jamb you would use push sticks? If yes why is that better than using your hands? Same with say a 300mm x 25 panel?

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Jacob, so if you were planing a 2.1m 115 x 75 door jamb you would use push sticks? If yes why is that better than using your hands? Same with say a 300mm x 25 panel?

Me too! I've never managed to work out how Jacob routinely uses push sticks on a surface planer, something he's mentioned many times in the past, especially for larger and heavier stuff. I can just about see how they might occasionally have a use in edging smaller pieces, but for everything else, it's got me a bit stumped.

Ninety nine per cent of every thing I surface plane or edge I do with the standard hand over hand technique or motion demonstrated and taught to all trainees, learners and students of trade instruction, colleges, and just about any other learning environment I can think of - it's the same technique I was taught for using a surface planer. And in all the training I've given to furniture students on these machines over the years, there's never been pair of the bird's mouth style push sticks Jacob advocates anywhere near the machine, primarily because they're usually somewhere near machines where their more likely to find a use, e.g., bandsaw, rip saw, spindle moulder, etc. Slainte.

 

[Jacob]

Jacob, so if you were planing a 2.1m 115 x 75 door jamb you would use push sticks? If yes why is that better than using your hands? Same with say a 300mm x 25 panel?

Both. I'd use my hands but have a push stick in each of them to give longer reach when needed but mainly for the last bit where the cutters are exposed. You just get used to it. And you can be a bit lax about a top guard as your hands are never going anywhere near the cutters.
There's all sorts of little advantages e.g, your 2.1m piece - if you don't want it to drop off the end of the out-feed you can hold down the end after it's passed the cutters and walk round the machine to grab it near the middle.
With care you can also do some otherwise impossible things like planing very short but wide pieces - say a 6" square piece of board; some danger of kickback but no risk to fingers.
You have your two push sticks either in your hands or easily within reach, all the time.

if it's large and heavy and there is no risk of touching the cutters you don't need them so much - except for the last bit as it leaves the cutters exposed. But it's still good practice to try and shift it with push sticks.

 

[Jmac80]

Just ordered 2 x micro-jig grr-rip blocks from wood workers workshop.
The wife made me (and paid for one of them) after i showed her n0legs picture of his hand in this thread :lol: :lol: :twisted:

n0legs??? .... n0hands =D>

http://woodworkersworkshop.co.uk/epages ... cts/MJ_GB1