What push blocks

[Jmac80]

Hello All

Looking to get some decent push blocks to use with my planer/thicknesser, the ones i have just slide on the wood, no grip at all.
What ones do you guys have? Make your own?
The grr-rip push block ones seem very popular over the pond but we don't seem to have them here?
http://www.microjig.com/products/grr-ri ... ndex.shtml

Cheers

 

[Ed Bray]

You can get them here, I've got a couple of the Grr-ripper Advanced, make life very safe for both the tablesaw and planer, try toolovation.co.uk

Good to deal with, I have had a couple of Collins Coping Foot's from them and a Oneida Antistatic Dust Deputy too.

 

[Jmac80]

Nice one, will check hem out. cheers Ed

 

[-Matt-]

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-

 

[Myfordman]

You can make your own using sheets of table tennis bat rubber or even 60-80 grit sandpaper to get grip.

 

[Jacob]

Push blocks are basically a bad idea as you have to reach over the workpiece. This shortens your reach and leaves your arm exposed to the cutters when you are most out-stretched.
Push sticks much better. Just the basic design as below but copied in ply of mdf. Keep the plastic one for referenece.
Almost always use two. Have a few of them scattered about so you can always reach them.
They become second nature and actually improve your dexterity and control after a bit of practice. You find you can do things quite safely which would be impossibly dangerous by hand and impossible/risky with push blocks.

 

[JakeS]

Maybe I'm using my P/T all wrong, but how are your arms exposed to the cutters in particular at full reach? Where are you standing?

I find myself standing more or less in line with the cutter block and feeding stuff before or after the cutters with push blocks, I don't see how I'm exposed to the blades at all when the guard is properly in place! Obviously if I'm doing something [unnecessarily] unsafe I'd like to know about it!

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

If you notice those push blocks are almost always shown on American style 'leg of mutton' planer guards. Theses guards swing out of the way, exposing far too much cutter block, so these push blocks seem to be favoured, as they effectively become a guard, as they are passed over the cutters. European bridge guards should be used so that nothing is ever passed over the cutters, except the wood, so I do not see the use for these push blocks here. They would be awkward, in fact, since they have to be lifted over the bridge. I must say, I can't remember the last time I even needed some sort of push block/stick, on a planer. I never cut the wood so short it cannot be safely pushed with hands. Anything around 2feet and longer if perfectly safe to guide with hands only. Anything 1 foot or less should not be used on a surface planer as the chances of an end tipping into the cutters are too high. The instances a push device could be needed are vanishingly small, really and with a bit of forethought, timber is never cut too small in the first place. Anything too small for the planer is not hard work to hand plane. Beware of American internet info!

Mike.

 

[woodbrains]

Maybe I'm using my P/T all wrong, but how are your arms exposed to the cutters in particular at full reach? Where are you standing?

I find myself standing more or less in line with the cutter block and feeding stuff before or after the cutters with push blocks, I don't see how I'm exposed to the blades at all when the guard is properly in place! Obviously if I'm doing something [unnecessarily] unsafe I'd like to know about it!

Hello,

Why do you think you need push blocks? If the bridge guard is set to just above the timber thickness, and you push it from behind until there is enough through the other side, to pull it from the outfeed side, where do the push blocks come in? No hands come near the cutters, unless you know you are doing something silly. Are you scared of hand feeding? Why?

Mike.

 

[PAC1]

Maybe I'm using my P/T all wrong, but how are your arms exposed to the cutters in particular at full reach? Where are you standing?

I find myself standing more or less in line with the cutter block and feeding stuff before or after the cutters with push blocks, I don't see how I'm exposed to the blades at all when the guard is properly in place! Obviously if I'm doing something [unnecessarily] unsafe I'd like to know about it!

Hello,

Why do you think you need push blocks? If the bridge guard is set to just above the timber thickness, and you push it from behind until there is enough through the other side, to pull it from the outfeed side, where do the push blocks come in? No hands come near the cutters, unless you know you are doing something silly. Are you scared of hand feeding? Why?

Mike.

Mike I agree with all you have said save for pulling from the out feed table. The wood should always be pushed as you cannot maintain downward pressure whilst pulling.

 

[Jacob]

If you leave a gap between end of guard and fence just wide enough for the push stick (i.e. 1/2" or thereabouts) you can follow through with the right-hand push stick in one movement without having to change position and without getting your fingers anywhere near the cutters. The left-hand push stick has to jump the guard of course.

 

[DennisCA]

I do not have a euro style guard on my jointer and so I use a big and wide pushblock with a little bit sticking out on the end to catch the piece. I don't see how a swan style push stick would work here, the piece needs to be pressed down firmly against the table. If I had a euro style guard I'd just use my hands.

 

[Peter Sefton]

Roger Phebey first bought the Micro Jig products into the UK a few years ago when he owned Wood Workers Workshop. So we have inherited the largest range of the Grippers and spares in Europe. They are very good and we do use them in the school and I would recommend using them alongside traditional guards not instead of them.

Cheers Peter

 

[Sgian Dubh]

For the most part I'm with others on the push block question in that I generally don't use them if I can avoid it, but there are times when they can be helpful. These occasions usually occur if the wood is already smooth, and it's difficult to grip and push just with the palms of the hands because of the relative lack of friction. Perhaps the wood's been machined up at some point and needs machining again to a final dimension. An example here might be boards (destined for a panel glue-up) previously machined fairly close to final dimension, stickered, and left to settle for a week or two. A final machining to get the wood just so is required. Push blocks can be helpful in that situation, particularly on the outfeed table where the bulk of the downward pressure and forward momentum is required.

The other type of push block already mentioned is the hooked rear end design. This type is used if the piece being flattened is too short for working with the bridge guard in place, something perhaps only 350 - 400 mm long. I generally advise against this type of operation if possible, but it's a method of work approved by HSE, see page 3 in the link. Slainte.

 

[n0legs]

Trust me when I say this.
USE THE FREAKING GUARD AND GET SOME PUSH PADS, IT DON'T MATTER WHICH ONES JUST KEEP YOUR PINKIES AWAY FROM THE BLADES :lol:



Planer accident June 2013. All healed up now but could have really done without it :roll:
Seriously though take care, I think I was lucky.

 

[Jacob]

I do not have a euro style guard on my jointer and so I use a big and wide pushblock with a little bit sticking out on the end to catch the piece. I don't see how a swan style push stick would work here, the piece needs to be pressed down firmly against the table. If I had a euro style guard I'd just use my hands.

Practice practice!. They do work. The 'beak" allows you to press down and push forwards and/or inwards towards the fence. If necessary you can press down firmly in the middle of the workpiece with one (usually the left hander) whilst pushing with the other.
They are very versatile and you soon get to see them as essential and with better control than just your hands - not least because they effectively increase your reach.

 

[JakeS]

Why do you think you need push blocks? If the bridge guard is set to just above the timber thickness, and you push it from behind until there is enough through the other side, to pull it from the outfeed side, where do the push blocks come in? No hands come near the cutters, unless you know you are doing something silly. Are you scared of hand feeding? Why?

I use push blocks because even with the bridge guard in place, there's a gap to the sides of the timber when I'm planing something that isn't the full width of the cutter block/bed (which is most of the time). The thicker the stock, the taller and more hand-sized that gap is! On the off-chance that I slip and go down towards the side, a push-block means that there's at least the chance that the push-block goes under the bridge before my hand does. Realistically there's a relatively small chance that it'll ever happen, but I have the push blocks, so I use them.

I did try Jacob's approach of using sticks - I have some just like that for the table saw and bandsaw - but I find the blocks more easy to control the timber with on the P/T. But no, I don't find that my hands or the push blocks get anywhere near the blades, and I don't understand the claim elsewhere on the thread that you can't apply downward pressure while pulling on the outfeed.

 

[damo8604]

Trust me when I say this.
USE THE FREAKING GUARD AND GET SOME PUSH PADS, IT DON'T MATTER WHICH ONES JUST KEEP YOUR PINKIES AWAY FROM THE BLADES :lol:



Planer accident June 2013. All healed up now but could have really done without it :roll:
Seriously though take care, I think I was lucky.

Woah.... Nasty!

Did you remove your wedding band before or after the accident?

 

[n0legs]

Woah.... Nasty!

Did you remove your wedding band before or after the accident?

It had to be cut off after the accident due to concerns about my finger swelling.
Which it did. Then it was £50 to get the ring repaired, small price really all things considered.

 

[woodbrains]

Maybe I'm using my P/T all wrong, but how are your arms exposed to the cutters in particular at full reach? Where are you standing?

I find myself standing more or less in line with the cutter block and feeding stuff before or after the cutters with push blocks, I don't see how I'm exposed to the blades at all when the guard is properly in place! Obviously if I'm doing something [unnecessarily] unsafe I'd like to know about it!

Hello,

Why do you think you need push blocks? If the bridge guard is set to just above the timber thickness, and you push it from behind until there is enough through the other side, to pull it from the outfeed side, where do the push blocks come in? No hands come near the cutters, unless you know you are doing something silly. Are you scared of hand feeding? Why?

Mike.

Mike I agree with all you have said save for pulling from the out feed table. The wood should always be pushed as you cannot maintain downward pressure whilst pulling.

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. I have to have a wood machining safety certificate for my job. The last time I took the test, the examiner talked about push pads and although they are not outlawed in industry, they have little practical place there. Any timber big enough to be machined keeps the hands away from cutters. Anything too small or oddly shaped, will need special guarding/auto feeding, where the pads will be of no use either. Use them, but don't use them where you wouldn't be safe to use hands only, would be my advice.

Mike.