# Is it a safety issue to plane lumber without Jointing? ANYTIME



## sandhill (Aug 28, 2007)

I am writing the safety documents for our wood working club and in the documents I have taken the quotes from the manuals.
"10. Do not feed material that is warped, contains knots or is embedded with foreign objects (nails, staples, etc.) Kickback can occur as well as damaging the cutters beyond repair. *ONLY JOINTED boards should be run on the planner.*"

I was told this was not so as a safety issue and a few members said they hardly ever use the jointer but they do attach the board to a rip jig to get a straight edge for glue up. I would never do this because it would not be the best joint fit and may not look all that great.

Aside from the merits of aesthetics can anyone say the statement in bold is safety issue?


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## MonteCristo (May 29, 2012)

I am not sure about the safety issue (seems unlikely to me that kickback would occur) but if the board being fed into the planer is not flat (flat enough anyway that the planer does not press it flat or cause it to wobble) on the table side you are basically wasting you time planing it. If it has nails etc in it, well that's an even bigger indiscretion. The latter will trash the knives but I doubt it will cause kickback.


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## whitewulf (May 11, 2010)

Can u say "thickness planer "


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## sandhill (Aug 28, 2007)

I think the issue is they do not want to joint the boards before planing.
But is it a safety issue or a work practice issue?


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## jmos (Nov 30, 2011)

I suppose if you had a board that was quite irregular on both sides and fed it through the planer its possible the feed rollers could loose contact with the board during planing and the blade could cause the board to kick back. Seems kind of unlikely though, but it only takes one lawsuit, or the fear of one, to have them add warnings to the manual.

It is definitely best practice to have one side flat before planing, otherwise your results will be unsatisfactory. This can be done with a sled instead of jointing a face to start with, where the sled provides the flat reference surface.

I'm kind of confused about your comment about the rip jig, as that would be for edge jointing, and the planer is for board faces.


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## sandhill (Aug 28, 2007)

That's what they are saying they just glue up right from the table saw. And plane both faces, not me though but to each their own I guess,


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## GregD (Oct 24, 2009)

On one occasion I needed to thickness some 2×4s down to about 1" thickness. I didn't plane them first and they had bend and twist. It was not a very good idea; they did not feed reliably on their own so that I needed to help them along. In a couple of spots I had to make sure they didn't rock while in the middle of the cut. So having done the experiment I observed that it *is* a safety issue if you feed a thickness planer a board that is not going to stay stable against the bottom table and feed smoothly through the planer.


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

I guess we're talking face-jointing here, right? I suppose that makes sense, although I'm guilty of not doing it. Either way, I only joint one face and I only have a 6 inch jointer. With only 6 inches, I often just feed through generally flat, larger stuff.


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

I'm having a hard time imagining trouble caused by a board that wasn't jointed, as I run it through the planer. huh. I've never been told that before.. I do it all the time… it's never caused me hassle.


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## MonteCristo (May 29, 2012)

If it`s already flat on the face that bears on the planer bed it is effectively jointed, otherwise it should be run over a jointer. Basically, a precondition to running a board thru a planer is that it is flat enough that the forces imparted on it by the planer do not cause it to flex or wobble otherwise you are wasting your time and wood. One should always check boards that have already been surfaced because wood moves and they may no longer be flat on that bottom face . . .


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## Howie (May 25, 2010)

I'm with Lis. I run boards thru the planer,cut them down to size and then run them thru my Incra to joint the edges. Never had a problem. Maybe it's because I'm very selective in picking boards? I have a jointer that has been gathering dust in the corner for 2 years.


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

+1 on MonteCristo reply. the safery issue arises when the non-jointed board has very irregular faces which can cause it to flex under the pressure of the rollers and cutterhead resulting in a kickback. probably not your average case, but for safery reasons you have to take worst-case scenario into consideration as to not have to judge safety on a case-to-case basis.


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## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

A board that goes into a planer shaped like a banana, will come out of the planer shaped like a banana. Just a little thinner. The only power tool that will make rough lumber straight and square is a jointer. 
I have not had many safety concerns with a planer, however I still want to build only with straight, square stock so I always use a jointer on two edges, then plane to thickness. 
The only safety issue I have heard of - if the thickness varies greatly from one end of the board to the other - it could overload the planer and cause it to fail catastrophically. Jointing first would minimize this.


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## sandhill (Aug 28, 2007)

The issue was safety not condition of the board. I think I got my answer . Its not a safety issue and I have removed the part saying they could not plane a board that was not jointed. If some of the club members choice to just plane there boards so be it, its not my project I however DO joint my boards face and edge and even hand plane if need be. Thanks so much everyone that answered it was a lot of help.


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## knotscott (Feb 27, 2009)

Sandhill has his answer, but I wanted to point out for anyone who uses a different method…..virtually every woodworking show I've watched on TV that use power tools all face joint rough sawn lumber on the jointer prior to it going through the planer to flatten a face. Norm, David Marks, The Woodsmith Shop, and Rough Cut Woodworking, etc. While I realize that other methods exist for various reasons, I'd assume they're using the best method for dimensioning lumber.


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## sandhill (Aug 28, 2007)

Well said Knotscott, I sincerely thank everyone for helping out with this and I think that is what the general consensus is.


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## BLarge (Aug 29, 2011)

woodworking is about square, accurate, precision with the intention of a perfect outcome…

why would you want to put a warped board in a planer just to a get a thinner warped board? Also, warped, cupped, kinked, cracked, or otherwise garbage stock is a waste of your time, and on most any machine hazerdous.

If you intend to do it, do it well. I live my woodworking life offering high respect to my machines… I feed them only the best, and only what they want!!!


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

sandhill: This is just a side point to your original question, but since you brought it up: If you have a flat board and a good blade on your table saw, edge jointing for a glue joint is really not necessary.


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## sandhill (Aug 28, 2007)

I'm sorry guys but the question was Safety not the practice. Gota read the whole question LOL


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## SCOTSMAN (Aug 1, 2008)

You really need to joint first then plane with curved boards. We in uk of course say plane first then thickness plane it.Alistair


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

Personally I wouldn't run a board through the planer without jointing one face first unless the bottom side of the board is flat. If it isn't you will be defeating the whole purpose of the planer, which is to plane the wood to a final and consistent thickness (unless of course you don't care about that for whatever reason).


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