How to Use a Planer
I'm back again with another tool tutorial. Today we are talking about the Ryobi 15 AMP, 12.5 inch Corded Thickness Planer.
How to Use a Planer | What Does a Planer Do?
First, let's talk about what a planer actually does. This tool is used to remove a certain amount of wood off the top of a project. This helps to make all the different pieces you're working with the same thickness. This tool can also help to smooth out a piece of wood or can remove something that is on the wood you're working with like paint or finish.
How to Use a Planer | Specifications
This particular planer is only going to work with a piece of wood up to 12.5 inches wide. I used this when I was working on a table and used multiple pieces of wood so I needed to run each piece through the planer individually. I found after doing a few boards individually that when I joined some of the boards together they were still narrow enough that they would fit through the planer. This was nice because it made sure both pieces were the same thickness. However, if you're working with a piece of wood wider than 12.5 inches, it's not going to fit through the planer. If you are needing a planer for larger pieces of wood, there are industrial machines you can find at wood shops and lumberyards large enough to work with much larger pieces of wood. Sometimes you can work with those places to run a project through their large machines.
How to Use a Planer | Working With the Planer
When you're working with your planer, you want to adjust the planer to how much thickness you want to remove at a time. I'm not going to go into too much detail on that because every planer is different. Consult your instruction manual and sometimes you may have to run a piece through multiple times in order to get the desired thickness you're looking for. A big thing you do need to be aware of when using a planer is it is very, very messy. If you work in a shop inside or if you're planning on doing a project inside a house, I would not recommend using a planer. I would definitely recommend using this outside and vacuuming everything up as you go because there is going to be sawdust everywhere.
For the waterfall play table I made for my daughter I consistently used my planer. I purchased the wood I was working with from a regular big box store, and I didn't trust that all these pieces were going to be the same thickness. I ran them all through the planer, some of which I joined together and was able to run them through in batches to make them a lot smoother. This reduced the amount of sanding I had to do later because instead of sanding down the ridges in between the boards, I was able to use the planer and make them all the same thickness.
The planer is definitely a more advanced tool for when you're doing lots of woodworking projects. This is not something you need if you're only doing run of the mill projects, but if you do want to step up your woodworking projects, I would highly recommend getting one or renting one. You can rent them from a lot of big box stores and in some places you can even rent them from your local library. You can shop my planer and others in different price points below.
How To Use a Planer | Shop
