Planing Boards to Identical Thicknesses

Figure 21-12. To tell if one board has been planed down to approximately the same thickness as another, place the two boards side-by-side on a flat surface. Then simply feel the step between the edges of the boards with your hand.

When thicknessing, you often need to plane two or more boards to identical thicknesses. To do this, start by planing the thickest board. Plane it down to the thickness of the next thickest boards; then begin to plane both boards at the same depth-of-cut settings. Cut these two boards down to the thickness of the third thickest board; then plane all three. Continue in this manner until you are planing all of the boards. Never feed two or more boards side-by-side through the planer. The boards may interfere with each other as they pass through the machine, causing them to jam or kick back.

A simple way to tell if one board has been planed down to approximately the same thickness as another is to place both boards on a flat surface, side-by-side. With your hand, feel the step from the edge of one board to the next (Figure 21-12). If the step seems higher than 1/64", continue planing the thicker board. If it's smaller than 1/64"--or there is no step-- you can begin planing both boards at the same depth-of-cut settings.

Finish up by planing all of the boards at the same depth-of-cut setting at least once. This will insure that all boards are cut to identical thicknesses.

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