Set up
Before planing
Fix the planer down
Both DEWALT and Makita bolt or screw it to a bench or stand; DEWALT also allows a base of 1/2 in plywood clamped to the bench, which must be flat and firm — see the workbench guide. DEWALT asks for two people to carry the DW735.
Leave room
Clear space at the outfeed so the board cannot bind on anything, and never stand between the outfeed and a wall or other fixed object while a board feeds (DEWALT).
Power and dust
DEWALT asks for a separate circuit for the DW735 and a dust collector rather than a shop vacuum on its 4 in port; Grizzly notes a planer can stop feeding when chips are not cleared.
Check the scale
Plane a scrap, measure it, and if the depth scale disagrees reset its pointer, as DEWALT describes.
Prepare the board
- One flat face first. A planer copies the face it rides on. DEWALT's manual says its planer works best on material run through a jointer to give one flat surface — see how to use a jointer.
- Within the minimums. Not shorter than 12 in, narrower than 3/4 in or thinner than 1/2 in on the DW735; not under 130 mm on the 2012NB; 6-3/4 in on Powermatic's 209.
- Clean wood. No nails, staples or loose knots; DEWALT says not to plane badly warped or knotted stock at all.
- Dry wood. Powermatic traces fuzzy grain to high moisture content; a moisture meter checks it, and the lumber guide covers drying.
Set the depth for the width
The deepest cut a planer allows shrinks as the board widens. Makita's table for the 2012NB: 3.0 mm on boards under 150 mm wide, 1.5 mm up to 240 mm, 1.0 mm up to 304 mm, and more passes if you need to remove more. DEWALT's DW735 takes 1/8 in only on boards 6 in wide or less, and its material removal gauge shows the cut: slide about 3 in of board under the middle of the carriage, lower the head until the gauge reads the cut you want, then pull the board out before switching on. Makita asks you to lower the head into the setting rather than raise it to the mark, to take up play in the screw.
Feed it
Each pass
Start clear
Switch on with nothing under the head or touching the rollers, and wait for full speed (DEWALT, Makita).
Choose the speed
On the two-speed DW735: speed 2 (96 cuts per inch) to remove stock, speed 1 (179) for the last pass and for hard or figured wood. Change speed only while running, and lock it before feeding.
Feed with the grain
Grizzly's manual words it as the grain pointing away from you on a planer, seen from the edge. Torn grain means too heavy a cut or the wrong direction (Powermatic).
Flip between passes
DEWALT turns the board over between passes and takes the same amount off each face — 1/16 in from each to remove 1/8 in — for a finer cut and even drying.
Narrow pieces together
DEWALT groups narrow pieces to plane as one wide board; Makita feeds them side by side with gaps, so the rollers grip the thinnest and nothing is thrown back.
Snipe
A dip at the ends has no single cause. DEWALT: an unsupported end drops and lifts the other into the knives — feed the board level and flat on the bed and catch it at the back. Powermatic: table rollers, support, uneven roller pressure, dull knives, and boards not butted end to end through the machine. Grizzly: downward pressure on the trailing end, or no support as it leaves. Makita's advice for a long or heavy board differs from DEWALT's: lift its end slightly at the start and end of the cut. Follow your own machine's manual. Powermatic's verdict: snipe 'cannot be eliminated but can be so minimized as to be negligible'.
Cupped, twisted and bowed boards
- Cupped: DEWALT rips it down the middle and planes the halves; otherwise, plane one face flat, then the other, without flipping between passes.
- Slightly twisted: plane both faces in turn. A twisted board can jam the machine, and DEWALT says not to plane severely warped or twisted wood at all.
- Bowed: the rollers press it flat and it springs back as it leaves. DEWALT: to remove a bow, use a jointer. Makita forbids badly bowed wood that cannot sit on the infeed table.
Can a planer stand in for a jointer? Not alone: every manual here expects one flat face before the planer. Woodworkers use a flat carrier board, a sled, to supply that face, but none of the planer manuals reviewed describes one, so no method is given here. The principle follows from DEWALT's explanation of bow: a sled helps only if the board is supported so the rollers cannot press it flat, and it does nothing for an edge. Machine differences are set out in jointer vs planer and a jointer-planer vs a planer.
Jams and chips
Safety— Never clear a jam with the power on
DEWALT: if twisted wood jams, turn the power off, disconnect it and raise the carriage to free the board. Remove chips only with the power off and the cutterhead stopped. Makita: stop the machine if a board stalls, and clear the chip chute only when the blades have stopped, with a stick, never fingers. Never reach into the cutterhead, rollers or chute while the planer runs.
Planing checklist
- One face already flat; board above the minimums
- Depth within the maker's limit for that width
- Head lowered into the setting; nothing under it at switch-on
- Grain read; speed chosen and locked
- Long boards supported in and out; ends left long
- Power off and unplugged before clearing anything
The machine itself is explained in the planer guide; handheld planers, which follow different rules, are in the electric hand planer guide.
Sources
Steps follow DEWALT's and Makita's manuals; another planer's limits differ and its manual governs. The makers disagree on holding a long board to avoid snipe — DEWALT says keep it level, Makita says lift the end slightly — and both are given. None of the manuals reviewed describes a planer sled, and the page does not give a method for one. Nothing was tested.
- 1.
Used for: Bench mounting or a 1/2 in plywood base; two people to carry; a separate circuit; clearance at the outfeed; the material removal gauge and depth by width; 1/8 in deepest on boards 6 in wide or less; never switching on with stock under the carriage; full speed first; speed 2 for removal at 96 cuts per inch and speed 1 at 179 for finishing and hard or figured wood, changed only while running and locked before feeding; flipping between passes and taking equal amounts from both faces; narrow pieces grouped; minimum 12 in long, 3/4 in wide and 1/2 in thick; snipe from an unsupported end, avoided by feeding level and catching the board; cupped stock ripped or planed one face at a time without flipping; slight twist planed alternately; bowed stock returning, removed only with a jointer; jams cleared with the power off and unplugged and the carriage raised; not standing in line or between the planer and a fixed object; the depth scale calibrated against a planed board.
- 2.
Used for: Depth by width — 3.0 mm under 150 mm, 1.5 mm to 240 mm, 1.0 mm to 304 mm — and two or more passes beyond it; lowering the head into the setting to take up play; narrow stock fed side by side with gaps so the rollers grip the thinnest; the push stick; full speed before the board touches the feed roller; a long or heavy board's end lifted slightly at the start and end of the cut to avoid snipe; nothing under 130 mm; the motor stopped if the board stalls; chips cleared only with the blades stopped, with a stick; no stopped cuts, recesses, tenons or moulds; no badly bowed wood.
- 3.
Operating Instructions and Parts Manual, 15-inch Planer, Models 15S and 15HH (M-0460286, edition 8). Powermatic, 2024.
Used for: Snipe from roller settings, unsupported long boards, uneven roller pressure, dull knives or boards not butted end to end, and 'cannot be eliminated but can be so minimized as to be negligible'; fuzzy grain from high moisture content; torn grain from a heavy cut or cutting against the grain; a rounded, glossy surface from too slow a feed or too shallow a cut.
- 4.
Operating Instructions and Parts Manual, 20-inch Planer, Models 209 and 209HH (M-0460283, edition 17). Powermatic, 2025.
Used for: A 6-3/4 in minimum length and 3/32 in full-width depth on a 20 in planer.
- 5.
Model G0633/G0634 Jointer/Planer Combination Machine owner's manual (revised February 2018). Grizzly Industrial, 2018.
Used for: Grain pointing away from the operator on a planer, seen from the edge; snipe from pressure on the trailing end or an unsupported board; a planer that stops when chips are not expelled, needing dust collection.
About this tutorial
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