Are electric hand planers too dangerous?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
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Thanks for taking a complex topic and making it plane
pun - - - - - nice
I see what you did there.
Smooth, but feels a bit flat.
You must be a Dad !!!😂
You have waited a long time to use that!
I moved to Thailand a few years ago with my Thai wife. Her brother is a woodworker and I've seen him flatten one side of several large teak slabs (about 36" x 96") using your technique. These are slabs that start out very warped as the slab is made by hand cutting from a tree trunk using an unguided chain saw. I'm amazed by how flat he gets these slabs. I'm fairly certain that if I tried doing that I would start with a 3" thick slab and end up with thin veneer.
I carry a cordless and have a corded in the shop . I’m in the field quite a bit more than the shop installing . These tools definitely deserve respect , they pack a mean bite as you stated - it’s not getting sewed back .
I love them for trim to rough framing. Great addition to a rig
Excellent tutorial.
Planing the top of a door, with the two end grain ends, was a horrible job before i had a electric plane/mill. They're a godsend.
For sure. When I was working for a contractor doing renovations on old houses, we used an electric plane all the time to tweak doors and cabinets for hanging. Pretty much nothing was quite plumb or square in those old buildings, so everything needed adjustment.
I appreciate your attention to detail when explaining the operation of the planer.
The end of the power cord is placed within view on the workbench reminding woodworkers of a simple but safe habit to practice.
Your videos are the best shop videos on TH-cam.
I love my power plane. As you said, you need to use your head to get the job done correctly, but for me, it is indispensable in certain situations. It's also great for straightening wall studs before dry wall is installed or rafters before roof sheeting is installed. And I am sure many other uses. Thanks.
Appreciate you clamping the plug end of the hand planer cord in the bench vice so your viewers can see it was not plugged in. @6:38 the board looked well weathered. I would have used a sanding block or sander to remove the surface crust of any sand, pebbles or other potential hazards to dull the blade. Thanks for sharing.
Good stuff, James. I especially liked the idea of taping the edge of one winding stick with a contrasting color.
I've never been able to use them, but now I will be able to. Such a simple fix. But that's why we all love your channel. In discussing one topic you just casually toss out a tip, changing everything for the better (except for our self esteem for never having thought of it ourselves...)
You're a gem, Bub! Thanks.
As a fairly new woodworker I find your content extremely helpful even with my 28 years as a carpenter. Good stuff
They’ve always been reasonably popular here in Australia - I used mine yesterday after glueing some 2x4 together that wasn’t exactly the same size to flatten one side to being level then running it through the thicknesses, works great for that purpose
My son used a planer to make surfboards in our garage during the 2020 lockdowns here in Canada. I picked up a used planer recently, and this will be very helpful to determine when and how to use it. Great video!
Good advice. I've always considered power planers as a tool for framers. They're great for taking out bow in studs and such. Never thought they belonged in a wood-shop until now. Thanks.
I was restoring the wood slats on three park benches and needed to remove a good amount of material. I got one of these power planers and took them down with one of these and then sanded with an orbital sander. It got me down to the fresh wood very quickly. After that I gave them two coats of penetrating epoxy made for boat restoration and then did five coats of marine varnish. They came out very nice.
They're an essential item in a surfboard shaper's toolkit, especially the old Skil planers. I've been able to transfer the skills I've learned shaping foam over to my woodworking pursuits.
Very handy for cabinet install. Fine tuning fillers or tapered fillers etc. Occasionally truing cabinet faceframes
Excellent video.
I'll stick with my hand planes and my thickness planner. I enjoy using hand planes and they are far safer than a power planner.
I've even started to use hand saws! Just for the joy of it. It's like getting free therapy. LOL!
I find the electric planer to be just as therapeutic as the hand plane but not as tiring. I've spent the last 3 days planing boards mostly using the Record no. 5 whicj can get very heavy after a while. switching to the electric plane for a while helps
@@mallencolly
Well then - I'll have to investigate electric planer therapy!
What brand of electric planer do you like best?
@@skippylippy547 I've only ever used Bosch. I have a PHO 1500. Whichever one you use just go slowly. Slower than you think you'll need
@@mallencolly
Thank you!
I'll give it a try.
I sure use my electric hand planer all the time. It's an excellent tool.
Yes, finally!
Since the first electric planer came into the workshop of my father, it has largely replaced the manual planes for things like these and also replaced many bike-trips to the local seller of wood that had an extensive workshop and would straigthnen boards and other wood for you (at a price). That includes wood that had been in the home-workshop for years. Making things much faster.
The other option was of course the round sander on a motor to straighten things out but would take lots more time. I think that has hardly worked anymore after the first handplaner came in. It is somewhere in a corner...
Actually, if you need to flatten things out, a simple (strong) rig wil be able to make most functions of expensive machines possible and making wood straight and to thickness.
And yes, Netherlands, EU here. Small shop, not much money...
With a good setup, you can also use them for making some (straight) profiles. But ofcourse you need to setup this carefully not to destroy either your wood or your hands.
I laughed at the beginning, I own that same electric planer, I’m a locksmith and I use it for exactly what you mentioned in the beginning, planing the bottom and hinge edges of doors.
I do wood working so I own a jointer and a planer. I’ll keep the Bosch for my door repairs.
Thanks for the video
You have great tips
Thank you, James. Your hand planer tutorial is much clearer than any instruction manual will ever be! I feel like I've owned one for years, even though I've never owned one, nor do I now. You are truly a master woodworker and instructor! I thank you again! 😀😀😀😀😀❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️👍👍👍
For a cupped or crowned edge, you can get the edge in flat nice and tight by clamping a straight guide board to the side of your project board so that the crowned sections are visible, then apply the planer to those sections until the edges are even to each other. I've done that to plane the edges even on harvested wood I rough-milled into shape.
Its a versatile tool when used correctly and safely for sure.
Ive used my electric hand planer to do exactly what you demonstrated for boards that are too wide for my jointer. Just whittle away at them, paying attention to get them close. Once good enough is reached, run them thru the planer/thicknesser, unplaned side first, then a quick flip a pass or 2 on the original side to bring them to thickness.
I don't use my electric planer very often, but I did just use it last weekend for a kitchen install. I was scribing in an end panel which was going flat to the wall and needed some clearance on the back edge where it would meet the rounded inside-corner of the wall. The electric planer set to 4mm made a lovely full-length chamfer in a single pass.
Appropriate and practical information for great safety. Everyone stay safe, happy and healthy.
use these frequently building houses, pretty much an essential tool imo. I also planed 3-4mm off the side of my index fingers, so now it fits into smaller spaces. very useful tool!
This video is one of the main reasons why I've been and will continue to be a subscriber :)
Great idea to plan and introduce enough cable and hose slack in advance as the cable getting pinched/snagged and braking (not breaking) the tool can spoil the finish. Great tools!
I have a stand alone jointer but it takes up to much room in my small shop, I am selling it to a guy this Friday and I happened on your video, I already own a hand planer but have rarely used it, thanks for the tips on how to flatten a board, this will make it a little less painful losing my jointer
I worked for a company that installed stairs, we laminated the handrail on site, they worked great for squaring the the lamination before shaping it with a router. I have never used them for building furniture or other fine woodworking.
UK here, my Bosch powered planer I have used for 35 years, replacing the cutters 3 times and the belt twice. It still cuts accurately and I do clean my tools after use. It has seen a lot of use over the years, and lots of plywood and composites.
Thank you Mr. Hamilton for a worthy video. Nevertheless, I think you could have added a couple of pieces of information. First, the electric plane is just filling in for the Stanley 40 1/2 in most of the indications you cited. That plane is easy to use and for me fun. If someone cannot find one it is easy to convert a Stanley 4 or 5 to do the job. The Stanley 40 1/2 is far quieter, less dusty and safer and as I said much more fun. Secondly, the 40 1/2 and this tool are perfect for preparing a board for a power joiner if you want to minimize the amount of wood you want to loose to that tool. A power joiner has its limitations and this tool and the 40 1/2 solve those problems. My choice is the 40 1/2. Perhaps a separate video? Thank you very much. Most Cordially, W. David McGuinn.
I bought 1 a couple of months because it was at the right price. It's been years since I used one so that was good timing buddy.
I am a door carpenter and occasionally have to shave doors thinner at the top or whatever. I purposely turn the knob as I go but don't try this at home. Also this tool can cause catastrophic damage in a half a blink. Another great video
I have a bunch of them, two 6” ones, a few of those 3” ones. I also have two Stanley’s from the 60s with spiral blades, stands and sharpeners. They will last a couple of lifetimes. They are good for plank edges with undulating grain as they don’t raise the grain. They are good for working on beams.
I have been using a powered hand plainer for years in the shop and in the field. An essential tool for custom installations of any kind In my opinion. You can spend a lot of time hogging down something You laid up if you want to with a hand plane but if you need to take some meat off, that's your tool. Poopoo it if you want to, but that tool has put dinner on my table.
Thanks, Stumpy! I learnt some more here from you. I'm still using the Makita planer amongst the many things I inherited from my late father over 40 years ago. I'm soon to work on some Oregon timber that was cut over 60 years ago, and will be using the power planer. You always provide very useful advice!
the best framing crew I've worked with used it to true up framing and to cut in nailplates, so their walls would be true.
Thanks for the great tips on power planers. I'm working on a project right now that needs one.
used them all the time for large scale work boat use when only rough cut wood was available. one of our very few power tools.
Good video. Treat all your tools with respect or they won't respect you, a phrase my old Dad taught me as a kid. Used a power planer for years, great tool.
Awesome video!! You should also point out that there is an enormous difference between the older really cheap power planers and the newer well made ones, especially the really cheap and very small ones.
These are great video's, well done. I used my only a few days ago - new wall going up against an existing wall lining. I was able to run up the door lining to get it flush with the wall, not even sure how I'd have otherwise done it. I do have cordless one, which needs even more respect I think.
Thanks for the good information and demonstration James. Helps a lot of folks for sure. Stay safe and keep up the great videos. Fred.
I bought one to do a particular job and wound up wondering how I lived without it. I use my mine all the time for the obvious edge work. I always make a practice pass on the lowest setting. Thanks for all the new (to me) information.
Love the look on your face when you were looking down the winding sticks.Might have been back in the day
I got an electric hand plane when I was installing new doors in my apartment. I never felt comfortable setting up a regulat hand plane's blade. I loved the fact that the electric plane's blade was locked in, straight and square and the depth was easily set.
I use mine for trimming long boards before putting them on a table saw if they are warped (or bowed or whatever it is). I snap a line on the board for a straight line, then I plane to it, put it on the jointer then the table saw. It is one of those things that I do not need very often.
This is a fitting episode for me. I bought the exact planer you are holding in the opening (Bosch) so I could shave down some window jams. Using a circular saw all day I moved to the windows and the planer and started to plane one of the jams above shoulder height. As I lowered the planer I lowered it into my opposite hand, the spinning blade hit my index finger spinning my arm in a circle and spraying blood in a circle around the room. The way it felt I thought my finger tip was gone. Luckily it must have been spinning slow enough that the blade hit my finger tip one time dead on slicing one cut just about to the bone. Lots of blood but in the end just three stitches to fix my finger. It is a very dangerous tool if you don't have 100% focus. I have had it for many years now with no more close calls, that accident keeps me focused.
Into, lol. You are the reason I got one of these :P
Iirc after seeing an earlier video you made on using them as an alternative to a jointer. But I’ve used it to quickly do small thickness adjustment to small and large builds.
Absolutely appreciate your efforts to help us use our equipment, most of which does not come with instruction.
THANKS!
I used it to shave the crowns from my joists while building my deck. I should use it more often in the shop.
Great video as always James great tips. Definitely going to give this a try next time I’ve got a board I need to flatten. Thanks for sharing
I've used my electric hand planer as a thickness planer. I actually am one of the few that have a jointer already without a thickness planer. I got a cheap one. So I joint the sides as usual. Then I mark the thickness I want along the edges and use the planer to get the thickness pretty close to uniform. I fish it off with a regular hand planer. I'm not exactly a master woodworker but I have been pretty pleased with the results so far.
FYI They have been the number one, industry standard tool for rough shaping foam surfboard blanks for decades. The Stanley Surform also, which I've never seen one outside of a surfboard makers shop.
Another valuable info-taining video. I have seen other videos where the creator is using a power plane. I have a nearly new Makita power plane. My experience has not been so good. It bucks, grabs and generally makes a mess of the board. My plane is relegated to shortening doors. Feathering a board is easier (better) with a #5 hand plane. My power plane sits in it's fancy case for months at a time. Definitely buyer's remorse. Thx.
I always appreciate the power cord Easter egg in videos like this
Dang! That was awesome! I don't have a jointer, and I don't have room for one, but I have a thickness planer and I think I have a hand planer (can't remember right now). And I've been wondering about how I could fix bowed/warped sheets of wood that I have. You just gave me the perfect solution for what I need! Thanks!
I have an old 6" Craftsman jointer. It works good on shorter pieces of wood; 3-4 feet in length. For longer lengths I have been using the powered hand planer to knock down the high spots first; if it really bowed or cupped. It does take less passes on jointer to finally get it flat or flat enough for me.
LOL, bought one about 5 years ago. Just used it for the first time last week to trim a swollen door.
I found a good used machine on Ebay couple of years back, great little machine. Thanks for the info !
VERY nice video: concise, straight to the point and with great (and simple!) safety tips. Thanks a bunch!
Based here in Europe, I will be saving that one away. Certainly not got the space or budget for a jointer or thicknesser. Certainly very useful.
I use mine as a yard tool. I use it to shave the tops of roots to keep from destroying my spindles. Works great.
As a Cabinet installer, I use my 40v makita planer every day and would say maybe more used than a skill saw. I install frameless cabinets, so the width is plenty, and at 3/16 cut depth per pass, I find it better to plane down the cabinets than to use a lot of shims, and it works great to get rid of chiping on fillers and scribing most things. Besides, it's way better than going back and forth to a saw for miner reworking .
They are amazing for scribing fillers during cabinet installs.
I recently tried a Ridgid battery powered electric handplaner for a small satellite shop.. Runtime was 6 minutes and cut was deeper on the right side than the left. Returned it and got the corded Dewalt. It works fine. I also have in my main shop an old Craftsman one I bought over 30 years ago. It still works amazingly well. As the old adage goes, "take care of your tools and they'll take care of you."
So many power tools are made battery powered while having small reason in really being so because the power draw is just way too much.
yea i use one of those very often , its quite handy when im not at my shop. i usually use it to straighten edges and/or make the surface level
Thank you sir! You always offer practical advice for ythe newer woodworkers.
Great tutorial James. Thank you.
I use mine for fitting doors all the time. Nice to be able to taper off 1/16” at a time.
I started out as a surfboard shaper before eventually moving into making fine furniture. I was using an electric hand place for a few hours daily when shaping boards and it translated really well into my woodworking flow. Even though I have a jointer - I often use the electric hand plane to quickly rough out the high spots on most boards before sending it over the jointer usually just in one pass - it's a great time saver. One of the game changers for me was getting a brushless battery powered electric hand plane - no more waiting for the blades to stop spinning and constantly thinking whether or not I'll sever the cord. Glad to see them getting their shine on Stumpy Nubs!
I have a Dremel planer that attached to the main unit and uses a large spiral bit. I used to use it in my patio furniture business to shave down acrylic table tops, but it was designed for shaving doors at 1/16" per pass. Sure wish they still made it.
The Bosch that you have has a hole in the kick stand that allows you to flip it up and stick a little nail thru it to hold it up.
It’s useful when doing door edges where the kickstand might not line up with the work.
Gotta be extra careful when disabling the sole safety feature of the tool.
Great tool! I’ve used it for everything from truing up floor joists to roughing in “hand carved” kayak paddles.
You continue to be awesome! Thank you.
I used this tool to trim integrated window flanges doing replacement in block homes. Better than dealing with snap flanges
A Makita belt sander with an 80-grit belt is very effective, very easy to use. The belts change easily, are easy to align, and can be increased in successive runs to leave a very fine work surface. It's easier to change a belt than to sharpen a cutter.
They are good for planing down laminated particle board. Good for carpentry work and especially for Australian hardwood
Got the Bosch 12v mini planer. What a tool! Like an electric block plane 🥰
Thanks a bunch for the lesson, James! 😃
I have one... I'm going to start to use it!
Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
I have seen people carving surfboards with power planers. Once I saw that, I started using them to quickly remove material on convex shapes of my sculptures. I started doing this before power carvers were a thing and still use it for gentle slopes or curves.
We use em in boat building all the time. Essential for shaping stem, chines, keel and stringers.
I use mine for slicing ham and hard cheese.. a festivus miracle!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I've cut slices so thin I couldn't even see them!
But where does the meat go?
Thank you for another great teaching moment.
I don’t know why I watch all your videos lol. I haven’t worked with wood since high school! They’re very easy to watch, and very informative though, so I guess it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.
0:43 The first 3 fingers of my left hand agree🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
We used to use those at Kimball Office Casegoods in Salem, IN. I always liked them...enough that I got one for myself about 2 years ago. I wear goggles instead of safety glasses though in my shop. I don't know if my eyes are extra sensitive or what, but wearing just safety glasses I'll still get dust in my eyes, so I wear those goggles that sort of resemble a diver's mask. Another great thing about them is that they don't tend to fog up like glasses do when wearing a dust mask.
I LOVE my power planer!!
I'm definitely one of those who doesn't have the space for the bigger machine. Great video as always.
While I like your videos irrespective of the title, I am glad this video title was to the point and not a "click bait". Not judging or saying you should change your titles to be a descriptive title like this, because in this age of youtube, it's hard to get a lot views other than your subscribers if you do not have a click bait thumbnail and/or title (exceptions exist of course). It's just nice for a change 🙂
The best use i found for an electric hand planer was to make at least one face of the wood studs.
You might be suprised but this tool has alot more use in contructions than making furniture.
That being said, there are planty of videos out there showing you how to make an exact jig wich will allow you to use a hand planer as a thickness planer, i tell you, that jig is a must for any handplaner and it should come with the tool. JSK- koubou has a beautiful tutorial on how to make one.
I know in this video Stumpy shows the basics of using a hand planer but. If you have a thinkness planer, is much easier to use a piece of mdf, particleboard or something straight and put your piece of wood on top of it with wood wedges and run it through the planer and on the edge, on planks of wood i never try to straighten the edge with a hand electric planer or even a normal hand planer, is just waste of time. I cut it with a tracksaw and most of the times if you have a good blade you just need a little bit of sanding and is done. Or you could just run the hand planer one or two times to make it perfect.
Also, it is very important, to use good quality blades and set them correctly, use the base plate, as a reference and use a very good straight metallic ruler when you instal the blades to make sure they are seated equal, if they are not most likely the machine will vibrate alot when is running. And if you don't run the blades through nails or chip them through hard knots you can resharp them. Is also adviced that when you get near a knot to go slower and allow the blades to eat through it slowly, otherwise it might chip the blade.
You also need a very straight working table for it especially if you plan using it with multiple jigs, and that can cost alot or can be cheap depending on your imagination.
What i really like about an electric hand planer, is that with a thinkness jig i can plane very very small pices, very accurate, i could do that with the thickness planer too but that thing makes alot of noise. You can also make jigs to plane the edge of a plank of wood perfectly 90, if you already have the faces straight and paralel.
There are many jigs for a hand planer, you can even straighten a very wide board, just as you would do with a router.
But in carpentry this tool is really not used that much, is used much more in constructions because it eats through wood very fast.
But if you build the jig it can replace a thinkness planer, it is much slower yes, but if you don't have one you can do it with this. Just remember the real cost of this tool are the good quality blades, and advice you to stay away from cheap ones, because in the long run those are more expencive since they dull much faster.
Great comment about safety. I have seen an eye-watering injury to finger tips where the user picked up the machine from the base plate before checking that the blades had stopped. And the user was an engineer. Not sure if his fingertips ever recovered but it sure gave me a lesson in caution. I love my Makita planer. A little bit at a time gets the job done. Your tips on truing up warped pieces are excellent.
This was on a hand planer?
@@Elderwyrmmusic An electric plane. Not a jack plane or block plane. For reasons unknown to me (or him) he put it down after using it and picked it up by the base plate while the drum was still spinning. Ouch!
I use a power planer to debark small diameter saplings that I make into walking sticks, as well as taking the sapwood off down to the heartwood on larger diameter pieces.
I have one of these and it’s awesome.
there are plenty of YT videos here on building jigs to attach to the hand planer to get a flat and parallel board,even for boards wider than the planer cutter. also on turning your hand planer into a stationary jointer/ planer.
Once you have flattened one face of a board, you might stand it on edge and resaw a minimal amount off. Even if the board is so wide that the saw doesn’t completely remove all the waste after running both edges, the parts that are sawn will give you reference points to complete the job with the hand planer.
LOVED the tape trick!
Boat builder use them all the time for fairing in the planking. Most will re-grind the blades to a slight convex edge to hollow out boards on the back side to fit up against a curved frame.
I use to have a 10” electric planer that I use to use when I was building log cabins 15 years ago I think it was a Mikita. It was a godsend.
Thanks for the refresher. Who's the young man demonstrating how to use the tool? Looks like he could be your younger brother?