I'm looking to plane down some 3/4" and 4/4 lumber to about 3/8" thick. Is it reasonable to remove that much material with a planer without needing to resaw thicker stock? I don't have a bandsaw, and while I do have a table saw, I'm not very confident about safely cutting the wider boards. Any advice would be appreciated!
2 Answers
You can definitely reduce a 4/4 board to two 3/8" pieces, but it’s tricky with 3/4" stock. Make sure to account for kerf width if you're trying to resaw—ideally, you want to leave some extra thickness (at least 1/8") for errors. There's no universal rule about how much to remove; sometimes you have to work with what you have, even if it's wasteful. Just be sure of your plan before you cut!
Since a bandsaw isn’t in your toolkit, your best bet is to go with the surface planer. Just remember to face joint one side first if the board isn’t completely flat; this will help keep everything parallel when you plane the other side.
Got it! So, face joint one side first, then plane the opposite side, right?