IMPORTANT: Everybody is using the sled jig backwards and I can't unsee it. It's not just him, it's literally everyone on KZfaq. Tip: The front end of the jig is the end with the fence on it. If you put it through with the fence on the back, the planer will pull your piece right off the shims and probably off of your sled. Also, please be weary if you're using screws on the fence. You REALLY don't want the planer blades to hit those screws. Not recommended. It will be a negative experience. ALSO, if it helps anybody, I've found that it REALLY helps to put your fence on so that your piece is more toward the center of the sled. This helps prevent snipe, because both the front and back of the sled are already on the in and outfeeds before the peice ever even hits the blade. Hope this helps!

I just bought my very first thickness planer. There is a learning curve to using it. These hacks are so helpful. Thank you very very much Colin. I LOVE your channel

I enjoy your hacks and tips daily, here’s one you might like. On my 12 inch planer I removed the in feed and out feed tables and made a 4ft long sled that slides through the planer bed and gives a smooth and even bed that even helps to refuse snipe. I finished the top with Formica laminate to make wood glide through the planer with no resistance. I also use Formica on many jigs like the bottom of my crosscut sled on my table saw to make it almost frictionless.

Another trick for figured woods is to dampen the surface of the wood before planing, it tightens up the grain and will minimize chip out

WOW, you just hit tow (maybe three) of the problems I have. I HAVE tried planing the thin part of a board by simply putting it into two other boards and holding it together as it goes in. That works maybe 1/2 the time, and much less is my success with thin boards (of course.) Why it never occurred to me to tape them together the way you showed, well, thanks, this is DEFINITELY a "trick" I'm gonna try. And along with that your "planing jig" is brilliant. And I have some wedges and MDF just sittin' here with YOUR name written ALL over it! Thanks. And the third it seems I figured it out regarding snipe. For no reason I started doing it and it worked darn well, so it's nice to see "my" idea wasn't,uh, "dumb."(And at first I realized the last board in a set won't have a board behind it to keep off the snipe. But I found using one of the boards that had already been through the planer works just fine, and since it's been through once there's little or usually no snipe on IT.) Thanks again, great "tips." :)

Good tips, you forgot the mention the counter top board that you have in your planer. This reduces snipe as well

Another quality tips and tricks episode by Colin Knecht. Thank you Colin!

Thanks Colin another helpful video...my thickness planer is on order due to arrive any day now. Great to get some insight into using it ...thanks.

It was a pleasure listening Colin.

Thanks from the Slam Bang fishing lodge on the west coast coast of Vancouver Island we specialize in great fishing food and good times

Ty Colin, tips I will use for sure, love the Slab sled tip !

the first tip was exactly what I was asking if it could be done....awesome thanks Colin

Thanks for the video. Very helpful. Don't have budget for a joiner and a planer. Think for my application a planer first. The last tick really helped.

Thank you sir, i'm a big fan of your channel from Romania...learned a lot from you....again thanks.

Thanks!

Thanks for your time

Very good tips. Thanks Colin!

You are the very best. Thank you.

I should be receiving a thickness planer in the mail today, I will definitely be using the planer sled trick to even out some old barn wood I recently received. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Nice hacks Colin I found a couple of them that even though I've been in the woodworking for 51 years I didn't even know about those.

Thanks the boards on the side great advice

Thanks Colin.

Your plank jig works brilliantly 👍👍

Some good trips there Colin but you forgot to mention the all important grain direction.

Thank you.

I learned something! Thanks!!

Thanks for the great tips!

Great advice and demo. Thank you!

Very impressed!

Very useful video! Thank you

Another really useful video thanks keep them coming Stuart

Some helpful hints. Thanks.

Love the tip about the live edge boards. Thank you Colin

THe sheppard idea is just what I need thank you!

Very cool idea about the planer sled!

Super! Thanks!

Great basic joinery trade knowledge......be surprised how may don't get show this stuff.

Thanks Colin, some great info

Hi Colin Im Carlos from Guadalajara México y te agradezco los tips me sirven mucho gracias !

Every single video I have watched with you I have learned something new and very good. Thank GOD I subscribed to your channel. Great stuff Bro. Thumbs up.

Very good idea. Thank you very much !!!!!

A great tutorial as always. Thanks for sharing your valuable experience!

Another suggestion for tape is the double-sided turners tape available from Lee Valley. It is very strong, but relatively easy to remove. It is so strong you do not need much, so a roll lasts a long time.

Hi. Great video. I wish I had a planer. Regarding the double sided tape. Have a look at the superglue masking tape trick from crimson guitars.

Thanks doc. I have one getting dropped off here in a little bit . You probably saved me a few temper tantrums .

Thanks Colin 👍🏾 great tips

Your videos are amazing, Colin. Very clear and unambiguous explanations, thank you so much!

Thank you very much Colin!!!

I run boards through on edge all the time! It's never once been a problem, and I've done it hundreds of times. But I've never done it on anything thinner than maybe 1", so maybe that's a factor.

In regards to the first tip. Why not use two small G clamps to hold the pieces of vertical timber together? One at either end, just make sure the tightening rod is horizontal

The red tape is cskke. VHB tape by 3m.. good stuff.. and great tip!!!

That planing jig with spacers for twist is much better than a surface planer/jointer/buzzer and a lot safer and can be used on boards as wide as your thicknesser.

Great video..! For me, What about planing 5/16” thick by 3/4 x 2”. I need small blocks for guitar hole fills ?

Handy tips, thanks.

teşekkürler... thank you...

Great tips once again 👍👍👍

Some great tips Colin...as always. The 3M double sided tape is a quality product but also expensive. When running multiple boards to plane the side edges, you can pinch them together and secure with cheap painter's tape at each end across the end grains. Snipe is so common and distracts from the functions of a thickness planer....I'm surprised that manufacturers have not yet found a way to eliminate it. The company that can eliminate snipe will rule the market!

Another set of great tips really enjoying this series.

Thank you.. Alway informative

superb tips really enjoyed that and the positivity that just emits from the presenter is fantastic, thanks for the vid :D

Very useful tips, Colin. Thanks for sharing. Although I do not have a thickness planer (and I am not sure if I'll ever have one) these tips were totally comprehensible. Very well explained.

I always wondered if you could still plane edges like that if you made a jig to stabilize them on the side . Didn’t even think of just taping them together!

Thank you, very informational.

Top bloke thanks for sharing!

Thank you some goodness there! Rather than wedges (door shims) try using playing cards cheap and very malleable, very useful clamping as well

Another winner! I didn't know that about figured wood. I've definitely experienced chip-out....

The one tip/trick i see glaringly obvious in the whole video, is that slab of laminated wood that goes the entire way through your thicknesser that keeps things flat, and allows wood to slide nicely :)

Thanks for the tips. Love your videos

Colin - one comment I have is that if you have enough support on the outfeed and your outfeed roller height/tension is adjusted correctly - especially on the makita 2040 - you can avoid having any snipe at all even with one board being run through. i just spent a couple days tuning up my 2040.

Great video, thanks! Regards from Brazil!!

great tips and as always, well pesented, thanks for posting Colin, always enjoy watching your videos, from garry in the UK

When running twisted boards through on the sled I just place a screw at the corner of the high corner of the slab and adjust the height until wobble is gone. This works great, no need for various shims which slide around. Just be sure to remove the screw before planing the other side. I didn’t once and oh oh.

Snipe can be avoided by leaving both ends longer and cutting to length after thickness planing. Or by using shepherds the same thickness as the piece being planed, but longer on both ends so both pinch rollers are fully engaged while the board being planed. The shepherds *must* be the same thickness to prevent snipe. Starting with thicker shepherds works too, but you have to make extra passes before the work piece starts to be surfaced.

Delta is the best!!

I have same planner I need to replace roller can you help me getting them rebuild im in Ottawa

thank you

Helpful ideas. Thanks.

Thanks Colin, I always enjoy your videos. My planer won't feed the wood through no mater what I have tried. Cleaning, adjusting etc. Have you done a video describing how to adjust or set the rollers for this type of problem? Mechanically it appears to be working o.k.

Always great tips, thanks for sharing : )

For the planer sled I Just use a bit of hot melt glue

Saludos desde mexico

Thanks as always...rr

Nice :-) Thx for the Tricks

Hi I hope someone can help me. about the shorts: I have a Ridgid 13" planer and it says not to run boards shorter than 14" but I make cutting boards so some are shorter than that but they are all glued so they are a bit hefty and heavy especially the side grain ones. Do you think I can run them through okay? If not I'll try the hack Colin's hack. Thank you

Thanks Colin :) Great tip as always ॐ

Nice....

Is MDF always a reliable flat surface? I have some that was probably not stored correctly that's not flat at all. Thanks for the tips, though. Very useful.

You can feed single boards through on edge just fine, just not with a thickness:width ratio of much more then 1:10.

A planer is about twice as expensive as a jointer. Just buy a jointer for edge work.

One hack that it looks like you have, but didn't mention as a hack, is the bed of your planer. The metal over MDF or similar. Did the planer come like that, or is that something you added? It looks added. It looks like it would cut down on the snipe on the ends of the board being planed.

Such great ideas and tips you have. I always get every video you put out. Thanks so much!

Can the planning jig be used for small pieces of wood instead of the shepherd boards?

Hey Colin. Just seen this video and having just recently gotten a planer this has happened a couple of times. Your idea of butting the wood together is brilliant but you mentioned that the last board would still get the snipe. What about using a piece of scrap for the very last piece that way it gets the snipe not the wood your making?

Should I be using a solid piece of wood on planer like you have.

It's not necessary to push the previous board through to avoid snipe. Just start the next one before the previous one finishes. use a short sacrificial piece at the end to take the snipe.

So for a beginner watching your video...one might ask, yeah I'll use the double sided tape...but how do I use it... I'm not judging, but one not too bright might wind the tape around the the boards... 🤔

Awesome, thanks for the tipo

Colin, some of your audience would benefit from CC. I have tried several times to decipher the rigamarole assigned to us setting it up, to no avail. I have a hearing disability so CC is my only option.

Thanks Colin, I'll be buying a thickness planer soon and was wondering if a helix blade will help with a lot of the problems you mentioned, especially sniping.

Will running a board through at an angle prevent sniping?