Will finished wood wear out planer? - Woodworking Talk

Doc · 02-12-2007, 09:52 AM

I have a load of oak flooring that was removed from my house. Id like to recycle. I found that by ripping off tounge/groove and a coupla passes through the planer, I get a very decent (one side) board.

My question is will planing off this old polyurethane kill ny planer blades?

Its a Delta 12" bench-top planer. Boards are 5" - 8" wide.

Thanks for any help.

**TexasTimbers** · 02-12-2007, 09:56 AM

Welcome Doc.

I can't answer "for sure" on that one but my gut feeling is that the poly can, due to the heat caused by friction, build up on the blades and so cause them to dull prematurely in an indirect way.
I don't know this for sure though and I would be interested to hear what you find out yourself.
i have planed boards with various finishes but not enough to know the answer for sure. Please let us know!

**TexasTimbers** · 02-12-2007, 10:19 AM

Hopefully someone with more experience will come along and have something more solid, but I was thinking about this more and I would guess since you are having to take light passes, this is actually going to promote build-up more than deeper passes, but I understand you want to minimize the amount you remove.

JCCLARK · 02-13-2007, 08:01 AM

I'd be suprised if it really made much difference.
It seems to me that a planer is always cutting from underneath up
towards the surface so the blade is actually coming from underneath
up to the finish and lifting it off instead of cutting into it.
(except maybe the first cut)
I may be wrong but it just seems that the surface wouldn't be
that big of a factor unless it was penetrated a bit.
(just an opinion)

Lee · 02-18-2007, 12:51 PM

Hi guys;
The rule of thumb is anything other than wood will dull the blades quicker.