Running end grain through a planer is an extremely dangerous process. Follow you instinct and use the rule that I do.......if it doesn't feel good, don't do it. Although it is time consuming, the best method that I have found for levelling out uneven glue ups on an end grain cutting board is a hand held belt sander. Starting at a course grit and ending up at about 120grit. From there, an oscillating sander can finish it off. Don't forget your respirator while sanding as well. Get the stuff out of your lungs.


If you haven't already, you might want to check out my tutorial thread on end grain cutting boards. It may not help on this one, but it may help out in future ventures.

OK, I'm not trying to be a wise-ass, but.....Everybody is saying it is VERY dangerous, and a VERY bad idea.....but not specifically WHY. One post said "if just one of your blocks is not glues tight enough, it's rip free and up into the cutter head, possibly crating shrapnel and wrecking the machine." OK, that's the closest. NOw, tell me how the whole board is going to come flying out of the machine.

The board is being fed against the knives, not with them. Aren't all planers set up this way? The rollers are pushing the wood foreward, and the knives are coming down and cutting toward you. How is the board going to go anywhere? In general, standing in line with this type of operation is not a good idea in the 1st place. I run my planer mostly from the side. Also, on my planer, if there were any shrapnel issues, I doubt that any of the pieces would escape the machine at a speed great enough to cause any real damage. Unless you are bending over sticking your head down there watching it go thru. Also fundamentally not a good thing to do. On planers, the business part is pretty enclosed.

On a jointer, yeah, if something goes wrong, there is much less between you and the knives. I worry a lot more about this one.

Imagine that bad glue joint is right in the middle of the board and it tears it apart. The blades are rotating much faster than the feed rollers. I've not seen this happen, but I have read on other sites where this has happened to people, one so violently that it did basically explode the planer. In the end it's like Kenbo said, if it doesn't feel right don't do it; and this doesn't feel right to me. But its your life and your tools and you're free to try things.

Uh, yes it was stated exactly WHY.

But like sawdustfactory pointed out. It's your life and your tools. Do as you please. Remember to post in this thread here when you're done: http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f7/le...ome-damage-34/

Well, I do agree with you guys that it's not the best method. I thought I was going to be trashing this cutting board anyway, and planing it did not make me feel uncomfortable, so I did it. Next time I will not, because I feel I could get it flatter using another method. And, yeah, I also feel it beats the machine a little more than necessary, particularly if your blades are sharp.