Ryobi planer - how to mitigate snipe at end of boards?

[aarth]

So I had some boards that needed a decent amount of material removed and I wasn’t getting very far with my ROS so I picked up a Ryobi 780W 82mm Rebate Planer today. I’ve only ever used hand planes before so this was new. I’m finding a lot of snipe at the end of the boards, even when I reduce the thickness of the cut. What can I do to mitigate this? 

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @aarth. It's fantastic to have you join us and many thanks for your question.

What I believe is happening is that when the front plate travels off the end of the board, it fractionally lowers the blade causing the snipe. This is because there is now nothing governing the depth of cut at the front of the machine. We can see this as the sniped section is normally as wide as the barrel on the blades. Having a sacrificial board for you to continue the cut onto will eliminate the snipe. Alternatively, try not to put any downward pressure on the front knob and more so on the rear handle and plate. The rear plate is travelling on the newly cut portion and is what should govern the level you are trying to achieve.

I've included a diagram below which somewhat illustrates what I am trying to convey.

Let me mention a few of our woodworking experts @r23on, @woodenwookie and @Poppop to see if they would like to join the conversation.

Please let me know if you need further information or have questions.

Mitchell

[aarth]

Thank you @MitchellMc, that makes sense, I’ll give it a go with some scrap to get some practise before I go back to my project! 

[woodenwookie]

Oh man, using a planer is by far and away a skill I have not yet mastered. It's that transition from starting with the weight on the front to moving it to the back that's the hardest part.

I like the idea of the sacrificial board at the front though. I'm going to use that idea in the future.

I did have to use my planer the other day when building the wall in the bathroom. There was a bulge that I needed to remove. I made some divets but that got covered up with the Gib. 😂

[r23on]

Snip in most cases is caused by the way the planer is presented to the work and the exit of the work pice and for someone not practiced in the art of hand planing snipping will occur. The amount of snip can be controlled by a number of ways. One is as Mitchell suggested have a scrap pice each end. 2 Allow for some extra material and then cut to size. Or develop our lead in and trail out skills. Because this method takes a long time to master I would go more with either of the other two methods

 This is also a problem for a thicknesser and jointers and again its the way the material is presented to the cutter. 

[aarth]

By lead in and trail out do you mean where I put pressure/weight on the planer as I start and finish? Is it more weight at the back to finish? 

[MitchellMc]

@aarth,

Sniping can also happen when you start the cut on the board. If a plate is over timber, that is where the weight should be. If a plate is off or is transitioning off the timber, do not place weight on it.

Mitchell

[r23on]

yes how you apply pressure at the start and how you take the planer off we have a tendency to rock the planer so for me I will allow longer material and cut off the start and finish. However I only now use a hand rebate planer for rebating and only use the electric plane to rough plane