# Running cedar planks through a planer



## mengtian (Nov 8, 2012)

Can you run cedar wood fence pickets through a planer without anything done before? The boards are flat, just rough on both sides. My neighbor put up a small fence and has some boards left over. I was going to run them through my planer and make Christmas ornaments and boxes out of them.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*sure*

Ideally you would joint them first, but lacking that machine a light pass on one side, then a flip to the other side with a deeper pass should eliminate any cupping issues. The problem is the planer presses down on the board in order to feed it through. This may "spring back" if there is some cupping in the board. A light, first pass should help. Only one way to find out ....... :blink:


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## red (Sep 30, 2008)

It's doable. Just take light passes. It should make for some nice ornaments. Have fun.

Red


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## Hammer1 (Aug 1, 2010)

Brush and vacuum off the surfaces before planing to remove any grit that can dull the planer blades. Cedar is a softwood, easy to mill but you need to put the correct end of the board into the planer so you cut with the grain for a smoother surface. You can see the grain direction on the faces by looking on the edges of the boards.


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## mengtian (Nov 8, 2012)

Just got done with 8 bd ft. No problems at all. Planed down to 3/8, 1/4, and 1/8 sections. Just did about 3 three light passes per side then planed down to thickness.....


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## red (Sep 30, 2008)

Good to hear it.

Red


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