One of the best ways to guarantee a project goes together easily and turns out well is to start with properly prepared workpieces. And often, an early step toward this goal involves a stop at the planer. Here, you can quickly take your stock down to the needed thickness and get it ready for final sizing and the joinery to follow.
However, anyone who has used a planer knows that good results are not always guaranteed.
One trouble spot is called snipe — the telltale dip at the end of a workpiece. End snipe can occur when the feed pressure on the board changes at the tail end of the cut.
Here are two easy remedies.
Try feeding the pieces end to end. This will simulate one long board passing through the planer.
Another tack is to lever the trailing end into firm contact with the bed by gently lifting the outfeed end.
