See p. 3, right column, 2nd bullet:

Never plane material which is shorter than 12" (304.8 mm).

 

Yep, exactly where you said it was. I missed that several times--and i do mean several!!

Since it's only 5 1/2" wide, i ran a face over my jointer when i got home--the knives were already a little dull, after passing both faces twice each, i don't think i could shred bologna on that machine!! I'm thinking i'll save the Ipe scrap for another day (like after i spiral carbide headed jointer) and stick with the walnut that was my original thought. Walnut will feel like "big box white wood" after the Ipe test!!

Thanks.

earl

 

One idea to get around this is to build a planer sled:

J. Phil Thien's Planer Sled

I use a sled a lot for wide boards, since I only have a 6" jointer. That works great. But I would think it would also work for short boards, IF you put the short boards end-to-end so that the total length is greater than 12". Note that I've never tried this with short boards. I may be overlooking some safety issue, so be careful. Maybe others here have tried this or have other ideas.

 

I use a 12" x 48" piece of 3/4" mdf with a batten glued and screwed (brass screws) at one end. Initially I was using the batten at the rear of the sled to assist 'pushing' the piece on top through the thicknesser. Unfortunately on one occasion the rollers drew the piece to be planed through the thicknesser without the sled. Now the batten end goes first with the workpiece following behind.

 

The issue is that there is a risk when you get too short that the planers knives can lift the piece up into the head which means you are chipping the entire board instead of taking a thin layer off. What about using a router and sled instead? Slower but safer.

 

I've gone down as short as 5"s on my 735. 5"s long by 2" wide. Used a piece of 3/4" cabinet grade ply as a base, then double sided tape the entire piece to the plywood. I used Golf Smith club grip two sided tape. (used for putting on new grips on golf clubs) then just took very light passes til I got the thickness I wanted. Make sure when applying the tape that both surfaces and clean and dust free and use only once. I didn't want to chance a 2nd piece with the same pieces of tape. Then a quick pass thru the drum sander...

Golfsmith Two-Sided Tape - 48 mm x 36 yrd at Golfsmith.com

 

You might glue the pieces together and use a sled and double back tape, all good suggestions. I have heard that the distance from the center of the infeed rollers and the out feed rollers is the shortest recommended length. I had a 1" diam knot come out on my DeWalt one time and scared the daylights out of me.

Herb

 

Thanks for all the good answers. For the moment, i've got some walnut scrap that will serve the purpose and be softer than granite!! The Ipe offcuts will be set aside for another day, though i could run 2 wide & 2 deep on a sled with tape. I may do some experimenting. It's great decking, but my goodness it's a dense wood!!

earl

 

Earl, You can glue 1" x 1" x say 18" hardwood sticks to the edges of Ipe with hot glue centering the Ipe between them. Your planer will think its planning an 18" board. I use a dab of hot glue about the size of a pencil eraser at each end to secure to the sticks. Works great!

 

the shortest pieces i have done is some 11" pine and it worked fine in my DW735

if you want to do shorter then a planer sled would be your best bet.

good luck

 

As described above I've used the sled and double sided tape approach for pieces down to 5" long and have been pleased with the outcome. One caveat, the tape must be symmetrically placed to avoid any possible dips as the wood passes through the planer.

A modification of this approach which was previously described on the forum can also be used to flatten boards.

 

+1 on the other Gary's comment. I've done it using (really) strong holding double face tape and put the pieces end to end on top of a carrier board.

 

If I may piggyback on this, is it safe to run a 1 inch wide piece through. The length would be 14-16 inches.

 

Run it through slightly diagonally...

 

I made my own router planer.

I use a router sled to make my box panels, I hot glue very small pieces to a flat base, then pass the sled over them. I can get down to 1/8th thick x any size in either direction. The 1/8th is the limiter, less than that cuts away the glue holding the pieces.

 

All good stuff, thanks!! I'd forgotten about hot gluing pieces to the sides--that would allow for planing both sides without using a bunch of DS tape.

earl