Will This Planer Mod Work To Create Combed Cedar Boards?

[Koamolly]

I’m thinking I’d like to matched some existing combed cedar in a bath renovation.  The old ceiling was flat drywall.  When I demoed the drywall there was the existing open beam like the rest of the house which is 4X8s with combed cedar 1X8s.  Rough sawn cedar would probably be fine but I got to wondering if I could create the existing look.  I have an old Ryobi planer I don’t use anymore that I was thinking I could grind notches in the the blades with a grinder to create the combed look.  Probably can’t really sharpen the notches so hoping the softness of the cedar would allow that to work.  I would need to notch both blades at the same time so the notches would line up.  Also would need a simple jig/guide so the boards feed through straight and parallel.  Has anyone tried this before? Any thoughts?

 

[mrFinpgh]

it seems like in theory it should work, although you'll probably need to fuss with the alignment a fair bit to get it 'locked in'.  I'm not sure what those notches will do when you hit a knot, but I'd expect you'll get a texture sort of like what you would get with a toothing plane, maybe a little rougher. 

If you do it, please share your results.

 

[Duckler]

You would probably get an ugly result. Why don’t you take/send the planer knives to be sharpened and ask them about doing some blade notch modification?
.

 

[tjbnwi]

Make some phone calls, there is probably a company that will grind you a set of knives.

What you would like to do will work, just takers some practice.

The Woodmaster planer I have has a catalog of knives with various profiles I can order to run on the machine.

Tom

 

[PaulMarcel]

I don't think it would work. The blades typically hit the wood at a pretty shallow angle so those notches would have to be pretty deep for the result you want. I believe the angle is steeper with a shaper hence they have a lot of 'moulding' blades and you can make them yourself. There are some 'planer/moulders' out there. I suspect the blades for moulding are attached differently than the blades for planing, but I could be talking out my butt, too.

 

[usernumber1]

i wonder if these guys can cut you a blade for your profile. they are making whole cutter heads
https://www.sheartak.com/sheartak-c...-panel-cutterhead-king-canada-20-inch-planers

 

[Allano]

Is this a hand planer? What about the rear sole?

On my hand planer, the rear sole is aligned with the knives, so the sole can slide on the planed wood. If you cut out a part of the knives away, the wood in these parts will sit higher, so there is no room for the sole.

Also, you can't go below the largest diameter of the drum, including any brackets for knives.

 

[Svar]

Is this a hand planer? What about the rear sole?
On my hand planer, the rear sole is aligned with the knives, so the sole can slide on the planed wood. If you cut out a part of the knives away, the wood in these parts will sit higher, so there is no room for the sole.

You can set the blades to sit higher than the sole. Not by much but easily 3-4 mm.

 

[Svar]

I think it will work. Sharpness was brought up earlier. If you grind notches at the same 45 deg.  bevel as the rest of the blade, they will be equally sharp. To make the process easier grinding wheels with various profiles are available.

 

[Svar]

You would probably get an ugly result. Why don’t you take/send the planer knives to be sharpened and ask them about doing some blade notch modification?

Dunno. After modifying my blades by hitting a screw my planer makes decent looking beads. [unsure]

 

[Koamolly]

I don’t think it’s worth the money to have knives custom ground. Regular rough cedar boards look reasonable next to the combed cedar so that is my fallback position. 

The planer is 13” with double edge knives so I can experiment a bit.  Maybe I’ll start with a few notches on one end and see what happens.  The blades are only about 1/2” wide with the exposed bevel being about an 1/8”. I thought I’d clamp them together for indexing the notches since they need to line up and try grinding small notches.  Maybe try sharpening them a bit if that’s possible. 

I could always run a board with a bunch of exposed nails though if all else fails.  [big grin]

I’ll let you know how it goes.  Thanks!

 

[Koamolly]

The one on right is the planer board. Can’t go any deeper.  Not too bad.