Jointer

The planer is the second step after the jointer to convert rough wood stock into usable pieces that are flat, straight, and square. The planer is used to flatten and parallel the second face of a board in reference to a jointed face. Mechanically it’s more complicated than a jointer, but functionally it’s simpler. A flattened board is placed on the planer table and fed in. The machine’s feed roller grabs the board and pulls it through and past a rotating cutter head set above the table, which removes wood. After each pass the operator raises the table incrementally to take the wood to its final thickness. The thickness after each pass is determined by the distance from the table to the cutter head.