A friend gave me some rough sawn ash a while back. The boards are approx 13' long, about 11" wide. Wanted to plane them down today so I could see what I had and rip what I needed to. I've got a Jet 16" 3hp planer. So far I've only had a chance to run some construction lumber through it. I had a heck of a time keeping the head from moving today on the ash. It's got locks on opposite corners, front and back. These don't seem to hold and I had to put a bungee on the hand wheel to keep it from rotating. To keep everything even, I'd run all boards thru, then lower the head and run them all through again. But, I didn't notice the head coming up right away, so the next pass, I might be taking off way too much. Tripped the breaker a few times before I figured it out! So, I turned on the Wixey to watch exactly what was happening. Even if everything was locked down, the head would still be forced up about .020/.030. One thing I think I have to do is to change blades. Never had any issues with the soft construction lumber, but obviously the ash is a lot harder. I thought if it cuts easier there might not be as much pressure on the head. Does that seem reasonable? Any other suggestions? Thanks. Greg