Cut to length or minimize planer snipe

[Rick Akl]

I'm new to dimensioning lumber. I have heard it suggested that I should cut my material to length to minimize loss in milling. I have also heard that I can eliminate planer snipe by leaving it long and cutting it off. Does the few thousandths of an inch of snipe merit the loss of potentially good lumber? In this case it is for a laminated bench top so I imagine that it is probably more important as face jointing two sniped pieces would in effect double the gap.

Your thoughts...

[george wilson]

It is not possible to truly answer your question as your planer may not be adjusted properly to avoid a serious snipe. Here are a few suggestions to help avoid snipe: First,butt each successive piece against the piece going through the planer. This will avoid snipe,though the LAST piece you run through will get snipe. Lift up on the board as it emerges from the planer. This helps minimize snipe.

It costs money,but making your wood about 4" too long (or,however LONG your snipe is,maybe 2"? helps). How long is the snipe your planer makes?

Planers are not the easiest machine to adjust. If you have a proper,industrial planer,you should look at the manual and try to get the rollers and pressure bar properly adjusted. If it is a lunchbox planer,I don't know about those. Read the manual.

You definitely want to have no snipe for the glued up top you are making. They will show up badly in the finished top. Last attempt: Do you have a good jointer you could run the boards across to eliminate the snipe AFTER you ran them through the planer? PROVIDED the boards do not have a curve in them.

[John Downey]

I agree with George, snipe can usually be adjusted out of most older industrial machines, or can be removed later by other methods. My old PM 100 is in need of a rebuild, its hard to stay snipe-less and still feed properly. In the case of your top, I'd look into planer adjustments, or failing that face joint as George suggests, or even do a little work with a hand plane. Personally I tend to avoid cutting extra off the ends if at all possible, leaving boards only an inch or two long when dimensioning.

[David Thompson 27577]

I have one of the (allegedly) portable planers. I avoid snipe using one of two methods -- both of which have been mentioned..... kinda.

Yes, you can rough cut your material about 4" long. This allows snipe, but puts the snipe in the waste material.

Or, you can cut one extra piece of the material, maybe 16" long or so. Feed your pieces through one following (and touching) the next. Feed the extra piece through last, allowing it to be sniped.

The one difficulty you might have is the process of moving from one end of the machine to the other in a timely manner -- grab the piece that's about to fall, put it in a stack of finished stuff -- run to the other end --grab a piece from the not-done pile -- feed it right behind the piece that's almost all the way through -- run to the outfeed end -- repeat.

[Charles Cannon]

I have an older Delta 22-540 lunchbox planer that I have never been able to adjust the snipe out of. The few times I have cut to rough length and planed sanding out the snipe has been a pain. I much prefer to plane the stock in longer (6 or 8 ft) then cut the stock into shorter pieces.
Cannon

[Rod Sheridan]

My planer has no discernible snipe, although it does measure at about 0.01mm maximum.

I always have my pieces about 25mm longer than required since I cut to length after jointing and planing.

I would suggest adjusting your planer if possible to eliminate the snipe.

Regards, Rod.

[John Thompson]

Even though my 20" planer doesn't snipe often.. it will occassionally as rose's have thorns and silver fountains mud. With that said.. I was taught a number of years ago by an English furniture maker to rough cut 4" long for the planer to exact size after the fact. Better to hedge with insurance than come up short without it and I probably won't change that policy.

[John Coloccia]

If it really matters that much, you can be very clever in laying out your cuts so that the waste ends up over knots and things like that. I'll often go to my local lumber yard with some of my templates and I'll choose a piece that give me a good yield once I've taken everything into account. Then I'll have the yard make some rough cuts so I'm not dragging 20' long boards home with me.

re: waste
I use nearly all of my larger chunks of waste. I make gussets, shims, fixtures, sanding blocks...whatever. I don't mind dumping wood on the floor. I'll end up using most of it. I'm not a production shop so it really doesn't bother me to store it, and it's no bother to take a few minutes turning scrap into usable wood. Heck, I have jigs made out of beautiful curly maple. I think I have one made out of ebony somewhere. Whatever's left turns into things like clamping cauls. The really unusable pieces just get burned if the species burns well.

And if you're REALLY industrious, save all the cutoffs and make a nice end-grain cutting board. My guess is you could sell the cutting board and recoup at least some of your money, and maybe even make a small profit.

[Van Huskey]

I tend to cut most everythng long, not for snipe particularly but just for the what ever that always seems to happen. So for me even though in your case I would do everything I could to minamize snipe I would still cut long, the small amount of waste is excellent insurance and as mentioned scraps rarely go to waste unless you decide to toss them.

[russell lusthaus]

I do three things to eliminate the snipe problem.

First, use lengths 3-4 inches long and cut it off.

Two, lift the forward end coming out of the planer slightly as the rear end is going thru - this keeps the rear end down to the table and keeps the snipe to a min.

Last and best for me anyway - I have a lunch box planer - - so I took a piece of ply covered in melamine 11 in wide by approx 5 feet long and attached same to the bed of the planer (infeed, under the cutterhead, and outfeed) with a few counter sunk screws, and use this elongated planer table as the base. This base supports the workpiece much better than those tiny planer tables and for the most part eliminates the snipe. The downside is with the melamine table attached you can not fold up the infeed and out feed tables.

[Rick Akl]

I'll cut long and employ your tips. Thank you all.

[Chip Lindley]

What THEY said! Adjusting the planer optimally, and lifting up on the outer end of stock as it emerges from the outfeed roller, eliminates almost all snipe. I also lift up feeding stock into the planer as extra insurance. The bottom of the board must be jointed flat to begin with, or all is in vain!

As a last resort, when pieces must be perfect, use stock longer than needed to trim off snipe. Lowering bed rolls (if equipped) almost virtually level with the table helps as much as anything.

My old Rockwell RC33 can plane 9 out of 10 without any discernable snipe, IF I lift up just right, and hold my mouth in the right attitude as pieces emerge from the outfeed. It's lots of work, but worth it!