Oops... Too wide for planer

[Andy Compton]

I am in the process of making an end grain cutting board and like an idiot I made the glued up panel 0.5" too wide for my planer. The panel is pretty close to flat, but I'm afraid the end grain glueup will have a few gaps. I have the Dewalt 735 13" planer and the panel is 13.5" wide. Thoughts?

[Leo Graywacz]

Cut it in half and send it through the planer and reglue it back together. Find someone else with a larger planer, drum sander or widebelt sander.

[Brian Henderson]

I was going to say the same thing. Cut it in half. I had to do that a number of years ago when I had a large cutting board that wouldn't fit, I cut it down the middle, planed it flat and put it into the clamps. Works fine.

[Mark Kornell]

Cut down the board to just under 13"?

And, are you _really_ sure you want to run an end-grain board through a planer?

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

And, are you _really_ sure you want to run an end-grain board through a planer?

+1

Don't be surprised if it explodes.

[Earl McLain]

Router on a ski sled--very very light passes. I have the same planer, but some things just shouldn't go through it (end grain & knots)
earl

[Matt Day]

I've ran many end grain boards through the planer. Glue a sacrificial board at the end of the board so the planer doesn't massively tear out at the last row of end grain blocks. And take very light passes. And belt sand any spots that are really high.

I always hear about people being super concerned about this, but I don't see a lot of evidence with exploded cutting boards.

When you say that the panel is too wide, which stage of the process are you taking about? Final board dimension?

[Myk Rian]

When you say that the panel is too wide, which stage of the process are you taking about? Final board dimension?

This is important to know.

[Andy Compton]

Thanks all. Currently it's glued up in a long-grain orientation so no concerns with the planer. Since it's an offset design with two panels I'd have to trim them perfectly. Maybe I could just take 3/8 off each side. Thanks for ideas...