Planing Tips; Wood Hardness - Grizzly G0505 Owner's Manual

Planing Tips

• Use the full width of the planer. Alternate
between the left, the right and the middle
when feeding lumber into the planer. Your
knives will remain sharp much longer.
• Scrape all glue off of joined boards before
planing.
• Plane ONLY natural wood fiber. DO NOT
plane wood composites.
• Surface the workpiece with the grain. NEVER
feed end-cut or end-grained lumber into your
planer.
• Keep your work area clear.
• Always true any cupped or warped stock on
a jointer before planing.
Model G0505 (Mfg. since 4/04)

Wood Hardness

The species of wood, as well as its condition,
greatly affects the depth of cut the planer can
effectively take with each pass.
The chart in Figure 15 shows the Janka Hardness
Rating for a number of commonly used species.
The larger the number, the harder the workpiece,
and the less planer depth of cut to be taken for
good results.
Note: The Janka Hardness Rating is expressed
in the pounds of force required to embed a 0.444"
steel ball into the surface of the wood to a depth
equal to half the ball's diameter.
Species
Ebony
Red Mahogany
Rosewood
Red Pine
Sugar Maple
White Oak
White Ash
American Beech
Red Oak
Black Walnut
Teak
Black Cherry
Cedar
Sycamore
Douglas Fir
Chestnut
Hemlock
White Pin
Basswood
Eastern White Pine
Balsa
Figure 15. Janka Hardness Rating for some
common wood species.
Janka
Hardness
3220
2697
1780
1630
1450
1360
1320
1300
1290
1010
1000
950
900
770
660
540
500
420
410
380
100
-17-