Hitachi Planer Cutting Depth

I’ve just started shaping my first board. Based on suggestions from the helpful folks here, I’m shaping a 5’8" x 17.65 x 21 x 17.5 x 2.50 retro fish-ish thing. 7" deep swallow, 12" tip to tip. Does that sound reasonable? On to my question…I got one of the Clark Hitachi planers for Christmas, and it seems to really remove a lot of material when the front shoe is wide open. What do people feel is the optimum max cutting depth? I’m about to skin the blank and I’m a little scared that I’m going to remove too much. Also, do you let the planer ride on the rear shoe or the front? I’m guessing the rear… Thanks in advance for any help!

…It should cut 1/8" deep max.,for a Clark Pro out of the box.This can be played with by re-ajusting your blades,not something I wouldnot suggest to a new owner,but it can be done.Go slow and take level,light,shallow cuts until you’ve gotten use to the planer.They all work alittle different and all have some sore of individual characteristics.Herb

Josh, I do not have a Hitachi but I do know that getting that frickin skin off requires a pretty good cut on the first pass. If I set my planer too shallow it just sorta bounces off the skin without cutting, Sneak up on it so you can get a feel for the cut. Make some passes at ZERO just to feel the way it runs the blank. Rip a little stringer for a start…can’t mess that up too bad. The planer should run on the rear shoe. First pass is the hardest to start since you have to start off the edge to get a first pass cut going. Then you angle into each subsequent cut with the shoe riding on rough foam and base on previous cut…There …That should have confused the Hell out of you. Good luck…Go slow…GO SLOW!MLC

I would also say …GO SLOW…get a feel for the planer…in your hands and in your arms, remember what you want is that the tool to become one with yourself (wax on,wax off…lol) get a feeling for adjusting the cut depth as you move the planer. I always remove the sides to the stinger when I skin the blank, that way I am always running on clean foam and the planer will not have any bumps to run over. If you can, call Walker Foam or Ez Doam to see if they have any Second blanks that you can practice on, it will be cheaper for you to learn on. I wish you the best in your trade. surrfdaddy

I have a person who is paying me to give them guidance, I show him how to get the skin off with nice easy passes. I leave the room and when I come back there are huge chunks of skin here and there. I remind him NOT to go any further if the skin isn’t coming off, I go back and clean it up again and show him where he is he is making the mistake. If I walk away, it’s right back to step negative #1. One of those folks who have been surfing 25 years and will NEVER get it shaping

JIm, I remember how tough it was to skin that first blank! Trying to get used to a lot of things at once. It is still unnerving to make the first pass and the skin only comes off in a few spots at first. I have to keep telling myself that the blank is not true also. It just seems that it takes a pretty good cut to get the skin off cleanly. Some of the passes at shallow depth I can hear the blades hitting but they are just bouncing off the skin and not cutting. I am assuming this is normal since every board I’ve done is like this. After the first board I totally went through the planer to make sure all was true and sharp. Can’t stress enough how important setting blade depth even with base plate is. Everything cool and still buzzing the skin without cutting. Once I get below the edge it comes off fine. Just a little tough when doing the deck on close tolerance blank and trying to preserve density and thickness. Last two boards I trued the outline with the planer per your reccomendation and it was smooth and pure. Worked great. Is there a trick I’m missing for getting the skin to cut easier? MLC

I had a similar question a few weeks ago and Jim’s advice has echoed in my head throughout the shaping of my last couple of boards. He said something like, “the reason for draining the swamp is NOT to be ass-deep in alligators.” I’m starting to realize that it is possible, and better, to smooth things out with the planer rather than making big gouges with the planer which then have to be taken out with the sureform, blocks, etc…

Be careful not to solve one problem through the creation of several new ones.

For practice you might try buying a sheet of polyurethene insulation foam.A local supplier has some 3inches thick 4x8 that are dinged up for 5 dollars a sheet.I found them in the yellow pages under “Insulation”.Cut it in half and mow it into a pile of dust.By that time you should have the feel…go ahead and do railbands while playing.

Good idea on the sheet foam… I’ll try that. I got fairly comfortable with my planer today by setting the cutting depth to about 1/32 of an inch when I was skinning the blank and creating the rocker. Slow going, but I think it really helped to get the feel for how the rear show sort of rides on the lower, already mowed foam, and the blades do all the work. Light passes. Scary stuff on my first blank. I guess it’s only 50 bucks if I mess it up, but I’d rather not. Looks good so far though! Just wondering, do most people start at the rails and work to the stringer when planing, or inside out? I started at the rails with the pressure on the front shoe for the first pass to get the cut started, and then let the weight shift to the rear when making the subsequent passes. Is this how most people do it?

You did it right.