4 Tips to Eliminate ALL Snipe in Thickness Planers and

In this video I show you how to eliminate snipe when using a thickness planer. I also show how to properly set up the infeed and outfeed tables. The Thickness Planer I use is a DeWalt DW734, but this information applies to all similarly operating planers. You can find an approximate transcript of the video below.

Here are some Amazon affiliate links where I get a small percentage if you use them to purchase a product:

DeWalt DW734 Thickness Planer

Metal Straight Edge for calibrating your planer:

Approximate Transcript:

So, I’ve had some viewers leave comments asking how to reduce snipe on a wood planer such as this DeWalt one I have.
There’s one thing that will clear up about 95% of it. And I’ll show you how to do it along with some other tips.
First, snipe is a deeper cut on either the leading or following end of a board, usually caused by improper setup or use of a wood planer or jointer.
Often time people get these larger power tools and assume they’re calibrated and ready to go from the factory. In my experience, that just isn’t the case. Everything from a table saw to a jointer, to a planer and in between will need to be checked to make sure it’s properly set up.
The average person’s planer has a couple infeed and outfeed tables that may fold up and down and a bed in the middle. The most important part of initial calibration is to make sure that the end if the infeed and outfeed tables are perfectly in line with the plane of the bed.
The way you do this is first get a straight edge, like this long metal ruler I have. Always check your reference edge with another one (Such as this level) to make sure it is actually straight.
Then you will want to put the edge on the bed and across the ends of the infeed and outfeed tables. You will also want a flashlight to help you see whether there are air gaps. If there are gaps either raise or lower the respective bolts to remove it. You may have to do this several times until you figure out the right balance between both sides to get everything just right.
Remember that woodworking is an exercise in patience, and the more patient and exact you are when calibrating your tools, the less issues you’ll have at every other step down the line.
Keep the wood even with the plane of the bed. You don’t want either end to dip or raise when entering or exiting the planer.
Also, remember not to cut too much at once. Remember, you can’t be in a hurry, and get great results.

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[lynnetonn]

I just watched 3 videos to learn about my new-to me planer. You are the FIRST one to mention the lock lever and I have learned more from your video then the others combined
Thank you.

[gyurxi]

I had a DeWalt and Metabo thickness planers. Unfortunately none of tricks worked, but in a mechanic shop they reduced the power of the transmitting rollers. It solved the snipes problem. Thanks for your video!

[spencerk]

Worked for me! Mine was a little bit out of alignment and correcting it fixed my problem. Thanks

[ZoltánEndrődy]

Thanks Pal! It was really helpful, useful and clever. Wish you good job and health. Thank you.

[Woodworks]

I haven't even watched half way through yet and I'm already in complete agreeance with everthing you are stating!

Definitely going to watch this one more than once and save it to a playlist 👏

You should retitle this one or something else to make it rank better because more people need to see this!

Awesome video man! Bravo and Encore!

[daverobinson]

Just purchased the same planer, and happy to hear your’s makes the same annoying vibrating sound as you wind the head down. I thought I had a dodgy unit and was ready to return it.

[marks.]

Feeler gauges work great for this. If not paper can do the job!

[ericwiltz]

Thank you so very much for this video. I just picked up a 20" delta, older unit, but a good oner. Has what you call snipe. Going to check the tables to see if this is the problem. Again, Thank you!
Eric

[harryverkaik]

I fully concur with your comments, well spoken.

[kaelinlariviere]

Great video, and it never occurred to me to level the beds, although it should because machines always need calibration. Thank you

[ivar]

Thank you for this! Gonna save me like 15/20 minutes of sanding because I bought some nice hardwoods that I don't want to just chop the ends off of.

[fdort]

@DavidCanMakeThat thanks! Like another person said you are the only person who mentions the screws. I didn't even know they existed...
I bought a second hand planer that looked in great condition. I had him demonstrate and it seemed to work well. He said he was selling to upgrade.
Due to crappy weather I couldn't use it immediately as I have to use it outside. Not one person told me about cleaning rollers (I made sure the deck was clean. Not one person said wax the deck and nobody said even a clear day...they don't like the cold.
I used rubbing alcohol to clean the rollers and waxed the deck. The boards did go through better but not great..apparently slightly frozen wood is not going anywhere. I use free reclaimed wood...I have to be able to plane it. Going forward I have to drag the wood inside to dry out then drag it back outside plus the 90lb planer...
Eventually I'll have a workshop. Thanks to you explaining the screws...I'm one step closer!

[danielhoglan]

Same planer, the in feed and out feed are both slanting down into the planer, giving me deeper cuts in the middle. It was this way from the beginning. Thanks for this video, because far to many others don't even mention on how to correct this. A planer like this should be considered entry level, and it's hard to believe that dewault wouldn't have given better instruction and also calibrated it correctly to begin with...

[johnpalmer]

Been trying to figure out why this keeps happening and never thought of this. Thanks!

[seanparrish]

Good stuff, David. This is really useful info before I buy my first planer. Thanks 👍

[Brotherjaweed]

Thanks for the video. Saves me from creating another jig.

[Aaron-njou]

The place where I source my wood from has an industrial Felder planer with a helical head, digital readout etc and it still has minor snipe when they clean up boards for me and this machine is probably $20, 000. I think it is just part of life with a planer. Thanks for the video. Any way that you can minimize snipe even if not get rid of it completely helps.

[StoneyMeyerhoeffer]

On these planers snipe will always be a thing no matter how flat or long your bed is. You can get it pretty good though as you suggest. How these are designed though means that there will always be snipe. In the planer there is a feed roller, the cutter, and another feed roller in that order. When the the board is moving through, it is pressed down by both feed rollers. When the end of the board passes the feed roller in the back, and it's still under the cutter and the front feed roller, the back of the board raises ever so slightly because of the pressure release and following imbalance. So you get some snipe. I built a long melamine bed for mine and that got things down to barely a skim so I can hit it with my drum sander for final thickness. Otherwise I would still be trimming my board, or using a following scrap piece.

[mvilla]

Thank you so much. I'm definitely going to do this asap. My planner just started sniping and it's driving me crazy. 😂😂

[knowledge]

Great job, as was mentioned in a previous post by @lynnetonn, you are the First to mention the lock lever. Picked up some key points. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.