How to Set Planer Blades

Last Updated: November 5, 2020

Setting planer blades is a fiddly job, but if you take your time it is not all that hard to get it right. This way of setting the blades works with any size of planer. From huge machine shop surfaces to a small hand planer. Look at the two working surfaces of the planer,the tables. The infeed table is at the front that you set your depth with, and the outfeed table is under the handle, that you hold firmly to the freshly cut timber.

Steps

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The infeed table is at the front that you set your depth with, and the outfeed table is under the handle, that you hold firmly to the freshly cut timber.
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If they are too low, the planer won't work very well, it won't feel positive.
Set the blades a touch higher than the outfeed table and you will get a positive feel to the cut and this also allows for the blades to wear a bit.
Put the new planer blades back in at a guess for height and nip them up just tight enough to hold them firm, but still allow you to adjust them up and down with the adjusting screws.
Rotate the blade (use a finger on the rubber drive band if it's easy to reach) so that it advances and catches the timber and carries it along for a space.
The pencil marks in the photos are about 15mm apart, this will set the blade about one millimeter higher than the fixed outfeed table.
Make it less if you are doing fine joinery with your planer and don't want too much of a scoop on the end of the finished cut.
Move to the front edge of the machine and do the same.
No 2 pencil mark fell a few mm short of the table edge.
This method takes a very small vertical distance and converts it to a lot longer horizontal distance that is easy to see.