Is TikTok's Hack For Planing Wood Genius Or A Recipe For Disaster?

If you frequently complete woodworking projects, even as a beginner, you may have invested in a wood planer to make things easier. This machine can be used to smooth out rough wood, flatten it to the desired thickness, shape it, and more. Typically, electric wood planers work by a user feeding wood into one side of the machine piece by piece. As the wood works its way through the machine, blades remove small strips of the material until each piece reaches the desired thickness, texture, or any other preferences set by the user. You determine these settings on the machine before running each piece of wood through. TikTok user @1989_closet took a different approach when using a wood planer, and it isn't the safest method.

Typically, a user sets an electric wood planer on a sturdy woodworking table and places each piece of wood into the appropriate side of the machine. However, @1989_closet attached his machine to one side of a large wood panel and allowed it to make its way down the wood on its own. He appears to have achieved the desired results just fine, but is this safe? TikTok users took to the comments of the video to explain exactly why it's not.

If you take a peek at the comments underneath this TikTok video, you will find that many users pointed out some of the safety hazards associated with this hack. Others questioned the stability of balancing the wood planer on the piece of wood rather than on a sturdy table. "Does that not create a wobble because it needs to climb ??," one user wrote. "Yeah, the wood needs to rest on the bottom, now the blades just eat into the wood," another commenter replied. The lack of stability is one reason to avoid doing this hack yourself.

Other users suggested that @1989_closet might have more success using this method if he used the wood planer upside down. One commenter even mentioned that this hack might not work consistently. "See the thing is the planer won't move like that all the time," they penned. This method also might not be a good fit due to the weight and capabilities of different planers, according to certain TikTok commenters. "My planer weighs 80 pounds and that board probably weighs more than 100 so that's a no from me," one user wrote. 

In conclusion, you would be better off avoiding this risky hack. If you do not enjoy using the type of wood planer shown in the video to complete your DIY woodworking projects, you can always opt for a handheld machine. Home Depot sells a variety of options for beginner woodworkers looking to invest in tools.