Skip to Content

Can You Put MDF Through a Planer? (Explained)

MDF is an artificially processed wood. It is made by using recycled wood fibers and the processed wood is attached using resin.

Since an MDF board is not a natural type of wood, you might be wondering if it can go through a planner without any issue.

You might also want to know how you can shave MDF using a planner. Let’s find the answers to all your queries regarding putting MDF through a planner.

Can you put mdf through a planer?

You can definitely put MDF through a planer to make it even and smooth. The planer trims the surface of the MDF board, reducing its thickness and smoothing the surface. However, the blades of the palmer will get dull super fast as glue and resin are used to make MDF.

MDF is an artificially manufactured wood. An MDF board is manufactured with the help of recycled wood fibers. Then it is connected using resin and glue. The processed wood is then pressed and dried to strengthen the unit.

Since an MDF board is a processed unit, it usually doesn’t need to be smoothened. However, you can most definitely put the MDF board through a planer. The planner will shave off the top layer of the MDF board, perfectly making the wood smooth.

That being said since the materials with which MDF is made include glue, the planer’s blade will lose its sharpness in a short period of time. So, if you want to effectively smoothen your MDF, you will have to change the blades frequently.

There are mainly three types of planer available. They are hand planer, electric planer, and thickness planer. You might be wondering if you can put MDF through these planers.

Hand planer:

Yes, you can surely use a hand planer to trim off the surface of an MDF board. With a hand planer, you can slice off the surface of the MDF more effectively and efficiently. This is due to the fact that hand planers’ blades are sturdy and rigid.

Electric planer:

You can most definitely plane your MDF board using an electric planer. However, using an electric planer on an MDF board will not be the best choice. This is due to the fact that the blades of the electric planer will lose its sharpness quite quickly.

Thickness planer:

You can use a thickness planer to make the surface of your MDF board smooth. Using a thickness planer, you can quite effortlessly and effectively control the thickness of the board.

What is a wood planer?

A wood planer is basically a woodworking tool that is used to shave off the surface of a wood board. It is used to remove a layer from the top layer of a wood board to make the surface flat and smooth.

The wood planer tool is also used to trim boards to maintain equal thickness throughout its full length.

It is also used to make the thickness of a set of wood boards the same. So, it can come in handy to make uniformly shaped furniture and other wood items.

After getting a wood board, you might not like the thickness and smoothness of the board. In that case, you can use a wood planer to smoothen the surface and maintain consistent thickness across the board.

That being said, the blade of a wood planer can lose its sharpness quite soon if the wood is artificially processed. The MDF board makes the blade of the planer dull very fast since it contains glue and resin in it.

Will a planer work on MDF?

A planer will most definitely work on an MDF board. You can use a planer to trim off the surface of the MDF board and make it smooth. By using a planer on the MDF board, you can also make the top surface of the board even and flat.

With the help of an MDF board, you can maintain constant thickness across the whole length of the board. You can also customize the thickness of the MDF board with the help of a planer.

A planer will work quite well on an MDF. In fact, the planer will shave off the surface of an MDF board in a matter of minutes.

That being said, the MDF board is built using recycled wood fibers, glue, and resin. Since MDF contains glue, the blades of the planer will scrape off and will become dull very fast.

3 reasons why you can put mdf through a planer

There are numerous reasons why you can put MDF through a planner. It is very important to know the reasons for which you can use a planer on an MDF. Some of the most significant reasons are to make the surface smooth, to maintain equal thickness throughout a MDF board, and to flatten uneven surfaces.

Let’s take a look at 3 of the most significant reasons for which you palace an MDF board through a planer.

Maintaining consistent thickness:

Although a MDF board is an artificially manufactured unit, the thickness of the board is not always consistent. Sometimes the thickness becomes inconsistent and you cannot use it to make perfect furniture.

To make the thickness of your MDF board consistent across its full length, you can use a planer. While putting your MDF board, make sure to adjust the settings appropriately so that your board doesn’t get damaged.

Smoothing the surface:

A planer is usually used as a surface smoother. It basically shaves off the top surface of a wood board to make it shiny and smooth. To polish an MDF board, you can put it on any type of planer without any issues.

Flatten uneven surface:

An uneven and bumpy MDF board won’t make great furniture and other wood based materials.

You can get rid of the uneven surface of the MDF board with a planer. Using a planer, you can flatten the uneven surface of an MDF board in a matter of minutes.

What happens when you put mdf through a planer?

Numerous things will happen when you will put MDF board through a planer. A series of things will happen when a MDF goes through a planer blade. The things that happen are usually the basic functions of a planer.

Let’s take a look at what happens when you place MDF through a planer.

Shaves off the top surface:

When a MDF board goes through a planer, it at first shaves off the top surface of the board.

When the top layer of the MDF board is shaved, the board’s surface will become very smooth. So, a MDF wood sheet is passed through a planer to smoothen it.

Trim off uneven thickness:

When a MDF board or sheet goes through a planer, the uneven surface in the board becomes totally flat. In fact the thickness of the board across its full length also becomes consistent. This is due to the fact that when you put MDF through a planer the uneven thickness will get trimmed.

How to shave mdf with a planer?

Shaving MDF with a planer is not as complicated as it may seem to you at the beginning. You can do it quite effortlessly with a bit of time. However, you will have to do it in the right way to prevent any serious damage to the MDF board.

Let’s take a look at how to shave MDF with a planer.

Sharpen the blade of the planer:

To shave MDF with a planer, the first and foremost thing you should do is to sharpen the blade. You will have to make the blade as sharp as possible so that the planer can effectively trim the MDF board’s surface.

Adjust the blades’ angle:

The angle of the blade in a planer basically determines how much thickness the planer will trim off.

So, by adjusting the angle according to your requirement, you will get your desired thickness of the board. However, if the angle is very deep, the planer can get jammed and also crack the wood.

Shave the MDF board:

You can start shaving the MDF board with a planer by placing downward pressure on the planer. You should start shaving the board from an edge so that the thickness remains uniform across the whole length.

Avoid shaving along the grain of the board:

Avoid shaving directly against the grain of the MDF board at all costs. If you do so, the blade can get trapped in small, and angle imperfections in the board.

In this case, the planers’ blade will cut out small, rough chucks from the MDF boards’ surface rather than shaving it evenly.

Final Thoughts

You can most definitely put MDF boards through a planer. In fact, an MDF board can be shaved using almost every type of planer. However, since the artificially manufactured MDF board contains glue, the blade of the planer will lose its sharpness faster than usual.