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1. 
   Bob_Van_Dyke | Feb 27, 2007 09:12pm | #1

   I regularly plane pieces for bent laminations that are 1/8" or less- the thickness depends on how big the piece is that you are bending and how tight the radius is. Try some before you decide on the final thickness to plane to.
   Making the laminates is pretty straight forward.
   First- as I said above- try some just to see how far you can go and how much you will loose to tear out. I usually plan on loosing a significant amount- maybe as much as 25%- it all depends...
   start out with pieces milled four square.
   cut your first laminate on the bandsaw with a fence set up for resawing. I would set the fence to cut at least 1/16 or more than the final thickness of the laminate. after the first cut go to the joiner and face joint the surface of the board and then cut again on the bandsaw- continue cutting and facing till the board is too thin to run on the jointer. I usually flip it around at that point and rip off the back side of the board.
   orient all your laminates for grain direction before going thru the planer.
   Make a "cheater" for your planer- it is a piece of 3/4"plywood (or melemine) with a cleat on the back end of the bottom- this "cheater" will go on the bed of the planer and the pieces you are planing will run on that surface. The cleat on the bottom keeps the cheater from going thru the planer. Make the cheater the full width of your planer.
   The purpose of the cheater is to provide support under the thin laminates.
   adjust the planer to the thickness of the cheater plus the thickness of the laminate and try a pass- smooth side down and oriented correctly for grain direction. If you have a speed control on the planer slow it down all the way.
   Adjust the depth of cut to get a clean planed face- you might have to do two passes. Always "skew" the board when feeding into the planer.
   When planing thin laminates your final pass should be a heavy pass rather than a light one (contrary to normal planing technique you do not "creep" up on it)
   This is because you want to leave as much wood under the planer knife as possible, as long as possible, to give the wood the most support.
   Don't be surprised when you start tearing out chunks out of the middle, beginning or end of the board!
   I have planed cherry laminates all the way down to 1/16" on occasion.
   good luck

   Bob Van Dyke