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I got a new planer and ran a board through it without properly leveling it first. This board now has minor planer snipe on each end. (No more than 1/8th or even 1/16th inch) I've since properly aligned/leveled the tables but I can't seem to remove the snipe from this board.
Is there a way to "repair" this board without simply cutting off each end? I stupidly ran a nice board through it and would like to salvage it for a project.
It's funny that all of the answers have talked about how to prevent snipe, but nothing actually addressed your question of how to fix the board now.
I would glue "rails" onto both edges of your workpiece that are thicker and longer than the piece itself. They will have to be long enough on both ends to absorb the snipe that you're getting, and the thickness should ideally be just thicker than the workpiece.
If you only got the snipe on one side of the boards (i.e. one side was jointed then the other planed) you can leave the workpiece proud of the rails on the jointed side.
If you have snipe on both sides then ideally the rails should be parallel with the workpiece (i.e. the overhang is even all around.) to reduce the amount of material you'll lose by re-milling. Then start by jointing the rails until they're flush with the board.
Now you can plane the board. The rails will have snipe, but the workpiece should not. Once you've taken a pass that hits the entire surface of the board you can rip off the rails on the table saw.
(Although, if you've just got one board that's not too big I'd probably just hit it with a #7 or #8 hand plane.)
Another alternative that I just thought of is to "gang" the board up with scrap wood. If your workpiece is narrow enough you can run a scrap board before it, then run your piece alongside the end of the scrap, then feed another piece of scrap in alongside the end of your workpiece. This will have the same effect of putting the snipe on the scrap instead of your work.
I haven't built one for my planer (yet) but after posting a similar question here, I learned that one can construct a planer sled. A search returns far too many very useful links, especially many videos.
The sleds fall into a couple categories, but are based on a flat board onto which your work piece is placed. The aft end of the sled has a stop block at a lower height than your final thickness. Some of the designs I've seen include side guides on the sled that are held in place with countersunk screws and are at the height of the work piece.
The key feature is that the sled extends forward of your work piece and creates a portion of wood onto which the planing blades will scoop/snipe, saving the work piece for the proper depth/level.
In the process of updating this answer, I found an SE post with a few photos. None of them show side rails and I'm unable to locate any using TheGoogle.
I think when the weather breaks, I'll have to build a couple different designs and see if I can get an anti-snipe model to work!
it's been my experience that unless you have a table that supports the lumber going through the planer (at more than half the length, maybe 2/3) and of course level, that you will get snipe without a little extra help.
I usually pick up the ends both when starting a feed and near the end of the feeding, since the snipe occurs when the board is not supported by a roller both in front and behind the cutter heads.
Now to clean up snipe that has already made it into the wood, you have 2 options, 1 you say you prefer to avoid, which is to cut the ends off reducing the length. The other is to reduce the thickness. If it's really small and light, you might get away with a little sanding on the ends, or you can run it through the planer again at a smaller thickness. Of course for using the planer to fix the issue, you need to make sure you don't repeat the same mistake.
