Anybody using a planer to thickness back and sides?

Seems like a good way to go, but is it risky when you are taking them down to an eighth of an inch or so?

Not all planers will go this thin. Also, planers tend to tear, particularly when cutting figured wood. This is true even if you use a spiral cutter head with sharp inserts. Better to use a thickness sander.

It depends on how much excitement you like in your life. As mentioned above it can destroy figured woods. OTOH, I plane all of my ebony (for fingerboards, bridges) to within a final few thousandths because it's so dense and would take forever on the thickness sander. It comes out very smooth. With koa however a planer will chip out craters.

I have been using a safe t planer on my drill press and it works fine if I only take off a fairly small amount on each pass, would a regular planer work essentially the same? I bought the Dewalt planer with three blades and two speeds. One is said to be for dimensioning and the other for finishing. I am thinking use the finishing setting the whole time and take small passes.

I have a Katalox back and sides set that would probably take forever on a drum sander. Maybe I just use it for certain woods, the more dense varieties?

OK I usually do not chime in a whole lot as I am just the quiet type but I feel the need to say USE CAUTION!

Can it be done...Sure...I have pulled it off...Once (what can I say I was curious)

HOWEVER, it is way more likely to go very wrong......Imagine a few thousand toothpicks flying out of your planer looking for a home in your skin. Gee I wonder how I know this.

Just use hand-planes, drum sander or other tried and true method. Do not waste the wood and risk your well-being...It's just not worth it.

FWIW: At one point I thought I would try and speed things up so I tried the stew mac safe-t-planer and preferred using hand-planes & scrapers anyway. It was faster and better results (for me anyway)

Either way be safe and happy building