Replies

1. 
   garth | Mar 11, 2003 07:26pm | #1

   If you are useing a thickness planer take very shallow cuts 1/32" or so, if you get tear out try damping the wood then putting it through the planer, if still getting tear out freeze the wood and plane while frozen.

   Scott T.

2. 
   AlanTurner | Mar 11, 2003 07:31pm | #2

   I have been told that wetting the wood before planing or jointing, either hand or machine, helps much, but I haven't had occassion to try it yet.  Abrasives will do the trick, of course.

   
   

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   Edited 3/11/2003 12:58:18 PM ET by s4s

3. 
   JeffKurtz | Mar 11, 2003 09:08pm | #3

   I've tried hand planes, surface planing - wet and dry - and find the easiest/best way is to have the pieces sanded.  The last pieces I had sanded - about 50 bf - cost me $5 and an hour of my time (including 5 minutes for travel and 45 minutes for  BS-ing).  Well worth it to save a lot of frustration as well as ruined wood.

   Jeff

   
   

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   Edited 3/11/2003 2:10:35 PM ET by Jeff K

1. 
   RW | Mar 12, 2003 01:18am | #4

   Now THAT's good advice. 'Specially if the 45 minutes of BS includes free coffee." Shoot first and inquire afterwards, and if you make mistakes, I will protect you." Hermann Goering to the Prussian police, 1933.

2. 
   BiotechBill | Mar 12, 2003 06:37pm | #7

   Jeff,

   What planet are you on?!?!?!  :) Here in SoCal the 2 places I have used to have table tops sanded, charged on the order of $70/hr with a $40 minimum. I recently had a coffee table and 2 end table tops done at a cabinet shop and it took about 15 minutes. It was worth every one of those 40 dollars.

   Dr. Bill

1. 
   JeffKurtz | Mar 12, 2003 10:18pm | #8

   To those of us in small towns in the Heartland, California and the left coast seem like an entirely different country, and I'm beginning to think that is more and more the case.  Around here, friends and neighbors do little things for each other, scatch each other's backs.  They say, "Oh, just give me a few bucks." or, "Forget about it." knowing that you or somebody else will do the same.

   Of course with insurance companies and litigation and lawyers, all that is beginning to change.  Too bad.

   Jeff

   Edited 3/12/2003 5:32:22 PM ET by Jeff K

4. 
   Alan | Mar 12, 2003 02:03am | #5

   WillyJoe,

   If you're hand planing the same advice holds as for machine planing:  set your plane to take a very light cut.  Also make sure the iron is sharp!  Those two things will solve most problems.

   Unfortunately some woods are just plain ornery and refuse to cooperate.  Maple, amongst others, can be particularly nasty.  If you can see where the grain swoops up and down on the edge, you can use a pencil to mark the areas where the grain reverses.  Turn the plane around and go at those spots from the opposite direction.  It can take some time and patience, but most woods will succumb.

   If all that fails about the only thing left is to try a scraper.  If you use a scraper plane, like the bench plane, it should be set very fine and the blade should be freshly sharpened.  I find a small hook or no hook works best on obstinate wood.  The same if you're using a card scraper:  make sure it's sharp and use a small hook.

   Let us know how it turns out.

   Alan

1. 
   DP | Mar 12, 2003 04:43pm | #6

   I've had success hand planing figured cherry, figured walnut and tiger maple.  The trick is to grind the bevel to 40 degrees and hone it so it's really sharp.  Then take light cuts.  Wetting the wood when using a planer works well also although it works best if you have sharp knives.

1. 
   Alan | Mar 13, 2003 03:48am | #9

   DP,

   You're correct that increasing the planing/cutting angle will help on tough woods.  I assume, though, you're talking about putting a steeper bevel angle on a low-angle/bevel-up plane.  Putting a steeper bevel on a bevel-up plane increases the planing angle; and  again, on nasty woods a steeper planing angle can work wonders.

   On a bench plane, with the bevel down, putting on a steeper bevel won't have the same effect.  Increasing the bevel angle will increase the clearance behind the edge, but the planing angle remains the same--which is the same as the frog angle.  Lie-Nielsen now sells a high-angle frog for some of their planes (including their #4 smoother).  IIRC this frog is fifty degrees, instead of the usual forty-five degrees; this frog should help on ornery woods.

   On a bench plane you can try putting on a back bevel:  i.e. hone a little bevel on the back of the iron.  This  can have the effect of increasing the planing angle.

   You trade something for a higher planing angle:  the plane is harder to push through the wood.  Also, if you buy a low-angle plane, putting on a steeper bevel seems to me to defeat the reason for getting a low-angle plane in the first place--unless you can afford only one plane but can go for a second iron.

   Alan