Redwood seems to be tough on blades.

shopteacher | Posted in General Discussion on February 20, 2006 03:56am

I’m making some picture frames from some salvaged redwood paneling (3/4″ T & G from the late 50’s – all clear heartwood). It seems to dull plane blades faster than the cherry that I’ve been using. Has anybody out there had the same problem?

Replies

JohnWW | Feb 20, 2006 04:08am | #1
A few woods like cedar contain substances that chemically break down carbide, I suspect that may be the cause of your problem with redwood.

John W.

charlesm | Feb 21, 2006 09:05pm | #2
John,I don't claim to be a metallurgist but my understanding from ours is that the Titanium we add to the carbide makes it more resistant to the chemicals in wood. Don't know of an option for steel to provide the same benefit.
Charles M

Freud America, Inc.

JohnWW | Feb 22, 2006 08:14am | #3
CharlesM,I have a study done by university researcher that went into the problems of the chemicals in wood attacking the binder in carbide, if I can find it, I'll send you a copy. The problem wasn't with the carbide itself, apparently the binders broke down and the carbide grains simply came loose.John White

shopteacher | Feb 22, 2006 02:29pm | #4
The blades are hand plane blades (no carbide). The wood is old and seems to be very abrasive. While there is some "finish" on them, I am not taking it off. A clean, continuous shaving is difficult to get.

JohnWW | Feb 22, 2006 08:53pm | #5
Missed the reference to plane blades, so my comments on carbide miss the point entirely.

By any chance has the wood been sanded to remove the old finish or been used in an application where fine grit could have been worked into the surface? Sanding definitely leaves grit behind in the wood that will dull hand tools quickly. Almost all finishes are very rough on steel tool edges, even traces of an old finish will cause dulling.

It has been a long time since I worked redwood with a hand plane, but my recollection was that the wood was crisp and brittle and long shavings weren't common.

John
Dave45 | Feb 23, 2006 04:38pm | #6
How about plain old dirt? Old, weathered, unfinished, redwood is usually really dirty. Because it's so porus, the dirt gets deeply embedded in the wood - and we all know what dirt can do to edged tools - lol.

Try scrubbing it with a soft bristle brush and letting it dry before you plane it. Don't be surprised if this "raises" the grain. Scrubbing away the dirt will also remove some of the softer wood between the growth rings leaving a ridged surface.
shopteacher | Feb 24, 2006 02:38pm | #7
Dirt is a possibility. The surface I'm using is the unfinished back of each board. I go through a series of planes to rough it out and finish with a #4 1/2. The edge is beaded with a Stanley 45 (these cutters are not the hardest, but they hold up in normal use). My thinking was that by the time the exposed, old surface was gone, the dirt would be gone also. Keep sharpening is the way to go I guess.
Dave45 | Feb 24, 2006 04:28pm | #8
If you have some extra wood (and some time to experiment) you could try cleaning some of it before you start planing.

Several years ago, I paid for a Delta benchtop planer by resurfacing my old 2"x6" redwood deck boards for my new deck. (New boards were almost 3x what I had paid for the old ones - lol).

The first 15 - 20 boards really ate up the knives so I hosed the rest off with the garden hose and let them dry. I got thru the rest of the job with just a few touchups on the knives.

I needed about 10 new boards to finish the deck. When I got them home, I discovered that they almost exactly matched the thickness of the re-milled boards - lol.