Aside from the other benefits of planing is the stress relief in rough lumber and subsequent movement different if brought to finished dimension by hand rather than by power tool? This kind of goes hand in hand with the whole premilling thing, which I have found for myself is worth the time.
What I think I mean to ask is does the wood move any less if machined with the ‘gentler’ hand tools? I think the movement is just a function of the different layers being removed but I have been wrong before.
Thanks in advance for any input.
Chris
Replies
Wood will move no matter what you do to it. If you need to get something down to a certain thickness and don't have much room for error than I would rough size the stock to about 1/8" to 1/4" larger than needed and leave it sit for a while for it to become more stable in its new form. After the wood has adjusted to its new size then finish it to its desired dimension. It doesn't matter if you use hand tools, power tools or hand sand it for that matter it will always move some, the best you can hope for is a some what controlled movement.
Scott C. Frankland
Scott's WOODWORKING Website
"He who has the most tools may not win the race of life but he will sure make his wife look like a good catch when she goes to move on."
What Scott said and the wilder the grain the more uneven the internal stresses will be resulting in uneven movement which causes warping, bowing, etc. The straighter the grain the more even the internal stresses will be. Generally speaking, slabs coming from the edge of the tree will have wilder grain than slabs coming from towards the center of the tree.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
Thanks, figured that was the story but still had to ask.
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