I have never used a thickness planer before and need some advice.
I’m using my new Ridgid TP1300 to plane some 4/4 flat cut wenge with a nice cathedral grain pattern. I’ve adjusted the infeed and outfeed table to eliminate snipe and I’m very happy with the mirror-like finish on most of the surface, except that I’m getting tearout where the grain reverses.
Is there any way to prevent this?
If not, what’s the best way to repair/fill this (~2″ dia.) area?
Thanks,
Jerry
Replies
You can wet the surface of the lumber slightly. also take lighter cuts.
Wetting the surface definitely helps me in this situation.
Concerns that folks express when wetting is mentioned is "will this cause the piece to warp?", and "will the water cause my thickness planer to rust?".
The answer to the first is - not that I've experienced. The wet part gets planed off right away, and does not seem to affect the moisture content of the whole piece at all.
The answer to the second is - not that I've experienced. This has come up several times before on this forum, and I haven't seen anyone post that they have experienced rust by using this method.
Some folks suggest using denatured alcohol (DNA in many posts) rather than water. Others suggest mineral spirits. I'm leery about spraying either near an open source of flame - i.e., the motor in the thickness planer, but both work fine when using a handplane.
Application methods vary - sponge and /or spray bottle both work. I use both - I spritz the surface with a WallMart household cleaning product sprayer, and wipe off the excess with a damp sponge.
Don't hesitate to put enough on - not dripping, but definitely wet. The idea is to wet the area you are about to plane off sufficiently wet to both make the fibers more flexible so as to be less likely to shatter and to lubricate the blade edge/wood fiber intersection AT the cut, so that the blades cut the fibers rather than break them and/or pull them out.
You should get more answers to this before the day ends, so don't rush into anything :)
Mike D
I agree that wetting down the area of revered grain will help -- most of the time. In our shop, though, we rely on our drum sander as an alternate method of dimensioning really difficult pieces. This piece of equipment comes in so handy for so many other applications that its cost (which will probably include the purchase/installation of a dedicated dust collector) may be a wise investment.NORTHWEST BUNGALOW Handmade Furniture
Granville Island Vancouver BC
http://www.nwbungalow.ca
I knew someone would say drum sander. Wish I had one, but this is a low budget operation :-)
I was already taking the lightest passes possible, which reduced the tearout, but did not eliminate it.The water idea make sense - I'll give it a try.Thanks,
Jerry
Kerosene does the job very well, and it's not at all prone to combustion. Any residue in the wood will evaporate away, and any residue on the planer just acts as a solvent for gum deposits.David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
Hi Ring,
The only problem that I have with kerosene is what I percieve to be the lingering odor. But then, I have the nose of an old houn' dog.
Mike D
David, kerosene is a flammable liquid, it's fumes are even more dangerous. A board covered in kero then put through a planer, where the motor brushes make sparks is a potential disaster. particularly in a closed space. A friend of mine was severely burned by vapors igniting. Kerosene can enter the body both through inhalation and skin contact. It's not gasoline but it should get the same respect. An easy way to handle tear out type grain on some hardwoods is to have another set of planer knives ground to 35°.Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Oh I just knew that if I mentioned kerosene somebody would gasp and tell me that it's dangerous. I'm sorry about your friend's injury but I find it hard to believe that it was from kerosene on a planer. It's actually almost impossible to ignite it from a spark...try it if you don't believe me. In any case, I've hung around wood shops for 50 years or so. All the old timers I've known used kerosene or diesel fuel - threw it liberally on the planer bed to make things slide nicely, and tossed some onto rough spots to minimize tearout. Never once heard of it igniting. I'll admit the smell isn't so great...David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
If you're planning on filling the pores (and the tearout), then epoxy works very well applied with a credit card or something similar. Takes a shellac or lacquer finish very well.
Would I apply the epoxy before the final planing or before final sanding/scraping?With such a dark wood as wenge, do I tint the epoxy with something (maybe sawdust)?
Test the epoxy on scrap Jerry, but assuming you're filling the entire piece (those pres are enormous on wenge) I'm sure you won't see the tearout at all. The epoxy will make the wood slightly darker as will most finishes.
My friend wasn't burned using kero in a planer. He was hurt when kero vapors ignited. I thought it was a fairly benign substance myself, until his accident. I've worked with enough "old timers" to know that they were often lacking in safe procedures. Remember, on this forum you're not often talking to industrial woodworkers. I don't think it's a good idea for a person in a basement shop to be slathering kerosene on boards going in a portable planer. At least not without knowing there may be dangers. That's an entirely different situation than the planer at the sawmill.Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
"He was hurt when kero vapors ignited."
That takes a lot of kerosene. The lower explosive limit is 0.7%, which is about the same as its vapor pressure, meaning that the air in the room would have to be pretty much saturated with kerosene vapor before a flame would propagate. (For comparison, gasoline's vapor pressure is several times its LEL, so it's very easy to build up an explosive concentration of gasoline vapor.)
There's one sure way to make kerosene dangerous, however: Heat it. That will raise its vapor pressure significantly above its LEL. I know personally of a couple of fires/explosions caused by heating kerosene, and that's also what usually happens with fires caused by kerosene heaters. But I'm not aware of any serious accidents involving kerosene vapor at room temperature.
-Steve
I don't get it Steve. Kerosene is a petroleum distillate, a fuel, it's flammable. If someone wants to slather it on their lumber and planer and have the wet chips go on their merry way to the dust collector, that's fine with me. I wouldn't do it. I just think they should realize it's not a benign substance. In certain circumstances, it could even be more dangerous in terms of fire. If someone wants to use it, they should be aware of the facts. My friend was working on a construction heater. Likely the tank was low on fuel and high on vapor, could have been hot, too, or contaminated with something else. That's not the point. The fact that it's flammable, is.http://www.inchem.org/documents/icsc/icsc/eics0663.htm
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
"Kerosene is a petroleum distillate, a fuel, it's flammable."
Wood is flammable, too. Does that mean you shouldn't be sending any wood through your thickness planer?
Flammability is not, by itself, a safety concern. (See: wood.) It doesn't tell the whole story.
-Steve
and I'm very happy with the mirror-like finish on most of the surface, except that I'm getting tearout where the grain reverses.
YES You will! Depending on whatever!
I do NOT have the Ridgid but as I have posted many times Ridgid makes GOOD tools for the price. I use a Ridgid TS.. I love it MOST of the time!
I just purchased a DeWalt BY735? Whatever.. with two speeds and three knives.. I have surfaced ALOT of Pango-Pango with all sorts of changing grain direction. I bought it because of that feature...
I got some surfaced 2 (flat) sides and it cleaned up the tearout on some of the boards that showed some tearout on reversing grain direction. YES as in the blades were sharp!
AS IN.. I will take very light cuts (As in always) ..
I work with woods that do that.. OK so I'm a nut that likes GRAIN! I do the best I can on a planner and finish off with a Drum sander... Or by hand.
I'm very surprised that no one has mentioned shellac!
I personally don't have experience but have seen this method mentioned for hand planing reverse or difficult grain!
A light coat and wait for it to dry before putting it through the planner.
Chaim
Make your own mistakes not someone elses, this is a good way to be original !
I usually hang out at breaktime, but I'm here enough to know how much you guys love to talk about shellac. So... are you pulling my leg, or are you serious?Jerry ;-)
are you pulling my leg, or are you serious? BOTH!
Shellac will hold the loose fibers together to a degree... Sort of like getting a nice close shave from a barber.. All in the prep work!
However, the shellac may be a slight problem if not removed if you plan to stain the wood after. Not that hard to get rid of though..
Did'nt think about that issue! Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
ChaimMake your own mistakes not someone elses, this is a good way to be original !
The wenge is beautiful as is, so no plans to stain it. I'm making a bathroom vanity and I was thinking of finishing with spar varnish. The wenge does have open pores. Would the shellac also act to fill/seal those pores and would it be OK under the varnish?JerryPS: What an amazing and versatile material that shellac is!;-)
The wenge does have open pores. YES IT DO! AND then some..
I cannot comment on PROPER finishing. All I can say is .. I LIKE WOOD as it IS! I do not try to make it different in any way except for a paying customer. None these days.. I now work for for free for folks I like! And I tell them You get what I like and leave it at that..
Guess I'm not a FineWoodWorker..
I can make anything flat and square.. Finishing is another matter.. Like ART.. Easy if you have the skills and patients to do it!
I agree with your comment: "I LIKE WOOD as it IS!"I'm interested in how you might finish wenge, even if it's not a 'proper finish'. Keep in mind it will be used in a full bath.I'd rather not 'add' anything if filling the pores is not necessary.Jerry
...still there?
Would the shellac also act to fill/seal those pores ..
Not sure .. I just wipe it on let dry a bit and then plane the wood! I think God gave me a brain for doing.. Not thinking about it!
Just a thought I had.. I once told my wife She is like Shellac.. (I was thinking in terms as SO EASY to get along with)..She asked what that was.. I explained about the bugs and stuff.. She looked at me with that' Woman face and told me in no uncertain terms... I hate bugs!
I never mentioned Shellac to her again!
As you well know, it can be very difficult to compliment a woman!I'm always getting myself in trouble ;-)Jerry
Jerry,
I built a vanity 2 years ago out of panga panga, which I believe, is a close cousin of wenge's. I did not take any chances on the 4/4 stock, which I used for the top. I used a router sled on the show face and used the planer only on the underside. The routed surface was not glass-smooth initially, but that's what the ROS is for.
Chris
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