I’m living in Indonesia at the moment. There’s a lot of tropical wood species here, much of which is rubbish. Teak, however, is hard and durable and doesn’t need to be finished. I don’t really like teak either because of its color and uninteresting grain, but there’s not much else here to work with. I am having a hard time hand planing some raw teak, getting some grain tear-out, usually in the same spot, even with a 35-degree bezel in a No. 5-1/2 plane, and it really destroys the cutter edge in a matter of 5 minutes or less. Can you help before I over-develop my right arm? I have several more pieces to do, so should I just take the teak to a mill and pay to have it planed and thicknessed?
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Replies
Hi Stranded,
What a great predicament to be in: woodworking in Indonesia and all you have is Teak at your disposal!
I'm going to ask around before I send you off to the mill. In the meantime, read this article by Mario Rodriguez on Planing Difficult Grain. It sounds like you're well-versed in hand plan use but you may be able to glean some new tips from the article.
On an unrelated note, I'd love to see some photos of the shop you're working in, or some local woodworking scenery from Indonesia. If you have any photos, please post them.
Regards,
Matt Berger
Fine Woodworking
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