Alcohol for end grain planing?

[John Schreiber]

I've heard people say that you should put a little alcohol on end grain to make it easier to plane smooth. I'm not finding that it makes much difference, and it sure isn't good for the shellac finish on my shooting board. How much do you use? Do you soak the wood, spray a little on, wipe with a finger?

What am I missing?

[David Gendron]

Actualy John, any liquid, water, alcohol, mineral spirit... And you only need a little, I use a small glue brush to apply it and I find it help a lot actualy!! But of cours if your shooting board is like a piece of furnitur, you should make an other one or not use liquid on it.

[Michael Sobik]

I use DNA, and find it really does help with cutting end grain. I use one of a bunch of 6oz squeeze bottles I got from from Fisher Sci and squirt the alcohol right on the end grain.

[Joe Cunningham]

It seems to help, but not that much. I just use it on DTs when I am planing them flush.

I put a fair amount on, but don't use it on the shooting board. Sharp plane blades are good enough when shooting for the woods I use.

[Randy Klein]

I found it made a difference. But a bigger difference is using a low angle and very sharp blade. I don't know what you're using to shoot with, but I have a LV LA jack with an O1 iron. It's sharpened at 23 degrees with a 3 degree back bevel. It easily removes end grain shaving.

[Sam Takeuchi]

Yes, use little liquid. Don't saturate it, though. Just wet it enough so that end grain is soft and a bit fuzzy. What you want to do is shave that wet fuzz. Low angle plane probably produce better result even though normal angle probably won't be a problem. Use water if you are worried about shellac on your shooting board. It may swell up the end a little bit, but most of it you'll be removing it.

[David Keller NC]

"What am I missing?"

Perhaps the wood type - wetting end-grain on a relatively soft wood like mahogany is probably not going to make much difference, and in general I don't do it. However, if you're planing the end grain of maple, it's almost a necessity. My latest project last weekend was making an end-grain cutting board. Planing was nearly impossible without a bevel-up plane and wetting with DNA.

Typically, I saturate a rag and wipe the surface before each pass (the shavings come off wet, and the wood underneath needs another swipe).

[John Schreiber]

Thanks for the tips.

I'm using a bevel down jointer, when very sharp, it does just fine. I also have a low angle block, but I've been working on bigger stock recently. I'd like a low angle jack, but it's not in the budget.

I'll get a spray bottle and experiment with DNA and some other fluids in that.

I don't really mind messing up the finish on my shooting board. It's just a tool. But I had just shellacked it and was disappointed that it didn't stay pristine.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Helps a lot! Actually I've used mineral spirits more than alcohol, but basically its more which is closest at hand.

Use of these liquids helps a bit also when you're planing some difficult grain--simply dampen the board a tad.

T.Z.

[David Keller NC]

John - One other comment. DNA works well on domestic species, especially maple, and it's about as non-toxic as it gets and still doesn't raise the grain all that much.

However, I wouldn't use it on certain tropical species without first testing it. It will dissolve the dye components of bloodwood, for example, which will cause it to bleed.