Hey guys,

I had a couple hand planing questions. First I thought I had read somewhere that a striated shaving was the sign on a blade then might need sharpened. So I been setting up some of my new hardware and been getting the shavings as seen in the picture. The top is poplar, and the lower is cherry. Both are straight grain, kiln dried, and the same plane and settings were used on both. The cherry shavings are whisper thin (even translucent), while the poplar shavings are “striated”. Both surfaces are excellent. I assume it’s more the type of wood, but I though poplar would be closed grained enough to behave like the cherry. Any thoughts?

Second, as many of you know I’m setting up the IndyFest planing contest. From what I’ve read, other contests have used 2”x6’ pine. I would like to use hardwood. I’m thinking 6/4 rather then 2” and maybe even going a little shorter, maybe 4’. The goal is the thinnest, full length, full width shaving. Any ideas on what might make a good contest wood? I’m going to try and get Frank Miller Lumber to donate the contest wood and they have about anything you could want from domestics to exotics. I would like something that presented a little challenge, but could also be planned. Any ideas?

And finally, I was curious as to what people might use in the contest. (I plan to plane, but don’t think it would be fair to be a contestant - not that I can plane, very well, but in setting everything up I'll do some testing so that could be an unfair advantage). The board will be prepped between contestants with a standard plane. Each contestants will get 3 or 4 tries to take a full width, full length shaving. There will also be an on deck station with an identical board set up for practice runs. So assuming it’s a hardwood, what would your use. Right now I’m leaning toward a York pitch number 4. I think the shorter plane will help maintain a solid shaving, and I’m hoping a higher pitch might help produce a thinner shaving.

Now all this is still to be determined for the Hand Plane contest at IndyFest (April 30th), but I thought a little input might help me get everything set.

Thanks – John