Newbie question of the day.

[Dale Cruea]

Is there a way to tell which way the grain is running before I start hand planing.
Most of the time I will setup a board to start planing just to find out I need to turn it 180 degrees.

[Garrett Ellis]

Most of the time I will setup a board to start planing just to find out I need to turn it 180 degrees.

That's usually how I figure it out....

[Richard Verwoest]

I would start by getting all ready to plane, then right before you take that first stroke, stop, turn the board around and then resatart. That way "most" of the time you will now be planning in the correct direction.

For a serious answer, you will learn how to read the grain the more and more you plane. Try to keep the grain going down hill. But beware of reversing grain hidden in the depths....

Hoss

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Often times looking at the adjacent edge will tell a lot of info. Notice how the grain rises or falls.

Looking at the end grain can help with flatsawn boards showing a cathedral figure - a tree grows almost like a series of stacked cones almost - so think of how the layers are stacked, and looked at the end grain - on the bark sides of the board, you often plane into the points of the cathedral, and on the heart side of the board, you plane in the opposite direction.

Of course, wood can be funny, and sometimes you just have to guess and see what happens, and sometimes it changes across the board, particularly in large pieces.

There's a free article on PWW that addresses some of this.

[John McPhail]

I look at the adjacent edges. It can definitely be confusing!

[Joe A Faulkner]

I would start by getting all ready to plane, then right before you take that first stroke, stop, turn the board around and then resatart. That way "most" of the time you will now be planning in the correct direction. ...

Or just work with hickory. From my experience, the grain always seems to run in both directions from one end of the board to the next. Love the look, but hate the tear out.

[bridger berdel]

experience is the key. you gain experience by making mistakes....

but seriously. with experience your just start planing and see what happens method will give better and better results. some day if you get good it will give better than 50% good results
learning to read the grain is the only way I know, and it is not infallible. just do it, and you will get better at it.

[Curt Putnam]

I attempt to read the grain but since I don't always get it right, I grab my small low angle block and take a swipe. Then I mark the board so that I can glue up panels with grain all going the same way.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Sometimes, you can look at the edge of the board to see the general way that the grain is traveling. In this case, there is usually a clear "good" and "bad" direction to try and plane.

Think of the wood grain as a couple of towels. lay down the first towel. Lay the second towel about 1" back from the edge. Lay the third town about 1" back from the second towel.

If you come in from the correct direction ("with the grain"), you can run your hand over the towels without lifting the towels. From the other direction, you will lift the towels.

The wood is very similar to this when you look at the grain patterns. Sometimes, I can run my hand slowly along the board and actually feel the grain direction. The trick is that if you are going with the grain, you will not peel up that one layer.

With some very wild grain pattern (such as around a knot), you will likely have almost a circle. If you start at the center and push out, you will probably be going with the grain. The problem is that if you push through it then you will go with the grain for a bit and then against the grain.

[daniel lane]

Dale,

As someone who has been climbing this learning curve for a bit, the first thing I suggest is look at the side of the board you're planing - if you can, give it a swipe with a plane to get a better view. Some woods work better than others, but you'll see a clear grain pattern on the side, and you want to plane it in the direction that the blade moves "up hill". Get some maple and try it, it's actually pretty easy to see there. Try 'petting' the wood, as well, you can get a pretty good feel of the fiber direction if it's moderately rough. (Really smooth and really rough boards are hard for me to do this with.) I know it's not much, but I hope it helps!


daniel

[Matt Hankins]

Looking at the end grain can help with flatsawn boards showing a cathedral figure - a tree grows almost like a series of stacked cones almost - so think of how the layers are stacked, and looked at the end grain - on the bark sides of the board, you often plane into the points of the cathedral, and on the heart side of the board, you plane in the opposite direction.

What Joshua said. The adage is "Bark Side Backwards." Plain in the direction that the "arrows" in the grain point on the heart side and into the points of the "arrows" on the barkside. It should work out for you most of the time.

Matt

[James Taglienti]

Surface planer tearout can also tell you which way to go. Usually the pits have got a deep side and a shallow side. You can see where the grain was lifted first from the board and the snapped off as it tore too deep. Plane from deep to shallow

[Jim Matthews]

If I can see the side of the board - that's my indicator. Follow the grain to see if it is "rising" toward your work surface or "falling".
I try to plane "uphill" along that drift of the grain. When I can't tell, I use my block plane along the edge to cut a light chamfer.

I'm trying to shear off the fiber where it arises at the surface, where the fiber is thinnest. That way, the blade is riding the surface
of the rising grain, in the direction it grew.

If the chamfer curls, I'm with the grain. If it breaks into smaller pieces - I've cut against.
The problem (there's always a catch) is that the stuff I favor most has curl and knots.

In that case, a low angle jack has really worked wonders. I finish with a card scraper, where tear out is worst.
My latest surprise? When using the card scraper, cut along the long axis of the tear out - rather than across the fibers.

[jamie shard]

+1 on the often overlooked approach of petting (love the expression!)

[Try 'petting' the wood, as well, you can get a pretty good feel of the fiber direction if it's moderately rough.]

[Jon Toebbe]

If I can see the side of the board - that's my indicator. Follow the grain to see if it is "rising" toward your work surface or "falling". I try to plane "uphill" along that drift of the grain.

That's what I do. A couple of light passes to clean up an edge, then plane "uphill." If I go the wrong way, the tearout on the edge is minor (light passes) and easy to fix (it's on the edge). Mostly I work with pretty tame woods, though -- poplar, cherry, plain-figured maple.