Need some words of wisdom from the brain trust here. I'm working on a curio cabinet that has some nice figured Oak in it and I wanted to try and limit my use of sandpaper and do as much the neanderthal way as I can. I took an old Bailey I had on the shelf that I hadn't done anything with since I bought it. I lapped the sole some and the sides, its not perfect but decent. Using the scary sharp method I flattened the back and polished to 1200 grit, primary bevel was done at 25* and then put a back bevel on it at 15* for about 1/64". I lapped the backside of the chip breaker and honed to 600 grit and the front of the chip breaker was honed to 600 grit as well. I put the chip breaker about 1/32" from the edge of the iron.
I attached some pictures of what I was trying the plane out on. The tiger Maple planed beautifully, shavings down to .0001, zero tear out, very impressed. The Oak piece you see is similar to what I am working with on the cabinet in question. I am still getting tear out on the Oak though. I have the frog moved as far forward as it will go, Depth of cut is very minimal and I skew the plane to about 45* while making the strokes.
What else can I do? Scraper?