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Thread: Curly Maple planing questions

  1. #1
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    Curly Maple planing questions

    So I just ordered some curly maple from Bell Forest and I need to sort myself as far as plaining goes when it arrives for the plaque I have in mind for a retiring Marine. I have a LN #4 wit a 45 degree frog(no back bevel) and I have a 62 1/2 low angle jack( Lie-Nielsen) with the regular 25 degree blade. Obviously I need a high angle for such figured maple. The question is, how should I attack this lumber? Should I get a new blade for the jack plane? Maybe a high angle frog for the #4? what would you guys recommend?

  2. #2
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    The 4 will do it. The iron needs to be REally sharp, and the cap iron Very close to the cutting edge with the end angle changed more vertically to almost stop the shaving. Mouth not as tight as you might think. You don't want the shavings to be long curls like you normally like off a smoothing plane. Shavings around one thou or less. I keep a Record 4-1/2 set up to do this. It takes some playing with it to get one to work, but once you do, it works like a charm.

  3. #3
    Buying a second blade would certainly be the easiest thing to do. I've got a 50 deg blade for my LV smoother and it does a great job. No tearout at all.

  4. #4
    Tom, when you say more vertically, do you mean more perpendicular to the plane of the sole or the plane of the blade?

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Don Shirey View Post
    Tom, when you say more vertically, do you mean more perpendicular to the plane of the sole or the plane of the blade?
    Not Tom of course, but I'll chime in. My favorite line on this is what Charles Holtzapplfel said over 160 years ago: the chipbreaker should present a "nearly perpendicular wall" for the shaving to ascend. So, if the iron is bedded at 45°, and the chipbreaker has about a 45° bevel (this can be a very small microbevel), you get 90°. The chipbreaker bevel can certainly be steeper than 45°, up to about 80°, but I find 45° or a just a little bit more to work well.

    One visual sign that you have the chipbreaker in the right range is when the shaving shoots straight up out of the plane, rather than curling. Like this:

    IMG_1061.jpg

    Of course it doesn't have to do that--as long as the surface looks good, that's all that matters.
    (sorry for the bad lighting and filthy bench)
    Last edited by Steve Voigt; 03-25-2015 at 10:12 PM.
    "For me, chairs and chairmaking are a means to an end. My real goal is to spend my days in a quiet, dustless shop doing hand work on an object that is beautiful, useful and fun to make." --Peter Galbert

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Don Shirey View Post
    Tom, when you say more vertically, do you mean more perpendicular to the plane of the sole or the plane of the blade?
    More perpendicular to the top of the iron. This is where it plays its most important part. It keeps the shaving from lifting too soon, and tearing out behind where the cutting edge hits the wood. I don't think in words, so that might not be explained the clearest either.

  7. #7
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    Thanks everyone for your input. I have given myself a very comfy window with which to work before the piece is to be presented. Having said that, I suppose I could at least try to get the #4 to tackle this lumber before I throw money at the problem. There may not be a problem after all hehe. If setting the chip breaker really close and having an extra sharp blade is the recommended prescription for figured wood, why are there so many "extras" sold to combat such wood?

  8. #8
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    I'm in the home stretch of a highboy in curly maple and have done a ton of hand planing to this point. I've done all of the finish planing with my trusty #4 and it's done a fine job.

    The advise of others to have a very sharp iron, tight mouth and chipbreaker is correct and likely all you'll need to plane curly maple.

    In my experience, not all figured wood is made the same. Maple is pretty easy to plane, curly cherry not bad, but get into the figured tropical woods with interlocking grain and it's a whole different game!

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    I agree a sharp blade in a no 4 will handle curly woods, but some curly maple tears out in deep chunks even with the best setup. If you can't get it to plane then get a toothed blade for the bevel up plane. Use it diagonally to flatten the board. It works miracles. Follow that with a no 4 and ultra sharp blade, and take it down to where you just stop seeing the tooth pattern. Follow that with a card scraper and frequently reset the burr on the card scraper.

  10. #10
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    Alright I feel confident I can tackle this wood with my sharp #4. I will report back when I start dimensioning. Thanks all!

  11. #11
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    Taste test time

    why are there so many "extras" sold to combat such wood?
    Arent you guys proud of me ?
    How quiet I have been ?
    To answer the question directly above . . . until fairly recently most all of us did not understand the use of the chip breaker well enough to get good results in gnarly wood with it. Of course several guys here do and have all along but we had not ears to hear nor eyes to see what they knew to be perfectly freekin' obvious to them.
    so
    yes all you need is your #4
    That said I will add that since you have the BU I believe that if you were to put a micro bevel on the 25° blade you could have a particularly easy time of planing this wood and the added advantage of being able to take heavier cuts as opposed to being limited to being locked into taking endless passes at the one thou setting. Sharpening can even be more lax with your bevel up in that you can round the bevel side and as long as the flat side of the blade is pretty good you will still be cutting well. The bevel down is less forgiving of a rounded bevel than the bevel up.

    And to well and truley end my record for this thread of "being good (silent)" I would add that rather that trial and error to get the chip breaker set just right after each sharpening , if you were to go with the bevel up with say a twenty degree increase in bevel angle for a micro bevel of 45° all you have to do is put the blade in the plane, push the plane down the work while advancing the blade until it begins to cut, tilt the blade until the curl is centered on the blade, advance the blade more until you are taking a curl on the bold side of lets get this done and . . .
    well
    thats just me I guess.
    take lots and lots and lots of super thin shavings if you like.
    In fact I would say now is your chance to test out both methods, master both tools and see which you like best.
    Last edited by Winton Applegate; 03-26-2015 at 1:09 AM.
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  12. #12
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    It's a worthy practice to give a test run on the side that people won't see,
    to get a feel for how a given board behaves.

    Remember that a blade presented askew (like a snow plow) presents a varied cutting angle.
    This can help slicing through the undulations of 'curl' in the grain.

    If I understand it correctly, curl is the radial cells alternately nearer and farther from the surface because of their size.
    This means the plane iron will be cutting through different densities of fiber and tear out is a present risk.

    In practice, this means a freshly sharpened blade is essential.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Winton Applegate View Post
    Arent you guys proud of me ?
    How quiet I have been ?
    To answer the question directly above . . . until fairly recently most all of us did not understand the use of the chip breaker well enough to get good results in gnarly wood with it. Of course several guys here do and have all along but we had not ears to hear nor eyes to see what they knew to be perfectly freekin' obvious to them.
    so
    yes all you need is your #4
    That said I will add that since you have the BU I believe that if you were to put a micro bevel on the 25° blade you could have a particularly easy time of planing this wood and the added advantage of being able to take heavier cuts as opposed to being limited to being locked into taking endless passes at the one thou setting. Sharpening can even be more lax with your bevel up in that you can round the bevel side and as long as the flat side of the blade is pretty good you will still be cutting well. The bevel down is less forgiving of a rounded bevel than the bevel up.

    And to well and truley end my record for this thread of "being good (silent)" I would add that rather that trial and error to get the chip breaker set just right after each sharpening , if you were to go with the bevel up with say a twenty degree increase in bevel angle for a micro bevel of 45° all you have to do is put the blade in the plane, push the plane down the work while advancing the blade until it begins to cut, tilt the blade until the curl is centered on the blade, advance the blade more until you are taking a curl on the bold side of lets get this done and . . .
    well
    thats just me I guess.
    take lots and lots and lots of super thin shavings if you like.
    In fact I would say now is your chance to test out both methods, master both tools and see which you like best.
    Well Winton, you 'only' stayed out of this discussion for a hour. I know you must have been jumping out of your skin during that time.

    I think its time for a good old-fashioned plane off to end this discussion once and for all.

    I can see you, for example, in one corner with your BU plane and secondary bevel approach, then over in the other corner some reasonable modern day substitute for ol Dave Weaver with his finely adjusted cap iron and trusty #4. Let you both tackle a few species of wood ranging from the oft mentioned, easy to plane maple, moving on to a dense hardwood, then some nasty curly maple, perhaps some yew, and then ending up with Derek's finest tasmanian live oak.

    Someone could film the whole thing and have our judges grade the respective process and results and crown a grand champion of finish planing and end this discussion once and forever. It could be a knock down drag out battle for the ages.

    Afterwards all present could retire to savor a cold beer and your favorite cookies and discuss what might have been. It could be famous!

  14. #14
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    I had to plain some truly nasty maple grain recently on a frame I was building. I reground my chipbreaker slightly steeper (50 degrees) polished my blade, and then set the distance of the chipbreaker from the edge with a feeler gauge to .010". It cured my ailments.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  15. #15
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    I use a 50 degree iron on my Veritas bu smoother for curly maple.

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