planing eastern red cedar

[mark kosse]

Howdy all,

I was planing out a 15" ERC slab bench top with and wonderful old 1930 vintage craftsman/sargent plane. Blade was nice and sharp but I was getting a little tear out so I switched to a LV low angle smoother with a very sharp 25 deg blade, nice tight mouth and I was getting nice wide .001 shavings that looked amazingly like bacon.

BU was the wrong answer though. The wood tear out magnified tremendously with the BU plane but the craftsman reduced it again afterwards. I have a 38 deg blade for the LV somewhere, but will the 5 deg step up be enough or am I going to get tear out on ERC no matter what. Being a slab bench perfection isn't necessary but it would be nice.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I always have recommended people with limited funds to go with bevel up due to the versatility, and that is what I used for a very long time on very figured woods and tricky grained mahogany. Yes, the 38 deg iron is going to give you a better chance at not getting tearout. That's probably what I use most in my BU Smoother.

That said, when I need to work a very highly figured piece of maple with grain going in every direction, I reach for my Lamborghini, which is my Lie-Nielsen No 3 Bronze that has been so finely tuned that I can just point it in the general direction of the wood, and it flattens itself. Okay, but seriously- I can certainly see some difference with a bevel down and a chipbreaker. It is a very small difference, but there is a difference.

That said, you shouldn't be getting tearout with ERC if it is not figured grain with either plane.

[Jim Koepke]

The western cedar I have worked with seem to be very splinter prone. I work as delicately as possible with a blade as sharp as possible. Even when making shavings in the sub 0.001" range it isn't uncommon for me to get a little tear out.

jtk

[mark kosse]

Here is the grain I'm planing. Not especially bad.bench top.jpg

I switched to the 38 deg blade with these full width shavings, but not much help. still tear out.shaving.jpg

it's not around the knots though.