Resawing/Jointing/Planing the hard way......

[nima hadavi]

Soooooo....I have a dilemma. I recently have begun experimenting with some exotic woods and have run into a brick wall. Purple heart: nice and easy to plane, and resaw without too much effort; Bubinga: As long as I pay attention to grain direction no issues; Wenge: Hard as a rock but as long as I constantly sharpen my tools to maintain a razors edge, no issues. I actually enjoy working with it; Leopard wood: NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!! No matter what I do, no matter how sharp the blade or how thin the shaving, just end up spending 20 minutes to get no where. My Ryoba and Kataba neither have issue resawing(though it does take a loooooonnnnggg time) But the planes have no chance flattening the board.

What am I missing?????

Also, I do not have the budget for a band saw capable of resawing a 10" board, nor access to a thickness sander......What do you neanders do when having to thickness a difficult board?

[Doug Hepler]

Nima,

What is the exact difficulty you are having, e.g., tearout, skipping, or just slipping across the board? Classic plane issues are just magnified by difficult woods, but the solutions are usually classic as well -- sharpening, angle, etc. Have you tried a scrub plane to get most of the flattening done? I have no experience with Leopardwood, but blackwood and bloodwood have been my challenges. I prefer to use hand tools but honestly, I have a planer and use that on these very dense close-grained woods.

If you have tried the classic solutions, then look for a commercial service that can do what you need.

Doug

[Dave Beauchesne]

Nima:
I have no experience with Leopard Wood, but if you are successful with Bubinga, Leopard Wood must be a real bear.

There will be someone who has worked with that wood.

[nima hadavi]

I do not own a scrub plane but think this may now be the time. My main issue is after spending 40 mins resawing a 6x10x1.25, I am left with a reasonable surface (approx 1/16 to 3/32 MAX difference between both boards) but my plane seems to just glide across. I am at a loss. The plane will only start to dig in and begin a cut with the blade exposed 1/16 but then it is so deep it gouges the board. I have had easier times planing rosewood endgrain.

[Jim Koepke]

... my plane seems to just glide across. I am at a loss. The plane will only start to dig in and begin a cut with the blade exposed 1/16 but then it is so deep it gouges the board. I have had easier times planing rosewood endgrain.

Sometimes when working on resawn wood this seems to be the case when in effect the plane is only hitting a few high spots. If there is dust coming through the mouth, then keep going to see if little shavings appear followed by larger shavings.

Another situation might be the blade is not sharp enough to slice the tops of the saw marks.

One more thing that can be a problem is if your plane has a concave sole from front to back.

For the gnarliest of woods that have come my way the first step is to do my best sharpening possible on the blade to be used. Then the plane will be set up to take the thinest of shavings it can on a piece of softwood like pine.

A lot of problems can be overcome with sharpness.

jtk

[James Pallas]

It would help to know more. What plane are you using and how is your iron set up.
Jim

[Doug Hepler]

Nima,

As above, the sharpness of the plane iron is probably a big factor. But I'd also be very interested in the bevel of the iron and the type of plane (bevel up or down). Sometimes a bevel down plane iron has a bevel that is too obtuse and the plane has a tendency to skate on the heel of the bevel. Just a thought. After that I'd want to know if the sole is flat enough around the mouth of the plane. Does the plane take thin shavings off poplar?

If you are trying to take 1/16" off a board that large and hard, you need a scrub plane or perhaps a toothed iron in a bevel up plane. That is if you are determined to do it by hand,

Doug

[john zulu]

+1 to Doug comments. For bevel down planes. Hardwood tends to glide over. But for low angle planes it can slice through the wood easily.

[lowell holmes]

I have a narrow plane iron that I bought at the borg. Is is narrower than my #3 Bailey hand plane. I ground an arc in the iron and use it in the #3 as a scrub plane.

It works great. I set the mouth opening wide.

[Pat Barry]

I do not own a scrub plane but think this may now be the time. My main issue is after spending 40 mins resawing a 6x10x1.25, I am left with a reasonable surface (approx 1/16 to 3/32 MAX difference between both boards) but my plane seems to just glide across. I am at a loss. The plane will only start to dig in and begin a cut with the blade exposed 1/16 but then it is so deep it gouges the board. I have had easier times planing rosewood endgrain.

Take some time with a straightedge and carefully mark the high spots so you can work those areas first. If you can't plane those down a bit first the rest will be fruitless.

[Matt Lau]

What size are you working with?

If you're doing something small, you could get a Gilbert Sanding disk with sandpaper on a drill press.
Alternatively, you could use a scraping plane after a toothed plane.

As with others, what type of plane are you using?
I had a hell of a time the first time I tried working flamed maple with a "bargain" Grizzly plane.