Using planer on figured wood

[Nick Clayton]

I was using my 22-540 to plane some 3' lengths of curly maple to 3/4 and I noticed that I was getting some pitting in areas. What would cause this? I know that the machine is noted for sniping, but I have never experienced that or pitting like this when planing in the past. Also, it has fresh knives on it 30lnft< and has alway provided me with great service. Is this just the beast of working with firgured wood and do I need to tell my fiance that I need to buy a drum sander?

[Jim W. White]

Simply a product of trying to plane highly figured maple. You will have greater success if you run the boards at an angle through the planer a but the REAL solution is a high angle hand plane such as the LV BUS. It's a lot cheaper than a drum sander and more fun to use IMHO.

Jim in Idaho

[tod evans]

nick, another method of dealing with tearout in figured wood is to lightly moisten the surface being planed before planing..02 tod

[Lee Schierer]

In addition to dampening the wood surface before each pass, try taking extremely light cuts. Feed direction on figured boards can also be critical. Feeding the other end first may reduce the chip out.

[Mark Singer]

Depending on the wood sometimes only sanding or planing with a high angled plane works.....moistening will often help... I just tried figured Shedua and its pretty imposible even moistening

[Alan Tolchinsky]

I would lightly sponge the surface until the surface is damp and let it sit for 5 minutes then put it through the planer set at less than 1/32", hardly any wood removal. SHARP BLADES ARE A MUST. If you keep getting tear out using this method then abandon it before you make a real mess of the board and go the hand plane method with a low angle plane or sand with belt sander/orbital sander. Or bring it to somebody to sand on a wide belt sander for you. Good luck.

[Nick Clayton]

As always I knew I could count on Creekers for great advice. I hadn't thought about moistening the boards prior to planing them.... I always run boards through on an angle to achieve the shaving effect and the blades are razor sharp , but moistening the wood; Hmmmmmmm.

I'm also starting to build my hand tool collection, but with the wedding 32 days away I'm having a hard time spending money on tools. We're taking a pre-honeymoon up in Bar Harbor so I'm hoping to fingd some nice old planes in the antique shops on the way.

[Jesse Cloud]

Agree with all the good advice above. Just wanted to add that I have the same problem with curly maple, usually wind up using a hand plane and scraper.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

a couple points:
1.) Get the drum sander & get a large one. Get one big enough to run cabinet doors in one pass and entry way doors in two.
2.) Hey while you are at it get a new planer.
3.) Start the pattern now: Never inform anyone about your intended acquisitions, just get them. The mere act of informing almost always end up being understood as somehow conferring veto power. Taking veto power back is never easy.

"It is always easier to ask forgiveness than to ask for permission." Rear Admiral, Dr. Grace Murray Hopper.

[Nick Clayton]

Cliff,

I like to think of it as an open dialogue. Besides, somehow I think she'll notice a large drum sander when she walks into the barn

[Lopaka Garcia]

Hey Nick thanks for posting this thread. I just bought that same planer, a used one, and I'm having the same problems with tear-out on Koa.

I've never heard about wetting down the wood between passes. I'll definitely have to try that. How does that theory work? Wouldn't wet wood make it harder for the blade to cut and cause more tear-out? I'm not questioning you guys one bit, just a bit curious as to how it works.

I've tried very light passes and I still get tear-out. I know Koa is notorious for tear-out because it's so highly figured, but man, at least save me some wood to work with! I sure wish I had a wide-belt sander for this stuff.

[tod evans]

lopka, the theory is that by softening the fibers they`ll be less likely to hold together and tear when impacted by the knifes. same reason veneer logs are boiled before being cut...02 tod