I am using curley maple (soft red maple) for a Shaker drop leaf table. I am having difficulty planeing 4/4 stock to 3/4" without creating chipout. No matter which direction I feed the stock I get chipout. I have a Powermatic
22/44 sander that I plan to use, but is there an easier way?Joe.....
Soaking the surface of the maple with water before running it through the planer sometimes helps.
-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA
Lot of folks spray with a bit of rubbing alcohol and water mix to soften the fibers prior to planing, making them more likely to shear than tear.
There's a clue there, too, as angling the board presents the cutters at a bit of a shear to the curl.
But, given the ease of scraping, or in your case, sanding, you might want to leave oversize and take it down at the last with scrape or abrasive.
Had same problems with curly maple. Wet the surface of the plank before you feed it in the planer or on the jointer. in planer, try & feed the plank at slight angle if width of your planer will allow it.
Another suggestion I have heard but not tried is to have a set of planer blades ground with back bevel of about 15*. offcourse if you are going to plane curly wood only occasionally, then it doesn't make sense to do so.
--Rajiv
Joe,
You have the best tool to do it with - use the sander.
Bob S.
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