I agree that may be what happened. I've don't often get a piece of red oak that tears out a lot, but this ONE piece has got a couple square inches area that's a bear to plane cleanly. I got it perfectly smooth, then grabbed low angle block plane and in one pass left it looking ragged again. That area, when smooth, looks to my eye like the rest of the surface. Is there no way to tell what wood will tear out, by some visible feature, in the grain?
Dave