I'm building a project using curly maple for a nightstand top. I've never used this wood before, so can anyone advise any tips/tricks for working it? I heard that it has a tendency to tear out when planing. Thanks in advance... John Graser
One tip is to wet the surface with a wet spong soaked in distilled water and let it sit for a minute. Then run through your planer. The softened fibers will tear out much less.
I'm sure if you do a google search using "figured wood tearout" as the keywords you would get a wealth of additional info.
One good reason to plan for chamfers or roundovers.
Just watch that you have a clean sponge. I tried this today and found out that my sponge was laced with mold of some kind that sprouted little blue dots after a half hour. It wasn't my intended look. Didn't have any tearout, though it will still raise the grain. The better option for small pieces is to run it through the table saw if you have a good blade (60-80 tooth)
Vman
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