Tear outs when using the planner

[Hallgeir Aronsen]

I can not find a good newsgroup about woodworking that is in Norwegian, so I will try this one. Hopefully you will forgive me for my errors in spelling and grammar.

A time ago I was lucky enough to discover an old barn some miles from home where there was stored a lot of rough cut birch and oak. The sawmill had not been in use for 25 years, the owner told us, so the wood had been drying for

25 years, at least. I gave a bid for the hole of the lumber and the owner accepted.

I bought my self a planner and have recently started planning the boards. The oak comes out with a beautiful smooth surface, but I get a tear outs when planning the birch. It seems like when the fibres go in different directions.

Are there any tricks or methods to avoid these tear outs? It would be a shame if my only use of it would be as firewood.. :-(

Thanks in advance

Hallgeir Aronsen

Norway

[Mark L.]

[George]

As you get close to the thickness you desire, take the smallest amount you are able to take. Feed at a slight angle rather than straight ahead.

As Mark said, spray with isopropyl alcohol (better) or water if the above does not work.

Use a plane or scraper to clean up a board left slightly over thickness.

[Morris Dovey]

Hallgeir...

Your English is good (stop worrying). Two small details: planning is the process of deciding what to do in the future. Planing is the process of removing thin layers of wood.

A hole is what you make when you dig with a shovel or what you have when a knot falls out of a board. A whole board has no knot holes. (-:

Sometimes when you experience tear-out it helps to turn the board around and start planing from the other end.

[bridger]

none so far.....

the hole? wouldn't you rather have the wood?

you may get better results finishing up with a thickness sander.

[patriarch]

"Hallgeir Aronsen" wrote in news:414f3d01$ [e-mail]:

You are a fortunate woodworker, to find old, well-dried material.

Others have offered excellent advice. I have only to add that sharper blades, and smaller amounts removed with each pass through the machine will often give you with smoother boards.

I do not expect that the planer will give a final surface. Something else, often more than one thing, will need to be done.

Have fun with your projects. And your English is much better than my Norwegian...

Patriarch

[Nate Perkins]

Hi Hallgeir,

Sounds like you got some great figured birch. That's beautiful wood!

There are a couple of things you can try. Other posters have also mentioned most of these, but I'll repeat anyway:

- Make sure your planer blades are as sharp as possible.

- Try wetting the wood (with a damp cloth) just prior to feeding.

- Take very shallow cuts near the end.

- Try reversing the board and/or feeding it at a slight angle. This may help a little but it will still be problematic if the figure is very wild.

- A cabinet scraper (like a Stanley 80 or 112) are good for smoothing, prior to card scraping or sanding.

Cheers, Nate

p.s. A thickness sander is great for this, but many (most?) people don't have one.

[Hallgeir Aronsen]

Thank you all for the advices. I will test them out this weekend. In the future I will try too remember the difference between the hole and the whole. I think it will be much better deals for me if I can buy the whole of it, instead of the hole of it ;-)

1/2-Geir

[patriarch]

"Hallgeir Aronsen" wrote in news:41508a70$ [e-mail]:

We expect a report....