Replies

1. 
   oldusty | Aug 06, 2007 02:38am | #1

   willy ,

            Wood can be an un forgiving medium for sure , sometimes each board wants to be treated in it's own way .

         Have you tried switching the direction of feed or once you find the way it wants to go try smaller bites .

      The plane truth is some boards don't want to be worked in any direction and others will allow you to point them any which a way ,  go figure !

                good luck                dusty

2. 
   KeithNewton | Aug 06, 2007 05:20am | #2

   It is an unfortunate fact that most woodworking machinery built for the average consumer have the knives set to a cutting angle, and with sharpness angles most suitable for soft-wood, which produces the symptom that you are describing for hardwood.

   If you knew that you were only going to be working with hardwoods, you would be better off to choose a tool that has a smaller cutting angle. However changing the cutting angle from say 30º to around 10º requires about 50% more horsepower, which would mean that the price would need to be higher, and would probably mean that sales would be less.

   You can sharpen your knives with a face bevel to reduce the cutting angle. That is what I do on my tools, and it will fix this problem. Most of the most common hardwoods will be much more forgiving if you have a cutting angle around 10 ~ 15º. My jointer and planer have the knives set at 30º off or a radius from the center of the arbor, so I sharpen the face back 20º, which leaves a 10º cutting angle, and I can surface fiddle-back or burly grain without much to worry about.

   Here is a link with some information, probably more than you ever want to know.
   http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Knife_Grinding_and_Woodworking_Manual_6.html

   I hope this helps, K

3. 
   BG | Aug 06, 2007 10:48am | #3

   Willy,
   I use the 4 1/2 and it can help with tare out but most of the work falls to the scraper...and it is a bit of work.

4. 
   9619 | Aug 06, 2007 03:03pm | #4

   Willy,
   I agree with the man who suggested the use of a nice hand plane. I'd recommend a #4 1/2 or #5 1/2. Hone a nice bevel on it which is just slightly cambered (rounded) at the edges. Watch Rob Cosman's CD on sharpening and using planes.
   Hand planes will save you a lot of money. You wont need a dust collection system, or ear plugs or a face mask. Besides, you will stay in better shape, and you can meditate while planing.

   Life is good.
   Have fun.
   Mel

   Measure your output in smiles per board foot. 

5. 
   MikeHennessy | Aug 06, 2007 03:08pm | #5

   Some amount of tear-out is pretty routine, but it should be pretty minimal. I rarely get it in oak, except for in areas around knots. That said, tear-out is one sign that your blades need to be sharpened. If they are sharp, but you're still having problems, sometimes you can minimize it by misting the surface to be planed with some water. If you do that, just be sure that you run some scrap through the machine when you're done to dry it out.

   Mike Hennessy
   Pittsburgh, PA

6. 
   borre | Aug 06, 2007 07:16pm | #6

   Willy,

   I put up a question here a week or two ago about the simular problem with planing cherry and maple. I wondered if it would make sence to put back bevels on jointer and/or planer blades. The same like I do with my hand planes for years. After some good answers here I tried it last weekend. Before I put on a 5-10 degree back bevel on my knives I planed and jointed a 'horrible' piece of cherry wich came out with pretty shatered. After putting on the back bevel it was almost 100% smooth. I was mostly surpriced about the result on my jointer wich is  low-tech old cast iron with only two cutters. Just don't go to creazy on the angle of the back bevel or it will take too much force to puch the boards trough the machine. The best angle also depends on the angle that your knives are mounted in the cutter head.

   Borre

    

1. 
   willy | Aug 06, 2007 08:03pm | #7

   Thanks to all for your suggestions. I'll do some experimenting!