Replies

1. 
   gdblake | Feb 18, 2013 07:55am | #1

   The pitting is tearout

   I would need to see some pictures of the wood to be sure but it sounds like the boards have some wavy/reversing grain.  Either that or you accidently ran the boards through the planer against the grain (we've all done that).  I've not done a lot of work with purple heart, but where I have used it tearout wasn't a problem, either with my jointer or when handplaning.  If you have a handplane I would sharpen the iron, set it for a light cut and start planing.  Take it slow at first to make sure you are planing with the grain. 

   gdblake

2. 
   RWWSr | Feb 18, 2013 01:15pm | #2

   I uploaded a picture of the worst tearout, I tried the hand plane, but no matter what direction I tried it still pitted like this.

   I ran another piece that I got from a different source and it did not tearout this way so I am thinking you are right about the different grain directions on the board, any ideas on how to get around this? The lumber is rough so I really need to plane it somehow

   Thanks

   
3. 
   swannyww | Feb 19, 2013 01:20pm | #3

   tearout

   Find someone with a timesaver or equal wide sander to sand out the chips.  You cannot plane out he chips.

4. 
   gdblake | Feb 19, 2013 06:29pm | #4

   Sanding may be your only option

   If you have a card scraper you can see how the wood responds to scraping.  If scraping works then a scraping plane may be in your future.  Otherwise as the other post recommends, sanding may be your only way to fix this.  I have had success using a sharp low angle plane (I have both the Lie-Nielsen bevel up smoother and jack planes) on wavy boards when neither scraping or high angled planes (over 50 degrees) worked.  I literally use the plane like a scrub brush and plane in very tight circles like I am scrubbing the board clean with the low angle plane.  This makes all the cuts shearing cuts.  I've had really good success with this method, but I'd be lying if I said it worked every time.  Sometimes you come across a board that doesn't know how it's suppose to behave and sanding is the only way to deal with it.

   gdblake

5. 
   roc | Mar 02, 2013 01:48am | #5

   Knots forum soft wear sucks

   Difficult to post photos via privet message.  Photo bucket hard to make photo labels show up here. 

   Photos of my purple monster

   (Every body else forgive the same old photos once again.)

   
6. 
   Metod | Mar 02, 2013 08:47am | #6

   Again and Again

   Roc,

   I like it when pictures of high quality work appear periodically. Good inspiration to what can be acomplished. Feast for one's eyes too.

   As long as you do not proclaim "no skills needed", we will not be misled. .

   Best wishes,

   Metod

1. 
   roc | Mar 02, 2013 08:06pm | #7

   You are very kind Metod

   I was hoping to help him without banging on about what you all have heard too often.  Then couldn't help sending a few photos along.

   Especially interesting how much difference the new coilley light bulbs make in the color in the photos.  It isn't really that purple in "real life" it is like the old photos but fun how it comes out in the photos.

   I wonder if I look that purple under the new lights; having purple heart wood in my blood now.

7. 
   Metod | Mar 03, 2013 02:24pm | #8

   Quite Purple

   Roc,

   I made me a few purpkle heart infills, and the wood does look rich purple, especially after some BLO/poly.

   A fresh surface is not that pretty, but develops bautiful (to me) purple color in few days, as you probably noticed yourelf.

   On a tangent: Initially I thought that hobby woodworkers are drawn to woodworking precisely because they wish to develop certain skills. It seems that now is 'get that latest gadget or 17 so that you can call yourself a craftsman' - as long long as the produced/manufactured piece looks good. Or assemble something from bought parts (reading instructions might be a major hurdle though only to leave space for improvement...).

   Best wishes,

   Metod