I just got a fairly nice piece of 9/4 maple. At least a lot of it was nice. One end is slightly discolored and is very very hard to push a freshly sharpened hand plane through. The power jointer doesn’t like the piece either and saws have a tough time too. I think the piece is impregnated with sap, though I don’t think I’m in sapwood, as most of the piece looks like normal maple. I’d like to use the piece but am looking for suggestions as to how I might make some progress working it down. It took some doing, but I have an edge and a face perpendicular, so I can start cutting. However, I suspect that cutting will just reduce the size of the tough pieces, not fix the toughness problem.
Another woodworker I talked too suggested a reasonable soaking of denatured alcohol on the working face, plane that down, recoat, plane, repeat until I’m where I want to be. Anyone else thoughts on this problem? I could just scrap the piece, but what I’m making is fairly simple in design composed of mostly straight pieces so I think I can get some use out of it. And I can keep the suggestions for future reference.
Thanks in advance.
Replies
aero,
Now you know why they call it "rock maple".
Impregnated with sap?
I remember a cartoon I saw back in the day, on the wall on a shop I used to work in. The woodworker is on the 'phone to his lumber supplier. "I won't say the maple you sent me is green, but I've got 500 feet of lumber and 12 gallons of syrup on the floor of my shop."
Maple, unlike yellow pine, does not remain impregnated with sap once it is dried. Unless your maple is fresh from the sawmill, it probably isn't sap that is discoloring the wood. More likely, you are seeing an area of heartwood, which is slightly darker in color (brown to grey) than the pretty, white to tan sapwood. If you look at the end grain (growth rings) of the piece, you can tell if the darker area is defined by the growth rings towards the center of the tree- the curve of the rings is concave towards the heart side of the plank.
Soaking the face you are working with alcohol or water to soften the surface is a trick sometimes recommended for reducing tearout when sending a piece thru the planer. I doubt it will be helpful if you are handplaning this stock; I'd guess that the plane will want to skate over the dampened surface, pushing the softened fibers down without cutting them,but I haven't ever tried it when using hand tools. Hard maple is notorious for being difficult to work, esp by hand, the best approach is really sharp tools, a high (50-55 degrees) attack angle plane (or a back bevel on a 45 degree plane's iron) and a light cut. If your tool is at all dull, it will skate over the wood without cutting, tempting you to set the blade for a deeper cut. Then the iron digs in, but is too hard to push thru the wood because of the thickness of the shaving.
Ray
I'll keep doing what I've been doing then
I guess I'll stick with the power tools for a lot of this part of the piece then. The handplanes work, it's just that it's, well _work_. the rest of the piece hand planes out quite nicely. Thanks for the reply.
Hmmmmm
Some thoughts:
IN THEORY AT LEAST the bubinga and purple heart I been working most is a heck of a lot harder according to the hardness charts in Nick Engler's book. My point is those were still quite workable with due attention to detail.
Larry said it the other day "narrow blades can be a good way to go". He meant hand planes but also will help with the table saw.
Sharp is huge though.
Do you have a lot of camber on your plane blades ? This will help.
Plane across the grain for most all of the thickness planing. If you get bad tear out experiment with angle to the grain sometimes straight across is best; sometimes a certain angle is better.
I used water on some problem areas and IT WORKS GREAT ! ! ! ! However . . . it will cup your plank. The alcohol will be less of a problem there and your tools won't rust as they can with the water if you don't pull the blades and wipe the plane down right when you finish for the day or take a break.
If you strop the blade don't. Be absolutely sure the bevel is flat not convex or the blade can ride on the convex and prevent the cutting edge from getting down into the wood as far as is possible with accurately honed blades.
Oil the plane bottom and blade with camilia oil. It is compatible with finishes. At least I have had no problems. Mostly I use candle wax or glide wax for skis but I don't want to open that can of worms here again.
What plane and blades are you using ?
May not be impregnated with sap but there may be more minerals in the wood in the problem area. Some of my wood mentioned above tended to dull blades much faster than other planks of the same stuff. I just used a stack of blades and sharpened more often. " Learn to enjoy sharpening or die " That was my mantra.
: )
I would guess minerals...
I didn't mention it in my first post, but the one of the culprits I suspected was mineral contamination as you note. The plane blades dull real fast.
I'm using a LN Low Angle jack with regular and toothed blades, totally flat. The regular blade has no camber as LN suggests none due to the very limited ability to adjust the blades positioning side to side. I've also used a Veritas low angle jointer on the edge, with a totally flat straight blade too as I like that configuration for edge planing. That worked okay, tough, but okay. The edge is is good shape and perpenducular to the face. The face however...ouchy.
As for sawing, I just found out my worm drive Skill saw doesn't seem to mind, or for that matter care, what it's cutting, as long as it's fed electrons, it seems to cut okay. So, I'm left with face planing as a problem.
Thanks for the tips!
Oh well there it is old chum
Straight blades no bueno for getting any depth for serious stock removal or smoothing. (smoothing not same as finish planing)
It is definitely your plane configuration. What you have now may work for finishing especially if there is reversing grain and tearout but . . .
to get any significant stock removal go with bevel down, preferably a very narrow blade like a scrub plane with a lot of radious on the edge and plane cross grain.
Then
and only if you get very bad tearout or still dull fast ( my scrub goes for ever between sharpenings ) . . .
Wet it.
http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?sku=40_5
Agreed on the plane configuration
I guess I didin't feel the need to go too far down to get an edge and a face parallel, hence the configuration, so I agree with your comment.
But since you posted the link to the LN site, maybe it's time I invested in a scrubber...I've always wanted one. The low angle jack works quite well for lots of stock removal in a lot of cases, but I think you (and my piece) made the case that for super tough wood like this, it's good to have a scrub plane on hand.
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