Hand Planing question

[jonluv]

New to some tools——-Just got a Stanley Bailey 41/2 from eBay £7– —-Cleaned it and refurbed with help from YouTube
Tried it out today on Walnut,Sepele,White Oak and all is OK. Planed some redwood and one way excellent results but planed the other way and it ripped out chunks , not very happy can any one please help.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Hi - not sure what website(s) or YouTubers you've followed thus far.

The secrets to avoiding tear-out (which is what it sounds like you're describing) are:

1) Try and plane with the grain (i.e. downhill) wherever possible;
2) Take lighter cuts;
3) Make sure the cap-iron is properly tuned up and set within a gnat's body part of the cutting edge;
See https://www.theenglishwoodworker.com/ca ... out-video/
4) Close the mouth to a mm or so (less useful than 3 above, with a bevel down plane);
5) Admit defeat and use a scraper of some kind.

Cheers, W2S

PS Step 3) b) would be to put a (very small) back bevel on the cutting edge aka "poor man's york pitch" https://paulsellers.com/2012/08/on-the- ... ur-throat/

 

[thetyreman]

sounds like you are planing against the grain? it's worth experimenting with the cap iron, pine can be a lot more difficult to work because of the hard/soft spots you get, I usually have quite a fine set

 

[MikeG.]

New to some tools——-Just got a Stanley Bailey 41/2 from eBay £7– —-Cleaned it and refurbed with help from YouTube
Tried it out today on Walnut,Sepele,White Oak and all is OK. Planed some redwood and one way excellent results but planed the other way and it ripped out chunks , not very happy can any one please help.

Lesson 1, Day 1. Work with the grain!

 

[profchris]

Even on hardwoods I usually find that one direction planes easier than the other. If you look at the grain on the side of the workpiece you'll probably see that it slopes a bit. You want to plane so you are snipping the ends off each grain line, rather than trying to slide the blade between the fibres (if that makes sense).

Visually, if from the side the grain looks like this (but less exaggerated obviously): ///////// then you'll do best planing from L to R. Grain like this: \\\\\\\\\\\\\ will plane best R to L.

In practice the grain lines are usually wobbly, so you have to make a first guess. If that produces tearout, or just doesn't feel like the plane is cutting smoothly through the wood, try the other direction. And note that the underside of the workpiece will usually plane best in the opposite direction.

With wild and curly grain, all bets are off. You might even need to plane across the grain there.

 

[Trevanion]

The absolute best way I've heard grain direction described was "It's a lot like stroking a cat, it's a smooth glide one way and when you stoke the other way it's rough and pulls up hairs."

 

[Beau]

What Woody2Shoes said

 

[woodbloke66]

New to some tools——-Just got a Stanley Bailey 41/2 from eBay £7– —-Cleaned it and refurbed with help from YouTube
Tried it out today on Walnut,Sepele,White Oak and all is OK. Planed some redwood and one way excellent results but planed the other way and it ripped out chunks , not very happy can any one please help.

Lesson 1, Day 1. Work with the grain!

Wot Mike said; work with the grain. As others have said, wood grain is analogous to stroking a cat; go from head to tail and most of them like it but do it the other way and you stand a chance of getting raked with their claws - Rob

 

[jonluv]

Many thanks to all , most helpful
John

 

[johnnyb]

Planing is on flat planes by it's nature but woodcarving in the round can be baffling grain wise!

 

[Ttrees]

I prefer to have the frog all the way back, as it might affect the plane if you set the cap iron forward,
depending on how big your planes mouth is.
You can't work with a tight mouth and a close cap iron together, or it will be really hard /pointless exercise.

You can't set the cap iron for effect, if you have any more camber than you need.
The camber will only be noticable when paired with the cap iron, from far, it might look like a straight honed iron to some folk.

Good time to learn as some timbers have alternating grain, this is very apparent with ribbon striped sapele's alternating bands
of grain lines for instance
David W on youtube has more on the cap iron than anyone, Kees has some on it too, youtube Seekelot
Have fun
Tom

 

[MikeG.]

You're right, Tom, but this is a guy who has just picked up a plane for the first time. First things first, hey?

 

[xy mosian]

The absolute best way I've heard grain direction described was "It's a lot like stroking a cat, it's a smooth glide one way and when you stoke the other way it's rough and pulls up hairs."

Exactly the same as the explanation I was given. Sometime in the sixties.
xy

 

[Jacob]

Yes to planing downhill - though many pieces it won't matter either way but it's useful to experiment.
If you are new to planing I'd ignore all the fine adjustment suggestions and go for the default setting: Sharpen etc and when the blade is out check frog and mouth - should be dead in line (look up the mouth then down the frog and/or try a straight edge). Then the back of the blade will be resting against the mouth and the frog and getting maximum support.
Set cap iron about 0.5 to 1 mm back from the edge.
Quick squiggle of candle wax on the sole.
Plane and waste a lot of wood for practice.
Sharpen with a pronounced camber - a straight edge makes life difficult on wider pieces.
The critical thing with reducing tear out is sharpness and camber. No amount of fine adjustment will make any difference to a blunt blade - so until you are sure you are a dab hand with sharpening don't bother with fine fiddling, by which time you won't need to anyway.

 

[Ttrees]

You're right, Tom, but this is a guy who has just picked up a plane for the first time. First things first, hey?

Agreed Mike, I just wanted to make it known about the cap iron and how much better it is, rather than the other methods if he were
to go making back bevels and so on.

Tom

 

[Tasky]

This might make for interesting reading: https://lostartpress.files.wordpress.co ... e_1968.pdf

 

[Jacob]

This might make for interesting reading: https://lostartpress.files.wordpress.co ... e_1968.pdf

It says grind/hone at 25/30º to 30/35º
30/35º would be slightly better for tear out and in general as it leaves a stronger edge with less metal removed and better supported from th back of the mouth.
No mention of moving the frog. I don't think this was ever intended. I don't think it helps either.