IROKO? OH NO!

[jonny boy]

HI,

Does anyone have the same problem with Iroko as me. I know that some timbers have mineral deposits embedded in them but the luck I have is unreal. I've hit small, stone sized calcium pieces everytime I use the stuff which results in trashing new saw blades and putting good sized chips in the planer blades. Does anyone else encounter the same.

cheers,
jonny.

 

[DaveL]

Well maybe I have been lucky or you have a bad lot of timber!
I have had iroko from three different suppliers and never had that problem. It is quite a gritty timber like teak and planing wide board does work the machines hard, dulling knives but I have never had the lumps you describe.

I have made 8 folding garden chairs and a few weeks ago resawed some of the scraps down to 1/4"x1/2" for this, so I am sure I would of found them had they been there.

 

[jonny boy]

Hi Dave,

I may be going a bit over the top with saying pieces like stones but have you never seen white powdery residue at the edge of a cut. I have bought from different suppliers but still find the stuff. I have often found after thicknessing, the knives can have small nicks in them and when checking the Iroko, it has had the little white flecks in it.

cheers,
jonny.

 

[DaveL]

John,

I agree that iroko does hammer the knives more than a lot of other timbers.
I have one of these diamond hones that I run along the knives when converting between planing and thicknessing, it does help to keep the edge sharpe and remove the small nicks from hard stuff.

 

[GCR]

Iroko always seems to have a white mineral deposit in the grain. I know from experience that some boards will blunt my hand plane after two or three cuts. It can get very tedious! For hand planing the japanese laminated blades work very well under these conditions.

Bob