Which direction to plane... a helpful guide.

[custard]

I also bought a cheap blade for my 5 1/2 plane so I can try putting a 17 degree bevel on the reverse (to create 'cabinet pitch', apparently?) and will give that a shot soon.

I'm using pine as it's cheap so mistakes aren't too costly

Chris, neither high pitch planing nor scraping work particularly well on softwoods. They're really hardwood techniques.

 

[Chris152]

Thanks Tom - I've certainly not given up on the cap iron adjustment - it clearly made a difference, but for just under £30 for the scraper I thought it worth a go, likewise a reverse bevel for £15 (I'm assuming a 3mm 5 1/2 Axminster blade will fit my quangsheng, we'll see! Oh, and I have to figure how to do a 17 degree bevel with my honing guide...). The scraper's good but doesn't leave such a smooth finish as a plane (no burnishing, apparently?) and it feels like it needs sanding to finish after, which I don't want to do - so definitely up for setting a plane if I can.

 

[Chris152]

Chris, neither high pitch planing nor scraping work particularly well on softwoods. They're really hardwood techniques.

That's reassuring, Custard - the strip of oak worked really well with the scraper but on the pine I kept wondering what I was doing wrong. No doubt my technique is very iffy but I guess it's time to get some harder woods and see what happens.

I want to use light/ white wood (the pine with Osmo 3044 looked great to my eye) - for a beginner, are beech or maple good (ie easy enough to work with for jointing and finishing)? Thanks.

 

[custard]

[I want to use light/ white wood (the pine with Osmo 3044 looked great to my eye) - for a beginner, are beech or maple good (ie easy enough to work with for jointing and finishing)? Thanks.

Beech and Maple are reasonable choices for a first step into hardwoods. They're much harder than Pine and you'll feel that difference immediately, American Cherry is a little easier to work, but with sharp tools and the right techniques Beech and Maple are perfectly manageable.

Couple of points to bear in mind about Beech. It comes in both steamed and unsteamed variants, steamed has an attractive slightly pink colour. There's little price difference but you don't want to mix them up within a single project as the colours will clash. Beech shows a distinctive pattern of flecks on the quarter sawn face, you want to make sure you align these faces within a project or it will look a bit jarring (at least to my eye).

In terms of finishing both Beech and Maple have a tight grain which doesn't need much filling, they'll deliver a very high gloss if that's what you want. Osmo 3044 will work well to preserve the paleness, here's a comparison I did between the three Osmo "white tinted" alternatives, bear in mind Osmo 3111 will stay paler for longer as it will tend to mask the natural darkening of the timber.

Osmo sample sachets aren't expensive, you could run your own tests on your own timbers and see which one you prefer.

Good luck!

 

[Chris152]

That's really helpful Custard - many thanks. And I saw your Osmo tests in another thread which is what got me trying it in the first place. I'll definitely give the 3111 a go.