Which way is the grain??

[Pond]

Hello, smee again!

I have heard speak about planing, routing and generally all kind of wood cutting is to be done 'with the grain'.

I, for the life of me, cannot work out which way the grain 'runs' on the oak I'm working with. Trial and error is proving costly due to snipe, break out, chipping etc.

I think I've got it sorted, then the next piece is different!

Any advice?

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

Well when using a router its not just the grain direction you need to consider. You want to push the cutter in the direct where its not rolling on the wood. If that makes sense. Imagine a cars wheel as it turns in 1st gear the car moves forward, well imagion the wheel is the cutter and the road the wood, you want the wheel to turn the correct way in 1st gear but the car (router) to be pushed backwards. With this in mind its very hard to route with the grain on all sides coupled with the fact 2 sides will be cross grain.

To see which way the grain is running look at the end grain. If its a crown the the grain is running the direction your looking or if its a long line the grain is running across your vision. The mill will cut with the grain so you know the long length of the plank is the direction the grain runs. Also just looking at wood you will see the direction the grain follows by the little lines and direction of growth lines. The grain can change its angle but not its general direction. For example the grain could be going north then north east but not north then east. HTH

 

[barkwindjammer]

stroke the wood with your hand, if it feels rough then thats 'against' the grain

 

[Paul Chapman]

I, for the life of me, cannot work out which way the grain 'runs' on the oak I'm working with.

Unfortunately, grain direction will often vary, even in a single piece of wood. The most 'interesting' woods tend to have the most troublesome grain. As a general rule, look at the edge of the piece and try to plane in the direction where the grain is running uphill. However, this can only be a guide because, as I say, the direction will often vary.

There are various techniques to deal with this. With hand tools very sharp blades and a tight mouth on your plane are a must. You can also experiment with using a higher effective pitch when honing your blades. For really difficult wood, you might have to resort to scraper planes.

As you are preparing the wood and discover which way the grain runs, it often helps to mark the planing direction with a pencil so that when finishing the piece you don't spoil it by getting tear out.

Hope this helps.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

PS I've just noticed your cabinet in the projects section. If you look at the top rail of the cabinet, that is a good example of grain running in different directions. It's quite a common feature of oak. How did you go about planing that?

 

[Harbo]

To put it very simply, grain is related to the growth rings and their orientation on a piece depends on the way the timber has been cut at the saw mill.
I always look at in a Geological way i.e. as stratified layers - some pointing up, some down and some up and down.
If the layers are running up towards you - you are cutting against the grain - the cutter will tend to dig-in (follow the layers down) and break-out will occur. Cutting the other way the opposite is occurring with no break out.
Looking at the sides of your timber you can often see the layers and can then plane accordingly.
Your oak sounds like it has been cut where the layers are very flat or are undulating up and down.
A wood that is really notorious for this is Sapele Mahogany!

Rod

 

[Pond]

PS I've just noticed your cabinet in the projects section. If you look at the top rail of the cabinet, that is a good example of grain running in different directions. It's quite a common feature of oak. How did you go about planing that?

Paul,

I have a small Axminster P/T. All so far has been trial and error; I will look at the grain as others have said, feed it in the direction I think is right, if I get break out at the end I turn it around for the next pass.

It has worked OK so far, as I only take 1/4 to 1/2mm off on a single pass, as my P/T struggles with any more.

I just need to avoid getting it the wrong way around on the final pass and ruining the piece!

I am finding it more difficult on the router table with small pieces, i.e beads and small mouldings, as if I feed it the 'wrong' way, the wood 'chatters' over the cutter which ruins the profile.

I am in the process of making some simple mdf extensions for my featherboards to hold the piece down and into the cutter. I'll see if this improves things.

As usual, I really appreciate all the helpful advice and tips from the people here, I wouldn't have known where to start on my 'woodworking adventure' without the members on here.

Andy

 

[Froggy]

I wouldn't have known where to start on my 'woodworking adventure' without the members on here.

Andy

+1