Wood for Woodies?

[David Gendron]

I would like to make more Krenov style planes and was wondering what would be the best choice for wood? I see a lot of Japanese plane made of White Oak, and I know that in North America a lot of antique and new one were made out of Beech. What do you think would be the best wood to build planes!

[Pam Niedermayer]

That would be Japanese white oak, quite a different beast from white oak, more like Live Oak. Then there's Hon Red Oak from Japan, hard as steel, same with Ironwood/Desert Ironwood if you can get it.

But if you'll be making laminated planes, it probably doesn't matter much, the glue lines can serve as struts of a sort.

Pam

[Kari Hultman]

I've had very good luck with maple, osage orange, bloodwood, and Swiss pear. Applewood moves too much. Cocobolo makes a beautiful plane.

[Phillip Pattee]

Beyond what has already been mentioned, purpleheart and padauk are good choices. Both are very hard and stable. I believe Steve Knight uses these frequently in making his planes. The two woods are plentiful and relatively inexpensive. Mesquite is another good option.

[Brian Kent]

I have used red oak, cocobolo, bloodwood, padauk, and purple heart. None has been a problem. Cocobolo, bloodwood, & padauk were the most fun to work with.

Brian

[Jeff Willard]

If by "best" you mean stable and wear resistant, I'd look to the rosewoods, but particularly East Indian Rosewood. Personally I covet one made entirely of African Blackwood. I believe Desert Ironwood would also be a good choice, if you can find sound pieces that are large enough. Polish it, and you'll have a plane that looks like no other.

[Casey Gooding]

I have used Oak, Maple, Purpleheart, Apple, Hickory, Cocobolo and Mesquite and have had good luck with them all.

[Paul Saffold]

Hi Kari, and welcome to the creek. I enjoy your blog.

[Kari Hultman]

Thanks, Paul. :o)

[James Ogle]

Since I am in Texas I vote for Mesquite. ;) I have some small slabs I plan on making some handles for a couple of saws and rasps.

[Leigh Betsch]

If anyone has a hunk of Osage Orange in their wood pile, and on it's way to the wood burner, I'd love to get a chunk to make a woodie out of. We don't get a lot of hard wood out here on the prairie. I'm sure I could find some thing to trade for it.

[Terry Beadle]

I've used cherry, river birch, purple heart, and rock maple for plane bodies. I also bought a chunk of lignum vitea to cut off 3/8ths thick soles which I laminate with titebond to them. Steve Knight also uses IPE for the soles. Both give life long service and require little maintenance. I usually use a card scraper to keep the soles flat. They will take 1 thou shaving if pressed.

In short, most hard hardwoods work. I don't recommend cocobolo or ebony unless you are a quite a bit more patient than I. It takes a very good edge to work them compared to the purple heart or rock maple.

Good luck and happy shavings!

PS. I don't know where you'd get some Japanese white oak and I think they cure it for about 5 years in a smoke house or such. Pam might know where to get a blank as she's the expert in Japanese plane stuff.

[Jamie Buxton]

Mesquite. It is dense- about 1 1/2 times the density of domestic oaks. It is hard -- about twice as hard as domestic oaks. And it is extremely stable -- its shrinkage rates are less than a quarter that of domestics oaks. That stability is really remarkable.

[David Keller NC]

David - I've made a number of planes, though not a Krenov (I don't like laminated construction, nor dowel pins instead of wedge abutments, but that's a personal preference).

My take on this is geared toward what I know about your methods of work - hand tools.

The Krenov-type construction is heavily geared towards processing the initial blanks for the blade ramp, front escapement, and sides with the use of power tools. In fact, the plane's construction features perfectly match up with the sort of extreme precision that you can get very easily out of planers, jointers, and table saws. That doesn't mean you can't do it with hand tools - you can certainly acheive the same sort of precision that you can with power tools, but it is more difficult and time consuming.

So - with that in mind, and based on my experience using hand tools to make traditional-style wooden planes in the vein of John Whelan in both domestic hardwoods and exotics like ebony and rosewood, I'm going to highly suggest that you not choose any tropical wood to build your first Krenov-style plane, unless it's an easily worked species like south american mahogany. Ebony, bloodwood, purpleheart, padauk, and any of the rosewoods are considerably more difficult to work with hand tools than with power because of their extreme hardness and density.

For that reason, I'm going to suggest 3 species that I've had excellent luck with, and that will considerably ease your first experience with plane building and hand tools - north american cherry, eastern black walnut, or hard/soft maple (both are really hard - "soft" is a misnomer). All three of these will be more difficult to work with than european or north american beech, but finding that species in large enough sizes is really, really difficult. A couple of other alternatives that are hard enough for planes but easy enough to work with hand tools are hornbeam and yellow birch.

[Pam Niedermayer]

...I don't know where you'd get some Japanese white oak and I think they cure it for about 5 years in a smoke house or such. Pam might know where to get a blank...

Sure, most any Japanese tool store here or there; however, I don't recommend you go to this trouble and expense unless you plan to make a more traditional plane with chopped mortise, etc.

Pam

[David Gendron]

Thank you David for all the great info. It wouldn't be my first plane but second, third etc. I can have access to American Beech from the Familly wood lot back east... but not right now! Mabe I should find my self a book on traditional plane making, do you have a suggestion?
Thank you again.

[David Keller NC]

Thank you David for all the great info. It wouldn't be my first plane but second, third etc. I can have access to American Beech from the Familly wood lot back east... but not right now! Mabe I should find my self a book on traditional plane making, do you have a suggestion?
Thank you again.

Yeah - John Whelan's "Making Traditional Wooden Planes"

[Steve knight]

I have had the least failures with purpleheart. well as far as I can remember no purpleheart plane failures. but European beech would be another good choice. most tropicals have worked well though the biggest problems have been cocobolo and ebony. but part of that is not having the money to have the wood sit around and stabilize for a long time.

[David Gendron]

Tahnk you Steve! What about American Beech?

[Steve knight]

Tahnk you Steve! What about American Beech?
several problems with it getting it thick enough. getting the grain right and having it dried right. it tends to check if not done right. these days it is mostly not dried right. ero beech usually costs less too and is very stable and nice and clear.

[David Keller NC]

several problems with it getting it thick enough. getting the grain right and having it dried right. it tends to check if not done right. these days it is mostly not dried right. ero beech usually costs less too and is very stable and nice and clear.

Steve - Got any recommendations for dealers that would stock euro steamed beech in either quarter-sawn configuration or 16/4 flat sawn? I'd love to get my hands on some, even at $10 a b.f.

BTW - The reason I suggested that David stay away from purpleheart and other tropicals is because it's his first Krenov style plane, and he uses hand tools exclusively (as far as I'm aware - he can correct me if he has a TS, jointer and planer). My thought is that purple heart machines very well, but is a nightmare to hand-plane - only slightly better than Ipe.

[David Gendron]

David, what they meen by steamed beech? Like I said earlyer, it wouldn't be my first Krenov plane but I wanted to have opinions on different wood! I have one I made out of maple and it work beautyfuly well.

[James Carmichael]

Since I am in Texas I vote for Mesquite. ;) I have some small slabs I plan on making some handles for a couple of saws and rasps.

Mesquite would be way down on my list. To prone to checking and brittle.

[Leigh Betsch]

What do the experts think about lace wood? David Christopher used it for a tote and knob in his Grandpa's No 6 thread. Looks like it would make a beautiful plane, but I have no idea it would be a good functional wood for a plane.

[David Gendron]

Is Lace wood quite light in weight?

[Ron Petley]

Maple has worked the best for me, cheap not hard to find and nice to work with. Mine is at least a year old and still looking like new, I did however put in a Lignum Vitae insert in front of the mouth, Which is where the most likely place for trouble to occure.
Make one of each type of wood and see what workes best for you.
Cheers Ron.

[David Keller NC]

David, what they meen by steamed beech? Like I said earlyer, it wouldn't be my first Krenov plane but I wanted to have opinions on different wood! I have one I made out of maple and it work beautyfuly well.

David - One can buy somethign called "European Steamed Beech", which is just normal european beech (fagus sylvatica) that has been steamed to remove most of the sap. Doing so makes it much easier to dry without checking, and also turns it a pinkish color.

This was typically done to American beech when the large wooden plane making firms of Sandusky, Ohio Tools, Auburn Tools and others were at their heyday in the late 19th century.

[David Gendron]

Is steaming, something someone can do on a small scale or it take a lot of equipments?
I did a few mallets with american beach(fagus grandifolia) air dried and a cutting board and didn't have any problems with it!