Newbie Q re planing end grain

[Kevin Perez]

By way of intro, I am a novice woodworker with a whopping four bathroom cabinet projects under my belt (refacing existing cabinets and building new rail and stile doors using stub tenon joints). Most of my work is done with power tools, but I have been trying to incorporate or substitute the use of hand tools more and more. I am working on a set of rail and stile doors for a new project, and wanted to use my low angle block plane to get the best possible finish on the exposed end grain (rather than sticking with the pretty smoothly sawn edge and just sanding it). I just need to do a few swipes (hopefully), but want to avoid blowing out the wood at the end of the cut. I realize I can use a shooting board with a full length backer to support the wood, but I also understand that some of you plane partially from both sides. With the latter technique, how do you make it work so that the two cuts are on the same plane? Do you cut half way, then back out the plane to keep the same reference surface for the nose of the plane? Or do you lift the plane at the end of each half length stroke? I may need a hand plane physics lesson, but it seems that the plane and lift technique would not leave a truly flat surface unless the strokes ended at exactly the same point.

[Rick Erickson]

I just chamfer the corner a bit and plane to it. That way you don't blow it out. I even do that on the shooting board because you can blow it out there as well.

[Chris S Anderson]

I do the same. It does not work that great on pine all the time, but on harder woods, I have not had any tear out on end grain plaining.

[James Taglienti]

Either that or just clamp a waste block on the side that your exit stroke will be on. i have chamfered corners and still split bit pieces off before.

[Kevin Perez]

I think the waste block idea sounds the safest, and is what I will do. (I was inartfully describing the waste block as a "full length backer" on my shooting board.) Thanks all!

[David Gendron]

Waste block work great, and also you can use alcohol or mineral spirit on to the end grain, it makes it easyer to plane! You could also plane frome one end to the center and follow it starting from the other end to the center also work good.
Good luck

[Kevin Perez]

I've never heard of the alcohol or mineral spirits trick. Interesting--thanks

[David Gendron]

You could actualy use water if you wanted but it is not great for the tools(moisture and steel=rust...)