Working with QS Red Oak

[Matt Jutte]

Need some advise - having never worked with quartersawn red oak i noticed while I was planing the first 3 of many boards when I got down to the final thickness that the wood was chipped out and checking real bad. Is there a way to keep this from happening? Is there a "proper grain" direction to prevent this? I just am not sure if it taking too thick of a pass or the wood is just not the best?
Thanks

[Charlie Barnes]

Hey Matt,

I've worked with QS Red Oak a lot over the last several years, but haven't experienced the condition you are describing. Red Oak does seem to be more "brittle" than some other common species and can be more prone to chip out on some cuts and when routing profiles. If your lumber is really QS, then I don't think the grain direction should matter. Having said that, if I notice that a board seems to feed easier or be cleaning up better in one direction, I'll make sure that I feed it that way continuously. My suggestion is to make sure you have sharp knives on your planer, take light passes and alternate the feed direction of the boards to see if it makes a difference for you.

Charlie

[Josiah Bartlett]

Planing is like petting a cat- one direction goes smoothly, the other direction results in rough cuts. Always run the boards through so the planer will "smooth down" the grain of the wood, not push against it. It sounds like you are getting tearout from planing the wrong direction.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Planing is like petting a cat- one direction goes smoothly, the other direction results in rough cuts. Always run the boards through so the planer will "smooth down" the grain of the wood, not push against it. It sounds like you are getting tearout from planing the wrong direction.

Good advice. I've found red oak to be very 'chippy' - prone to chipout. Sharb blades & bits, a ZCI and backer boards are always a must. You mention that you started chipping AND checking - hmmmm, it's possible you got to a particular part of the board that had funky grain or some internal stress.

[Lucas G Hager]

Need some advise - having never worked with quartersawn red oak i noticed while I was planing the first 3 of many boards when I got down to the final thickness that the wood was chipped out and checking real bad. Is there a way to keep this from happening? Is there a "proper grain" direction to prevent this? I just am not sure if it taking too thick of a pass or the wood is just not the best?
Thanks

Checking is a drying defect. You may have revealed it machining the wood.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Planing is like petting a cat- one direction goes smoothly, the other direction results in rough cuts. Always run the boards through so the planer will "smooth down" the grain of the wood, not push against it. It sounds like you are getting tearout from planing the wrong direction.

Yep. Study the boards' surfaces as you take your passes, and try reversing it/them if you see tearout. Sometimes, however, the grain runs wild in both directions. Options include:

(1) put the board through the planer at as large an angle as you can [ie - not straight thru, but canted a bit].

(2) dampen the surface of the board - enough water to soften the fibers, but not soaking wet. Angle the board as in (1) above.

(3) stop planing before your final pass. Go after it with a good, tuned, sharp scraper plane [LN, LV, etc] for the final pass - this will take off most - maybe all - of that final tearout surface. Use card scraper as needed.

(4) stop planing before your final pass. Scraper plane if available. If not, sand it well to final thickness. Easy with a drum sander, not so much with an ROS - but you can do (3) and/or (4) after glue-up with an ROS if it is for a table top, etc.

[Scott T Smith]

Matt, I operate a business that specilizes in milling and kiln drying quartersawn oak.

Charlie, Josia and John have all shared good info, and in particular Kent's advice is spot on. Tearout is not uncommon with quartersawn oak, and the methods that Kent and the others mentioned are the best way to minimize it.

As Lucas mentioned, if checks (other than end checks) are revealed during jointing and planing, this sounds like a drying defect (honeycomb) and not anything that you are doing. It is very easy to damage oak during the drying process, particularly if it is dried too quickly during the early stages in the kiln. Also, some boards are more susceptible to problems than others; I've seen instances where a few boards out of a few hundred in the same kiln load will honeycomb, and the rest are fine.

If you can post some pix of the checking we can advise further. If it was drying related, if you purchased your material from a reputable wood supplier, they should exchange the boards for you.

Regards,

Scott