Hand planed table top - what to do with end grain?

[Tom Jones III]

I'm wrapping up my first major project using hand planes instead of sandpaper. So far I love both the end result and the process. I have a bone to pick with you guys over the expense but we can take that up later :). The table top is 36"x72" out of walnut. I'm about to cut the ends square with a circular saw. What do I do after that? Do I need to plane the end grain with a low angle plane or does it make more sense to use sandpaper here?

Based on the principle that you can never be too rich, too thin or have too many planes, I'm guessing that I need to buy the LN low angle jack.

[Chris Griggs]

You don't need a low angle plane for end grain, just a sharp blade - although a low angle does help somewhat.

1. Wet the end grain with mineral spirits or denatured alcohol, to soften the endgrain. Water works to but will raise the grain.
2. Plane the end grain with a freshly sharpened blade. Be sure to plane from each side towards the center. The end grain is likely to blow out if you do a full pass from one end to the other
3. I would still sand after planing with 220 or higher sandpaper, just to decrease the finish absorption of the endgrain

All his applies whether or not you are using a low angle plane.

Best of luck!

[john brenton]

Are you just going to leave the end grain exposed?

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I've had great luck with my low angle jack, freshly sharpened, following the planing tips Chris mentions. Light as possible cuts. The extra weight helps throw the plane through the work vs. a block plane. If you can skew the cut, that helps too. Chamfering the edges can help prevent blow out as well, as very securely clamping an extra piece to the end of the cut. But going from both sides tends to work best for me.

If you have a flat surface, raising the work slightly, and using a plane on it's side (like a giant shooting board without the track) can sometimes be helpful. Clamping it securely upright in a vise can work if the tabletops not too long. With my bench, too long and too heavy for either of these things, I knelt on top of the work, and looking down, held the plane sideways and sort of swung into the work - almost like a pendulum. Hard work on the arms though.

If the table top is thin enough, an edge trimming plane may work well, since the saw should leave a straight enough edge, you just want to smooth it out.

I get a pretty smooth edge off the plane, and tend to finish it up by burnishing the wood with a handful of shavings - I think this is a trick turners use sometimes? It works well with a cut edge like this on the end grain - I don't know why. It seems to give me a better looking finish than sanding.

[tico vogt]

I recommend the low angle jack, by all means. Agree with Josh about light setting, skew, and Chris about using mineral spirits or turpentine to wet the fibers. On the exit side clamp a back up block to protect from spleching. I prefer taking continuous shaving from one side to the other. If you can set the top vertically and clamped to the bench it is a big help. Make a temporary platform to walk on and use the weight of your torso. You'll get much better control and the extra pressure makes a difference. The result are really satisfying. Walnut end grain is a joy to plane.

[Mike Siemsen]

Any sharp bench plane will work just fine.

[Prashun Patel]

I do the end grain of my table edges (as If I've done this a million times ;)) with a low angle block plane. It's usually awkward for me to clamp the table on end so that I can use a two-handed plane. Using a block allows you to clamp the table flat on the bench and shoot the edge easier than with a larger plane. Also, if you curve the edge of yr table, the block does a good job of fairing it - assuming it's gentle enough.

[Tom Jones III]

Are you just going to leave the end grain exposed?

Yes, I was going to do breadboard ends but SWMBO has requested plain ends. The whole thing will be lighted chamfered.

Thanks for all the advice, it doesn't sound like it will be too difficult.

[Jim Koepke]

You don't need a low angle plane for end grain, just a sharp blade - although a low angle does help somewhat.

True, but isn't this a perfect opportunity to convince the wife one is needed?

I like the idea of rounding the end and the corners.

jtk

[Dave Schwarzkopf]

You're probably already aware, but just in case:

When you chamfer the edges, do the end grain first, that way any tear/blow out will be removed when you chamfer the long grain.

Dave

[Deane Allinson]

Low angle block plane, with a sharp blade, and a fine cut! You can skew it if it helps. Don't forget to stop short toward the end our you can split the wood at the end edge. You can tell which direction works best (based on the grain direction, etc). It can be smooth as a baby's butt and then you can get fine tear-out with a change in grain direction. The block plane is easier to compensate for this is a short space. The only thing that I enjoy more than slicking down endgrain is mortising.
Deane

[John Dykes]

You need a spokeshave to "round" the endgrain a bit.

(Well, not really... but she doesn't know that!)

[Brent VanFossen]

True, but isn't this a perfect opportunity to convince the wife one is needed?

I like how you think.

[James Owen]

As others have mentioned, a low angle block, jack, or jointer plane will work very nicely here. My first choice would be LA jointer, followed by the LA jack.

A bevel down smoother, jack, try, or jointer will also work quite well. With bevel down planes, I've found that the mass of the longer planes seems to help plow through end grain better than the lighter planes, as well as keep the end straighter.

A flat-soled spoke shave will also work, although it will be more difficult to keep your end edge perfectly straight.

Regardless of the tool you use, the key is sharpness. Your iron must be sharp to get tear-out free results. Otherwise the "straws" of the wood will simply bend and eventually rip apart, leaving tear-out holes in your table end. If you test the edge of your iron on a piece of scrap pine and get nice fluffy shavings, it's sharp enough...if not, it still needs some work. One of the many nice things about walnut is that the end grain is pretty cooperative, and usually planes easily and cleanly.

As others have mentioned, wetting with alcohol will soften the wood and make it a bit easier to cut. Beveling the ends will help reduce/eliminate blow out. A very light cut generally gives better results than a heavier cut, and skewing the plane often will help with producing a clean surface. Also, making your saw cut as close to the final dimension line as possible reduces the amount of planing necessary. While you are working on the end, you should be getting fairly long, continuous shavings, not dust. If you're not getting shavings, the first thing to look at is sharpness. After that, try skewing the plane about 20˚ to 30˚ either way (you may find that the wood likes the plane skewed a particular direction), and if that doesn't help, then try up to around 45˚.

Some will recommend sanding the end grain after planing; I prefer the planed surface without sanding. It's mostly a matter of personal preference, unless you plan to stain the piece, in which case, sanding to 320 or 400, would be a good idea, to keep the color density on the long grain and end grain close, since end grain will generally absorb more stain than long grain.

[john lampros]

Planed or sanded it dosnt matter, although its hard to keep the edge square and not deformed when sanding so I always go for planed. If the endgrain is to be exposed I usualy hammer it so it dosnt come out dark when oiled, varnished or stained. Hammered end grain was popular during the mission era, prior to that it was a no no to leave exposed endgrain on good work. When done correctly you shouldnt see any dents or dings, it should look and feel like a perfect edge thats the same color as the face grain when finished. and you break the edges after hammering (with a plane) most people use a flat faced warrington style hammer. Some use to leave a piened pattern like hammered copper but I never cared much for that detail. just a matter of taste. Try it on a piece of scrap. it beats all those pre sealing and color tricks by a mile.

[David Keller NC]

Tom - Might be too late for this piece of advice, but you should be concentrating on the "before" rather than the "after" with the circular saw. By its nature, a circular saw will break out the face-grain fibers on the top surface of the cut, leading to a real mess to have to try to clean up afterwards. There are a couple of ways to prevent this: one is to carefully (and deeply) knife a line parallel to the direction of the cut on both sides of the face grain of the piece, and cut closely, but not over, the knifed line. This will leave you with a bit of wood that you will need to plane off the cut edge (where a sharp low-angle plane would be very helpful). The second way that is far less work is to very tightly clamp a thin board made of a strong wood like maple or oak to the edge (perpendicular to the face grain), and cut the end grain of the table and the clamped-on board at the same time. This will give you the rough equivalent of a table saw, with the blade rotating into supported surface.

If it's too late for this, and you've a splintered edge, you've again two choices: If you thought this through before making the cut and flipped the table top upside down so that unsupported rotation of the blade was actually coming up through the bottom surface of the top, then you can simply remove the splintered edge by chamfering with a sharp plane. That will not only remove the splintering, but also give the top the appearance of being thinner than it actually is. If not, and the show surface is splintered on the edge, you will either have to profile the edge (ogees look nice), or face-plane the entire top to below the level of the splintering (ugh - that's a lot of work, DAMHIKT!)

[Tom Jones III]

Good point, I actually took the second option. SWMBO wants exposed end grain and a beveled or chamfered edge so it works out fairly easy for me. It turns out it is taking me a long time to hand plane this large top so I haven't even gotten to the end grain yet.