First Shavings

[Dale Osowski]

Nothing like the excitement of the first shavings from a new plane. Kanna is 70mm @45deg. Blade is Kuro-Kasumi by Michio Tasai. Test wood is vertical grain Doug Fir. Even without the sub blade I was able to achieve a glass like surface with no tear out. Very pleased.

DJO

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[Chris Griggs]

Sweet!

One problem though your new plane seems to be missing its tote. It must be pretty uncomfortable to push without a tote .... I would contact the vendor to see about getting a replacement :D

[Sean Hughto]

Looks good, but one question. I haven't worked with Douglas Fir - at least to make something I would plane to glass like surfaces, but is it hard to plane without tearout? I would have assumed planing long grain of clear pine would be very forgiving no? How about some tiger maple or curly cherry for the test?

[Dave Beauchesne]

Looks good, but one question. I haven't worked with Douglas Fir - at least to make something I would plane to glass like surfaces, but is it hard to plane without tearout? I would have assumed planing long grain of clear pine would be very forgiving no? How about some tiger maple or curly cherry for the test?

Sean:

Good question - DF can be deceiving with its long, straight grain, as can some of the other wood from the Pacific North West. Cypress is another that can drive you crazy - looks straight as an arrow - plane it one way - beautiful results - a few strokes later - tear out!!

Subtle undulations and stringy fibres are the culprits - sometimes even uber sharp isn't enough.

Dale - looks good - keep up the good work!

Dave B

[Chris Griggs]

Yeah I've found that to be true about a lot of softwoods. Everything is lovely and easy and than all of the sudden you get a giant piece of tearout in a random location. Or you accidentally go against the grain it it rips up worse than a hardwood might. I find it surprisingly difficult to use softwood as a show surface. I think the easiest woods to work are soft hardwoods, like poplar for instance...its way easier to work with than pine or fur.

[Dale Osowski]

Thanks for the replies guys. Yes, Doug Fir does get a bit tricky when it comes to getting a nice planed surface. It's why I like to use it as a tester :-) It also has a nice scent.

[David Weaver]

It's awful stuff, too, when it gets really old. The earlywood turns to dust and the late wood turns to shards. Between the tearout and the chance of something getting shoved back in the surface, it can be deceptive if you want a perfect surface.

Can't say we see too many dry and straight knotless pieces out here, though.

[Chris Griggs]

It's awful stuff, too, when it gets really old. The earlywood turns to dust and the late wood turns to shards. Between the tearout and the chance of something getting shoved back in the surface, it can be deceptive if you want a perfect surface.

Can't say we see too many dry and straight knotless pieces out here, though.

Southern yellow is like that - especially nasty when its really old. After I built by bench I felt like I never wanted to touch the stuff again. The eastern white pine up here is far nicer.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Having worked a bit in on my old house, I have to say getting cut nails out of 150+ year-old DF is basically impossible. And the older it gets, the worse it gets. I had ideas of making use of a couple of boards we removed from a wood-stove surround . . . eventually I passed them on to someone else as it was the worse stuff ever to work. . .

[Dave Beauchesne]

It's awful stuff, too, when it gets really old. The earlywood turns to dust and the late wood turns to shards. Between the tearout and the chance of something getting shoved back in the surface, it can be deceptive if you want a perfect surface.

Can't say we see too many dry and straight knotless pieces out here, though.

David:

Being situated where it originates, access to QS DF is a snap - 2 x 8 x 10 feet long @ 30 rings per inch is not that hard to get - in fact, I have a little bit left that averages over 65 rings per inch - some parts of the board were nearly 80!! That was the highest RPI I had ever seen other than a piece of Yellow Cedar ( west coast cypress ) that was professionally assessed at just under 100 RPI on part of the cutoff from the log.
I made a jewellery box out of the DF and sent it to our daughter in law's grandmother in Japan - it was a bear to work - the grain was so tight it didn't appeal to me much, but traditional Japanese woodwork is mundane ( figure wise ) .
Yep - wood is a pretty neat thing !!
Dave B