Plane wood acquired

[Bill Brush]

Considering I really only want to dink around with (attempting) some hollows&rounds, this is probably overkill, but for $15 it's hard to pass up. I figure I will use the ends for planes, and make the middle part a bench.

272442

It's 2" thick and about 6' long.

I also got a nice plank of osage orange, some more walnut and some thinner maple planks. For some reason he didn't want me to leave without enough stock. Total damage was about $40.

Anyway as soon as I am able I fully intend to start converting this to sawdust.

[David Turner]

Bill:

If the plank is beech, I would suggest sawing your plane billets oversize and stickering it for an additional drying period, maybe up to a year.
My experience even with a 100 year old reclaimed quarter sawn beech 2" x 4" from a barn, was that it still checked, twisted, and became unusable. I have had similar experience with plane billets out of kiln dried quarter sawn beech. It continues to move for many years.

David Turner
Plymouth, MI.

[george wilson]

I have several times mentioned the miserable time we had milling down a well dried 6x6" into a suitable 4x4" for making a cooper's jointer. It twisted and twisted for many months,every time we planed it straight again and again. Luckily,it quit twisting when it got as small as we could use for the jointer. Just luck!

[Bill Brush]

That plank is maple. I have an acquaintance that does rough-milling as his hobby but he only mills trees that grow around here, so beech is right out. I could probably order beech, but that would probably quintuple my wood costs (or more). Maple may not be the first choice of plane makers everywhere, but for my purposes it's the best option. :)