milling figured lumber

[Tim Sproul]

I've been hand jointing some figured lumber and HATE to do it.

Not the work....the tear out from my scrub or jack with cambered irons is horrific.

Anyone got information on how this was handled prior to power tooling? Or am I stuck trying to mill lumber with 50 or 55 degree bedded planes?

[Dave Anderson NH]

One approach which really cuts down on the tearout and can eliminate it entirely is slightly dampening the surface of the wood. Since I don't want to deal with rust on my power or hand tools, I use mineral spirits instead of water. Both will work well though. It's just a light once over with a sponge, you don't need to saturate the wood. I do the final few passes with either my 50 degree Knight smoother or my 55 degree Clark & Williams depending on which works better on the particular board. With a very l;ight cut you can often get away with a standard 45 degree smoother.

[Tim Sproul]

Dave,

I know about that one.....I'm talking about taking figured rough lumber to 4-square. To do that with a smoother is quite a chore.

[Jerry Palmer]

Yeah, I think the reason sandpaper was invented was to use on mesquite. :o

I'm making a shadow box from some, and it is a constant battle smoothing it, switching from plane to scraper back and forth.

[Tom Sontag]

Does a toothed blade figure in anywhere here? I saw the LN guy at the local woodshow use a toothed blade on a birdseye block prior to smoothing. I am not sure if it removes enough material for your purposes - just throwing out the thought...