Reducing tear out in roughing planes.

[Brian Holcombe]

There have been a lot of threads recently surrounding this general topic. My thoughts on the subject are that reducing or otherwise minimizing tearout in the jointing and thicknessing process can greatly reduce the amount of work required to finish plane the piece.

I'm doing a quick table here, and so I haven't detailed in the way that I usually do, but I did take photos of the thicknessing and jointing processes. I'm starting here with David Weaver's jack plane, set to take a medium cut. This is a double iron plane and I can take both crossgrain and long grain passes without much in the way of extreme tearout.

The tearout you're seeing to the left of the plane body was how the stock was from the lumber yard. Often these flitches from the crotch section of the log tearout badly when they're skip planed.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c181/SpeedyGoomba/4BC102B4-889E-42FF-9B7B-BE16CE908670_zpsmsdepfit.jpg (http://s27.photobucket.com/user/SpeedyGoomba/media/4BC102B4-889E-42FF-9B7B-BE16CE908670_zpsmsdepfit.jpg.html)

This is how the surface appears, right off of the jack plane. Even with this type of interlocking grain, tearout is minimized. Tearout here can be on the very extreme end if measures are not taken to control it, and ultimately alot of time would need to be devoted to finish planing. Not in this case.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c181/SpeedyGoomba/906CF718-A051-4D4B-A274-91C361915B11_zpslaygcyz7.jpg (http://s27.photobucket.com/user/SpeedyGoomba/media/906CF718-A051-4D4B-A274-91C361915B11_zpslaygcyz7.jpg.html)
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c181/SpeedyGoomba/6C71E505-68B5-4D11-A5FF-7D74806A744B_zpss3rd5jr0.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c181/SpeedyGoomba/1E3EA9EF-82F2-4E17-8F79-9307376AB771_zps6kaulwpx.jpg (http://s27.photobucket.com/user/SpeedyGoomba/media/1E3EA9EF-82F2-4E17-8F79-9307376AB771_zps6kaulwpx.jpg.html)

I do almost all of the work with the jack plane to even and flatten the board, all cross grain. I take the try plane next (and managed to forget to photograph it) and remove the tracks created by the jack. After that's done, I'm ready for a few final passes with the smoothing plane. Once full length shavings are able to be made, a few passes are made and the job is complete.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c181/SpeedyGoomba/AC088C37-4AE1-4485-906C-37D2D9A00652_zpsspiylpxo.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c181/SpeedyGoomba/5A10FF0A-D7FC-410E-BAE0-AA923FAFCCEA_zps5vt42guh.jpg (http://s27.photobucket.com/user/SpeedyGoomba/media/5A10FF0A-D7FC-410E-BAE0-AA923FAFCCEA_zps5vt42guh.jpg.html)
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c181/SpeedyGoomba/E18584B8-6539-405F-850E-5202ED9BF1F4_zpshvwwiz6l.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c181/SpeedyGoomba/3EB8B85A-B902-4A65-A357-73A498113794_zpsicqxjwbh.jpg

For those curious, installing the butterflies (dutchmen)
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c181/SpeedyGoomba/7301D25C-453D-49B3-9C0E-E947CEB05736_zpsjymdjmtp.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c181/SpeedyGoomba/EE59A847-D308-417A-A550-90BE12A79A4C_zpskeffrytu.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c181/SpeedyGoomba/8B6C70E3-B029-4EBB-879D-5836ABB4D08F_zpscyionan4.jpg

[Kees Heiden]

To increase the amount of information in this thread: How much camber do you have on the jack plane and how close do you set the capiron to the edge?

Nice board, btw.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks Kees! I will take measurements next time I take the plane apart. It is fully radiused, but I'm unsure of the actual radius.

[David Eisenhauer]

In the past, I have had to attack areas (BD plane only) like the main crotch (tear out prone) area you show from various different angles without planning straight through the problem area. Sort of "sneaking up" on the area. Sometimes I have had to resort to using a card scraper over the worst spot to get it to something acceptable. Are you able to plane straight through (with a shallow cut if required) the area as you reduce it down to the thickness desired? Do you eventually get it tamed for clean passes on the smoother?

[Brian Holcombe]

David, all of the passes I made with the try plane and smoother are full length. I set the chip breaker very tight and dial in the shaving until I get a clean shaving. The final passes are fairly light.

[Lasse Hilbrandt]

Brian, I have noticed that your primary planes are wooden ones from David. But when it comes to smoothing its eiter a Kanna or the LN plane on the picture. What makes you choose wich smoothing plane and don´t David make smoothing planes ?

[Brian Holcombe]

Hi Lasse,

David makes planes as a hobby and he offered to make me the Try plane and the Jack plane. When it comes to the smoother, the LN #4 is very easy to set/use and so I like to use it for the majority of the work that I do. The Kanna is more of a special purpose smoother, I love it for panels and softwoods and so I generally keep it aside for that.

You can have a number of smoothers, all set for slightly different purpose, if need be. For instance, if I were to use another Kanna in place of my #4, I would probably get something thinner (60-65mm) set it for a heavier camber than my current kanna, and probably go for a higher angle (42 or 45). So there are a number of solutions which can work.

I'll continue adding kanna to the lineup, however, they're usually a decent sized investment so it will take a number of years to acquire as many as I would like to have. I have an eye on quite a number of special purpose kanna and western woodies as well (joinery, etc).

[Robert Engel]

Brian are you planing using a swirling/skewing motion?

[Brian Holcombe]

Hi Robert,

Not usually, I just plane in a straight line typically. I like to overlap cuts and take full length shavings, thats a little easier to do with a straight motion.