Smoothing for figured wood

[John Russell]

I am working on a folding dining table with a birdseye maple and cherry top. I would like to use a smoothing plane for the BE maple. There are a couple of other figured wood projects in the future, so a smoothing plane seems like it might be useful. Don't know much about planes, but I am practicing. Some searches here suggest the LV bevel up smoother, the LN smoothing, and the Knight smoother.

I have a birthday coming up and plan to suggest one of these three .... are there any strengths or weaknesses of any of these three for highly fugured wood?

Thanks

[Bob Noles]

Hi John,

I just got a smoother from Steve Knight and I'll tell you right now.... there is just something magical about wood against wood.

Oh yeah..... they just plain look cool too :cool:

Had to come back and edit this as I just learned that Steve is also having a 30% off sale going at the moment..... double cool :cool: :cool:

[John Russell]

I almost bought a larger plane from Steve some time ago, but got distracted. He was very helpful in email and phone calls ... one of his smoothers seems like a sure thing, even though I don't know much about planes, I think this is what I am going to do.
Thanks

[Gary Herrmann]

Don't discount the LV BU smoother. I just got done smoothing the top for an occasional table made of figured cherry. I am very pleased with the results. Smooth as glass. Better than my Dewalt planer. I wonder if this means I'm becoming more of a neander...

[Tim Leo]

I've been working some birdseye maple lately and have discovered that the higher blade angle is required. I have several block planes, but the only one that works is a 12* block with a 30* blade = 42* cutting angle.

Other lower angle blades 'just don't cut it', and leave big gouges or dents in the wood.

I'd recommend a bevel up blade with a steep angle.

tim

[Brad Olson]

I'd go with the BUS (with 50 degree blade) or a 55 degree Knight plane. I have both and have been very happy with them on birdseye ad curly maple no tearout in my case). If you can find a LN HA 4 1/2 that might work as well, but you'll probably have to get that directly from LN and pay 2 to 2.5X the cost of either the BUS or knight smoother for the same performance. I used to have the HA 4 1/2 and it never worked that great on Birdseye maple so your mileage may vary. Too low of an an effective cutting angle for all those eyes.

Also if you are interested in plane making at all it isn't terribly difficult to make your own 55 degree bench plane that will work just as good as the above options. Blades are about $50 from places like Hock tools. it will also take a day or two of reserach to figure out the important details for plane making.

[Alan Turner]

For my most difficult of smoothing jobs, I use an HNT Gordon, an Australian woodie, sold in the US by HIghland Hardware. It has a very thick iron bedded at 60*, with a very tight mouth. Price wise, I think it was about $160 several years ago, but I have not priced it lately.

[Derek Cohen]

I am working on a folding dining table with a birdseye maple and cherry top. I would like to use a smoothing plane for the BE maple. There are a couple of other figured wood projects in the future, so a smoothing plane seems like it might be useful. Don't know much about planes, but I am practicing. Some searches here suggest the LV bevel up smoother, the LN smoothing, and the Knight smoother.

I have a birthday coming up and plan to suggest one of these three .... are there any strengths or weaknesses of any of these three for highly fugured wood?

Hi John

Any of the three planes (add the HNT Gordon, and you have 4) you nominated would do a great job in the hands of a reasonably experienced user.

However, I would only recommend the LV Bevel Up Smoother (BUS) to you since you are a relative novice. That should not be interpreted as indicating that the BUS is a beginners plane - far from it. It is just that it is the least complicated to set up and use to its potential than the others.

In my review of the BUS I compared it with a highly tuned Stanley #4 1/2 (which would be similar to the LN) and the HNT Gordon Smoother (in the same camp as a Knight woodie). Go to:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~derekcohen/reviews/bus/index.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

[John Russell]

Thanks for the recommendations. Planes and sharpening are mostly new to me. I was not sure about the issues in sharpening the bevel up variey, but it seems like an attractive option. Is the the BU variey of plane require any different sharpening than other planes?

[Derek Cohen]

... Is the the BU variey of plane require any different sharpening than other planes?

John

The only difference in sharpening is that they require different bevel angles.

The BD plane gets its cutting angle from the anle of the frog. So a 45 degree frog has a cutting angle of 45 degrees. It does not matter whether the bevel itself is 25 or 30 degrees.

The BU plane gets its cutting angle from an addition of the bed angle (12 degrees) + the bevel angle. So for a 45 degree cutting angle you need a bevel angle of 33 degrees.

The great advantage of a BU plane is that you can easily alter the cutting angle by altering the bevel angle. This is not as simple on a BD plane.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Gary Herrmann]

If you're new to sharpening and are going to get the BUS, consider picking up the Mk II sharpening jig. The jig has settings to match all of the bevel angles for the low angle irons available from LV. I've got one and like it a whole lot.

[Steve Wargo]

If you're trying to save a little, the I'd recommend the 55deg smoother from Clark and Williams. I use my LN 4.5 with High andle frog for most everything, and I'm saving for a A5 from Konrad of Sauer and Steiner Infill planes bedded at 50degrees. To be honest, it's always been my opinion that birdseye maple was never that hard to plane. If the iron is properly sharpened then I get a good finish with my Jack plane.

[Geoff Irvine]

G'day John,
I,ve just been working with a quartersawn timber from Australia (norhtern silky oak - Cardwellia sublimis ) that has been a complete mongrel for tear out. Even the LN 51/2 with a york pitch frog and 35 degree microbezel and the mouth choked right down had some tearout. Ended up putiing a 45degree microbezel on the LN low angle jack which worked about the best. IMHO this plane (or the Veritas equivalent) would be handy one to have. Just remember to relieve the edges of the blade to avoid tearout/plane tracks.

[John Russell]

Thanks again for the wealth of information ... I do have the Veritas MkII Honing Jig and I have used it a couple of times on chisels, but not on a plane yet. I have some old ones I plan to try before I use it on my only modern plane, the LV Low Angle Block. Sounds as if the bevel up would work for me and since it is a birthday present, well I can justify the price. But, I also have a desire for one of Steve Knights planes, so maybe I can get two!!

[Jerry Palmer]

A couple months back I got a 50 degree Knight Coffin smoother, and just last week my LV Low Angle Smoother and a high angle blade arrived. A quick touch-up honing of the high angle blade (with a couple or three degree secondary bevel) and I was "shining" some really qwerky pecan.

The Knight smoother is somewhat easier to push than is the LV, but that could be partially accounted for by the couple or three extra degrees of cutting angle.

I agree that the LV plane would be your best bet as the nearly slopless blade adjusting maechanism makes getting just the right thickness of shaving a breeze.

If you go with the Knight, spend the extra for the screw cap. I've got several other woodies that use wedges and I find the screw cap makes setting the blade depth about 90% easier.