Scott Winners
02-21-2022, 12:55 AM
I have three pretty fair solutions now, figured I would mention. I recently flipped the knives in my DeWalt 734 to a fresh edge, less than a month ago. I still see washboard on the surfaces coming out of the planer. Possibly 1/64 height x 1/64 wavelength, but I can see them on bare wood in raking light and clear finishes just magnify them.
One inexpensive option to make these go away is a card scraper ($15). I finally learned to sharpen my card scraper: https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?296222-Who-is-really-ecstatically-happy-with-their-cabinet-scrapers
with my new upgraded card scraper sharpening technique I can take poplar out of the planer, 4 passes with the card scraper at angles to the washboard, gorgeous.
I have also used a Polissoir from Don's barn ($27)and been able to make planer knife washboard go away on poplar, but I am not sure if it is a permanent solution. I guess I will find out in a few months/ years.
Finally, I made a burnisher from tropical hardwood (Sapele here) as described on Don Williams' DVD($0.25?). The DVD is 3.5 hours and about 30 bucks, I am claiming a quarter dollar for the Sapele scrap. I have seen most, but not all of the DVD. Anyroad, with the burnisher which cost me a piece of scrap I can make the planer washboard go away on poplar with fresh planer knives. I think Don used rosewood for his.
FWIW I respect that 'French Polish' is an American term for ever thinner layers of shellac on a surface with a pad, but also must respect Don's experience as a furniture conservator at the Smithsonian that what we call 'French Polish' was primarily an English technique. Going forward I will mention pad/shellac polish when I use that technique and wax/water when I use the wax/water technique as practiced by the French +/- CE 1775.
I have the most long term confidence in a surface I first clipped the washboard off with a card scraper and then burnished with the Sapele. I have taken to trimming down pin knots with a small chisel before burnishing. I find the burnisher leaves a high spot on the end grain of the pin knot, and then with continued burnishing eventually makes a ditch around the knot with radius equal to burnisher width. Better to have a small pit over the knot I think.
For $42.25, if planer knife washboard on flat surfaces with clear finish is bugging you, skip the polissoir. Use the $27 to buy a burnisher for the card scraper instead. I have, I think, every card scraper in every shape and thickness ever offered by LN, a Two Cherries, and I will in the future buy from Lee Valley with confidence. If you got a Dremel, some free time, and an old handsaw blade, sky is the limit. Start with a thick and thin rectangle, figure out what works for you, and then stock up.
FWIW the sapele scrap was 4/4 x 1.5 x 4.0. I cut the primary bevel by eye and then used a rasp to make a shape that doesn't hurt the palm of my hand. I am losing track of how many small scraper/burnishers I have made from nominal 1/2 x 3/4 x 8 inch hardwood scrap this weekend. Just cut a bevel at one end on the wide part, flip it, cut a bevel on the narrow part at the other end. Plane it flat with whatever you got, #3 Bailey, #4, maybe a #2. I have one for scraping wet glue out of inside corners now, works great.
FWIW I have found multiple thin coats of milk paint will fill/erase planer knife washboard, but for clear finish surfaces I have had to step up my game. I should mention I did fill the pores on my sapele burnisher with beeswax using a tack iron, like a clothes iron only smaller. I am not sure that is necessary as tropical hardwoods tend to be oily. But I had the heater and the wax, so I went ahead.
Back in the good old days, formerly known as 'these trying times,' everything I took out of the planer needed attention from the handplanes to make the washboard go away. I may still need to do that on primary woods like hickory and white oak, but on poplar I can move from the electric donkey to the card scraper to the burnisher to the varnish brush. There are some rags involved of course.
474345
One inexpensive option to make these go away is a card scraper ($15). I finally learned to sharpen my card scraper: https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?296222-Who-is-really-ecstatically-happy-with-their-cabinet-scrapers
with my new upgraded card scraper sharpening technique I can take poplar out of the planer, 4 passes with the card scraper at angles to the washboard, gorgeous.
I have also used a Polissoir from Don's barn ($27)and been able to make planer knife washboard go away on poplar, but I am not sure if it is a permanent solution. I guess I will find out in a few months/ years.
Finally, I made a burnisher from tropical hardwood (Sapele here) as described on Don Williams' DVD($0.25?). The DVD is 3.5 hours and about 30 bucks, I am claiming a quarter dollar for the Sapele scrap. I have seen most, but not all of the DVD. Anyroad, with the burnisher which cost me a piece of scrap I can make the planer washboard go away on poplar with fresh planer knives. I think Don used rosewood for his.
FWIW I respect that 'French Polish' is an American term for ever thinner layers of shellac on a surface with a pad, but also must respect Don's experience as a furniture conservator at the Smithsonian that what we call 'French Polish' was primarily an English technique. Going forward I will mention pad/shellac polish when I use that technique and wax/water when I use the wax/water technique as practiced by the French +/- CE 1775.
I have the most long term confidence in a surface I first clipped the washboard off with a card scraper and then burnished with the Sapele. I have taken to trimming down pin knots with a small chisel before burnishing. I find the burnisher leaves a high spot on the end grain of the pin knot, and then with continued burnishing eventually makes a ditch around the knot with radius equal to burnisher width. Better to have a small pit over the knot I think.
For $42.25, if planer knife washboard on flat surfaces with clear finish is bugging you, skip the polissoir. Use the $27 to buy a burnisher for the card scraper instead. I have, I think, every card scraper in every shape and thickness ever offered by LN, a Two Cherries, and I will in the future buy from Lee Valley with confidence. If you got a Dremel, some free time, and an old handsaw blade, sky is the limit. Start with a thick and thin rectangle, figure out what works for you, and then stock up.
FWIW the sapele scrap was 4/4 x 1.5 x 4.0. I cut the primary bevel by eye and then used a rasp to make a shape that doesn't hurt the palm of my hand. I am losing track of how many small scraper/burnishers I have made from nominal 1/2 x 3/4 x 8 inch hardwood scrap this weekend. Just cut a bevel at one end on the wide part, flip it, cut a bevel on the narrow part at the other end. Plane it flat with whatever you got, #3 Bailey, #4, maybe a #2. I have one for scraping wet glue out of inside corners now, works great.
FWIW I have found multiple thin coats of milk paint will fill/erase planer knife washboard, but for clear finish surfaces I have had to step up my game. I should mention I did fill the pores on my sapele burnisher with beeswax using a tack iron, like a clothes iron only smaller. I am not sure that is necessary as tropical hardwoods tend to be oily. But I had the heater and the wax, so I went ahead.
Back in the good old days, formerly known as 'these trying times,' everything I took out of the planer needed attention from the handplanes to make the washboard go away. I may still need to do that on primary woods like hickory and white oak, but on poplar I can move from the electric donkey to the card scraper to the burnisher to the varnish brush. There are some rags involved of course.
474345