Originally Posted by
Warren Mickley
Years ago Australian woods were really hyped up on some of our forums. I had guys who had never seen jarrah telling me I would be unable to plane it. "Its like concrete".When I got some about ten years ago, it was almost a disappointment. And guys who were only familiar with a half a dozen woods were pretending to be knowledgeable about "tame domestic hardwoods."
We have difficult woods here in America also, but we tend not to use them for cabinetmaking. I took a piece of wood that grew in Pennsylvania to a Lie Nielsen event one time. The guy tried a 55 degree frog, a toothing iron, a 45 degree frog, a bevel up at 60 degrees, freshly sharpened, closed mouth, you name it. He tore away a quarter inch of thickness, but it was it was a lot rougher than if it had been cut with a band saw. The other side I had planed very nicely with a Stanley Handyman plane.