Hello everyone,
I was finishing up the tack in strips for the back of the glass doors on my parent’s kitchen tonight. In order to sneak up on the required thickness for the strips, I started to pull out my drum sander. There was a plastic bag on the top of it I had forgotten about. Inside that bag was a 1.5” cross-section of a white oak tree that my BIL had wanted me to surface one side of for him. Something about wanting to count the growth rings. It had been sectioned (chewed) by a chain saw and was totally irregular on both sides. It was on top of the drum sander because I was going to run it through there.
On the sander I would have to change to 36g and take a number of passes with the cross section secured to a sled as I made one side flat. Then I would have to change to finer grits so he could read the rings.
Hmmm….
I have this new Byrd shear helical cutterhead on my jointer; I wonder if I could do it with that?
After two passes,
After four passes,
Holy cow Batman!
Boy those medullary rays sure stand out!
The new cutterhead had no problem with the end grain! I am sure my (a) regular knifed cutterhead would have blown that cross section apart!
Wow! Is all I have to say,
David.
Every neighbourhood has one; in mine I’m him.
P.S. Please excuse the overuse of exclamation marks….
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(I've got one and did the same thing, albeit, on a not-so-wide piece!) Yup, I'm totally sold on the Byrd, as well! Glad you're enjoying yours, too! 
