Beech for hand planes

[BEN SHELTON]

Does anyone know of a good source for quarter sawn beech?
I'd like to make a couple of hand planes.

Ben

[Zahid Naqvi]

try woodfinder.com, it might turn up something in your neck of the woods.

[Harold Beck]

I took a class from Todd Herrli on wooden plane making and he had a couple of suggestions on alternatives where Qsawn beech was hard to find. His first suggestion was to take 4/4 flatsawn beech and laminate 4 layers together to get a 4" thick block and then rip the block and the flatsawn grain becomes mostly quartersawn.

He also suggests hard maple as it is much easier to find 12/4 or 16/4 hard maple that is quartersawn or close to it. He says the real best is to find someone taking down an apple or pear tree and beg and grovel as necesary to get the trunk, cut it into lengths and split out blocks, and set it aside to fry for a couple of years. The fruitwood is excellant but very hard to come across.

I also bought some from a guy here on the Creek. Send me a PM and I'll send you his name. Don't know if he still has any or not, and I have not seen him post anything in a while, but you can try.

HB

[Eric Hartunian]

Does anyone know of a good source for quarter sawn beech?
I'd like to make a couple of hand planes.

Ben

I tried some time ago, made lots of phone calls, but nobody seemed to be able to help. There is a fair amount of 4/4 beech out there, but anything thicker was tough to come by. I second the idea for maple. I tried on a jack plane, but a hidden knot ended it. One of these days I will get back to it...

Eric

[john davey]

Is there more than one type of pear? I have a trunk from a Bradford pear I am drying currently. Is this a good wood for planes? I was going to turn it all but might make a plane with a chunk if it is a good choice. Thanks, john.

[David Weaver]

There are TONS of types of pear. I wouldn't be surprised if you opened up the pear tree to find the trunk wasn't as good as you expected, but if it is, it will probably be an OK tree. I don't see any numbers on bradford pear, but what's sold as european pear is nice wood to work. But what is sold as european pear is also very variable, it seems. I bought a big quartersawn board of it a couple of years ago and didn't get what I expected to see. I still haven't cut that board, but it doesn't feel heavy enough so I'm guessing it's not the same thing as mike wenzloff uses on saw handles (which looks fabulous).

[Joseph Klosek]

See if you can find some reclaimed barn beams.

I had an old plank of beech that I was able to resaw and used it to make
some small boxes.

Excellent wood to work.

J.P.

[Trevor Walsh]

Cherry would be another decent choice. My local mill normally has a lot of it in 16/4

[Chris Griggs]

Cherry would be another decent choice. My local mill normally has a lot of it in 16/4

Trevor, who might that be? Is it Groff and Groff?