Old timer told me to plane with the grain and I laughed at him

Tbh I thought I knew better after 5 years of framing. Last week I tried planing a maple tabletop against the grain and tore out a chunk the size of my thumb. Should have listened to Harold at the lumber yard in Portland.

2 comments

2 Comments

holly_foster1mo ago

Wait but what kind of maple was it? I always thought the whole with the grain thing was more about softwoods and figured I could get away with it on hard stuff since I was using a sharp plane anyway. Did you check the grain direction first or just go for it? I've been burned by figuring I could read the grain by sight alone too many times.

jade2261mo ago

That third piece from the left side of the board is always the troublemaker in my experience, @holly_foster. I mean the one right after the wavy stuff settles down. It's like life, really - you think you've figured out the pattern with the first two obvious chunks, then the third one throws you a curveball just when you're feeling confident. I found checking the end grain with a hand lens before planing saves me from that "ah crap" moment when the tearout starts. Have you ever noticed how our brains love to spot a pattern and then completely ignore the exceptions until it's too late?