Dealing with flame birch tear out

"David Ford" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> hello all,
>
> I've mostly work with pine until now.
>
> what is the secret to dealing with flame birch tear-out?
>
> I've got a friend using his milling machine to surface some pieces for
> me right now and seems like everything we do causes tear-out (except
> maybe sanding).
>
> I tried some water-based stain on a test piece tonight. It "furred up"
> on me. I let it dry then took a couple of swipes with some fine
> sandpaper and it was smoother again. Would an oil-based stain do the
> same thing?
>
> If I set up a router/jointer, would that also cause tear-out? What
> about a real jointer, or a planer?
>
> Is there a way to treat the wood after staining that will harden the
> soft areas?
>
> Also, I keep seeing the term "snipe" associated with planers, and maybe
> even jointers. What is this?
>

Curly woods respond best to high cutting angles - York pitch planes or
scrapers - or low and skewed plane angles. Of those who use machines, some
wet the surface of the wood with alcohol to soften the fiber before
machining.

It's natural for wood fiber to expand with water. You've pressed some of
the fiber down in processing, and now it stands back up - to be cut off with
some 320. Rarely stands up much again. Most will do a fiber set after the
second to final grit, wiping and letting the surface dry before sanding with
the finest. Helps a lot.

Snipe is a condition caused by a tip in the board being machined, digging an
image of the cutterhead into the wood. Hold the wood firmly to the table
when feeding or bearing off your planer (might even lift a bit) and it
shouldn't be a problem. With a jointer it's normally an off-feed table set
too low.