I made some 1/4 inch by 3/4 inch by 6' long strips to cap the face of a
plywood shelf I'm building. I needed to run them through the planer (Delta
12.5") to shave a little bit off to make them pretty. The problem is some of
them went throught the planer fine and came out beautifully figured, others
chipped and jambed and broke. I realized I must be feeding them in the wrong
way. But I could not tell how to determine the grain prior to feeding them
through. Is their a sure fire way to test which way I should be pointing the
wood.
"Paul in MN" <ppridday@*remove*yahoo.com> wrote
>
> If I recall; I read somewhere about planing or jointing for that matter in
> the direction of the chevrons <<< in the grain.
It depends on which face, bark or heart you are inspecting.
Please try my web site - Planing Notes - Grain, part way down the page.
Jeff G
--
Jeff Gorman, West Yorkshire, UK
email : Username is amgron
ISP is clara.co.uk
www.amgron.clara.net
"Alan Smithee" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:KiI_e.8796$tl2.214@pd7tw3no...
>I made some 1/4 inch by 3/4 inch by 6' long strips to cap the face of a
> plywood shelf I'm building. I needed to run them through the planer (Delta
> 12.5") to shave a little bit off to make them pretty. The problem is some
> of
> them went throught the planer fine and came out beautifully figured,
> others
> chipped and jambed and broke. I realized I must be feeding them in the
> wrong
> way. But I could not tell how to determine the grain prior to feeding them
> through. Is their a sure fire way to test which way I should be pointing
> the
> wood.
>
As one reader has pointed out, you can detect a roughness climbing the
grain. You can also look, if your eyes are sharp, for which way the
splinters extend at the very edges. Oak is an easy one to do this way.
Even Jeff will admit that at 3/4 width, there won't be much change across
you "board."
That said, what breaks them is the grain being too short across the pieces
to take the insult of being grabbed and whacked uphill. If you're going to
plane that thin, you want grain as close to parallel to the faces as
possible. If they weren't 6' long, you could doublestick to a carrier
board. I've had good luck that way.
Time to get the drum or OSS out and jig for thickness sanding, or glue and
join.
"Alan Smithee" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:KiI_e.8796$tl2.214@pd7tw3no...
> I made some 1/4 inch by 3/4 inch by 6' long strips to cap the face of a
> plywood shelf I'm building. I needed to run them through the planer (Delta
> 12.5") to shave a little bit off to make them pretty. The problem is some
of
> them went throught the planer fine and came out beautifully figured,
others
> chipped and jambed and broke. I realized I must be feeding them in the
wrong
> way. But I could not tell how to determine the grain prior to feeding them
> through. Is their a sure fire way to test which way I should be pointing
the
> wood.
>
>
If I recall; I read somewhere about planing or jointing for that matter in
the direction of the chevrons <<< in the grain. I'd have to research it
again, but I'm sure by then someone on here with WAY more experience than I
have will have an answer for you. Obviously I need a refresher as well...
P.
In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
>Boards are too short to feed thru the planner. Leave them long, plane
>them, then cut to length
>
Ummm... he wrote 6' (feet), not 6".
>John
>
>On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 02:27:54 GMT, "Alan Smithee" <[email protected]>
>wrote:
>
>>I made some 1/4 inch by 3/4 inch by 6' long strips to cap the face of a
>>plywood shelf I'm building. I needed to run them through the planer (Delta
>>12.5") to shave a little bit off to make them pretty. The problem is some of
>>them went throught the planer fine and came out beautifully figured, others
>>chipped and jambed and broke. I realized I must be feeding them in the wrong
>>way. But I could not tell how to determine the grain prior to feeding them
>>through. Is their a sure fire way to test which way I should be pointing the
>>wood.
>>
--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.
Boards are too short to feed thru the planner. Leave them long, plane
them, then cut to length
John
On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 02:27:54 GMT, "Alan Smithee" <[email protected]>
wrote:
>I made some 1/4 inch by 3/4 inch by 6' long strips to cap the face of a
>plywood shelf I'm building. I needed to run them through the planer (Delta
>12.5") to shave a little bit off to make them pretty. The problem is some of
>them went throught the planer fine and came out beautifully figured, others
>chipped and jambed and broke. I realized I must be feeding them in the wrong
>way. But I could not tell how to determine the grain prior to feeding them
>through. Is their a sure fire way to test which way I should be pointing the
>wood.
>
On Wed, 28 Sep 2005 22:15:57 -0500, "Paul in MN"
<ppridday@*remove*yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>"Alan Smithee" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:KiI_e.8796$tl2.214@pd7tw3no...
>> I made some 1/4 inch by 3/4 inch by 6' long strips to cap the face of a
>> plywood shelf I'm building. I needed to run them through the planer (Delta
>> 12.5") to shave a little bit off to make them pretty. The problem is some
>of
>> them went throught the planer fine and came out beautifully figured,
>others
>> chipped and jambed and broke. I realized I must be feeding them in the
>wrong
>> way. But I could not tell how to determine the grain prior to feeding them
>> through. Is their a sure fire way to test which way I should be pointing
>the
>> wood.
>>
>>
>
>If I recall; I read somewhere about planing or jointing for that matter in
>the direction of the chevrons <<< in the grain. I'd have to research it
>again, but I'm sure by then someone on here with WAY more experience than I
>have will have an answer for you. Obviously I need a refresher as well...
>
>P.
>
there's no simple answer, and some pieces of wood will tear out both
directions. my first guess is usually based on looking at the edge of
the board.
I since read that running your finger along the wood back and forth will
usually reveal that one direction is rougher than the other. I would usually
do a grain check visually, but I ripped the stock through my table saw and
was having problems reading the wood because of the saw marks. The wood in
question was quarter-sawn birch s4s. I think what I'll do next time is
determine the grain prior to sending it through the saw. I'll paint or mark
the end of the whole board so that I can identify which direction the grain
ran. If I have to leave the milled stock for a period of time (read:
interruptions, interruptions always interruptions) I can always come back
and know which end was which. I may have enough milled stock to finish the
job. Worst case scenario I spend another $30 on a board to finish. The birch
came out absolutely stunning when it was done right. Glowed like a hologram
on a $50 bill. Thanks for all the feedback folks.
"tom" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> What made it difficult to read the grain? Was it the thinness of the
> pieces? I can't think of any "sure-fire" way to test, other than to
> test on the material you'll be using. So make up an extra piece or two,
> to cover the loss? Tom
>