4
Watched a guy at the local lumberyard try to plane some warped walnut without checking the grain direction first.
He was using a benchtop planer on a 6-foot board that had a pretty clear curve to the grain, and it just tore out a huge chunk about a foot in. It matters because that's a lot of money in material just gone, and it's a basic step I see skipped a lot. Do you all have a quick trick for spotting tricky grain before you start milling?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
the_piper19d ago
Run your hand down the board and feel for changes in smoothness, the rough direction tells you which way to plane. On tricky figured wood like that walnut, I'll sometimes hit the area with a light spray of water first, it makes the grain pattern pop so you can see which way it runs. Always take super light passes at first, you can hear and feel if it's starting to tear out before it gets bad. That crunch sound is just money flying away.
6
parkerkim19d ago
Man, that's rough. I've seen guys mark the grain direction right on the board with chalk before they even move it to the machine.
5
henry10119d ago
My buddy lost half a maple slab last year doing the same thing... he was in a hurry and just fed it through. The sound was awful, like it was chewing the wood. Now he uses a little trick with a hand plane first, just a whisper of a cut on the edge to test the grain. If it tries to dig in, he flips the board end for end. Seems like a simple check can save a lot of heartache.
5