Hand planing hickory

Re: Hand planing hickory

Richard L. Darin

>If you are using a bench plane try 30 deg.

Re: Hand planing hickory

Ted Owen, Pittsburgh

>Nice to hear from you, Dick. Hope all is well.

For the benefit of everyone here, Dick is VERY knowledgeable of sharpening, as well as a variety of other subjects. A few weeks ago we enjoyed a wonderful demo from Dick at Western PA Woodworkers.

Best, Ted

Re: I think I meant to say...

Dale Lenz - Tahlequah, OK

>30 degrees. If my current iron is at 25 degrees and I hold the end(the non cutting edge) of the iron slightly higher than normal, ie 5 degrees higher that will increase the "meat" at the cutting edge... Sorry for the mistake, I pass trig, with but not with flying colors, : ' >.....Dale

my experience

Matt Malin

>I made a woodworking bench top out of hickory. I used a LN 4 1/2 and honed it at least 3 times. It took forever. The biggest tip is to plane it at a 20 to 30 degree across the wood. Not straight on it is too stringy and splinters, at least for me.

Re: Yeh....

Dale Lenz - Tahlequah, OK

>skewing the plane does help. But, I�m trying to shoot an edge joint for gluing up. So, if I could use the whole sole of the plane that would help. I wonder what the down side will be to planing more tame woods will be after I regrind my iron to 30�'s, guess I'll find out, my guess more effort to push the plane ??

Thanks to everyone that has spoken....Dale

Re: Hand planing hickory

Adam DeGraff

>Hickory generally doesn't give me a problem. I just make sure I buck it short enough to fit in my stove and I always wake up the next morning with a beautiful bed of coals to start the day.

Re: You mean......

Dale Lenz - Tahlequah, OK

>you don't have any problems splitting the stuff??

: ' >.....Dale

Re: Yeh....

Andrew F in Australia

>Hickory would rate as an 'average' timber here, I guess.

The only way to face joint with a plane is to get it close with a sharp blade (which blunts quickly), then reset the blade to super sharp and super fine and take off the high spots.

Look for a picture or two of a bench built out of Aussie Hardwoods in the next month or so.

May give you a few pointers.

Cheers,

Andrew

Re: Well.......

Dale Lenz - Tahlequah, OK

>I increased the angle 5� on both my 06 and my L/N 4 1/2 and they performed great on surface planing. I meant to shoot an edge on some hickory but I forgot. My guess it will whistle, as in a sweet tune.

Thanks Everyone,

Dale

Re: Matt...

Dale Lenz - Tahlequah, OK

>I built my jointer's bench some 22 years ago come this summer; I used SYP, a cost factor. I have often thought if I replace the top to the bench I would use hickory since, it's available here, as in grows. Hard maple is difficult to find in a grade log around here.

So how do you like the hickory top? Pro's Con's??...Dale

So far so good...

Matt Malin

>It's a little over 6 feet. It's a no frills bench with round dog holes. I have a Record 52 1/2 vise and a small Veritas edge vice on it. I am very happy with it and I would build one out of hickory again if I couldn't get hard maple at a decent price.

Pro's It's hard as a rock and doesn't budge at all. It' made it through one winter in an unheated garage and is still dead flat.

Con's The grain is unpredictable and turns back on itself which made the first flattening a real bear.

Also, hickory's cheap in Iowa.

Matt Malin

>

Re: Hand planing hickory

Roger Nixon

>Fun, isn't it? I was making a bench top of pecan (a hickory relative) and gave it up. Unless you take very light shavings, no blade will last very long.

I used a 25� primary bevel with a 5� micro bevel and I tried Stanley blades, a Shepherd tools A2 cryo blade and an Academy Saw Works M2 blade. The A2 and M2 blades last a lot longer than the Stanley blades but still dulled in about 45 minutes of flattening.