t-bone Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 how do you tell which way the grain is going on a piece of wood ? i get all screwed up lol. and what kind of wood can you plane and ones to stay away from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mahoganus Posted November 2, 2010 Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 how do you tell which way the grain is going on a piece of wood ? i get all screwed up lol. and what kind of wood can you plane and ones to stay away from. If its curly or tiger you always block that out and look at the grain. If its a big enough board you can usually look at it a see a section of the grain that looks like an arrow thats the direction the grain is going. If I could find some pics it would be easier to explain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Bennett Posted November 2, 2010 Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 If it's a flat board you can usually see the grain direction by looking at the edge, it's normally best to plane in the direction that goes with the grain, by this I mean, if you look at the edge and the lines of the grain are rising say from left to right then you would plane from left to right. However, most boards will have cross grain or wavy grain and may need careful planing from several directions across the board. With very sharp plane set at minimum depth it is possible to get a pretty smooth surface without tearout, which is obvious when you see it. If you've got it as good as you can with the plane next take a cabinet scraper, get it really clean on the burr and carefully scrape the finest of shavings until all signs of tearout are gone before bothering to get the sander. Hope this helps. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RenaissanceWW Posted November 2, 2010 Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 Think about a tree as a series of cones nested within one another. In other words the trunk tapers as it rises so each growth ring contracts at is climbs. When another ring grows it is stacking another cone on top on the last one. With this image in mind you should most always plane towards the point of the cone. So if you have a board look at the end grain to see where the center of the tree is and place that face down. In that position you can plane toward the points of the cone quite easily. Of course as is said above it doesn't always work so neatly and grain will switch and meander due to external factors as the tree grows. You can always look on the edge of the board to see which was the fibers are rising too, but this other method gives you just another option to check to be sure. As always it is best to start with a very light cut to be sure then increase your depth depending on the task at hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COWW Posted November 2, 2010 Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 how do you tell which way the grain is going on a piece of wood ? i get all screwed up lol. and what kind of wood can you plane and ones to stay away from. The Schwarz had an article in, I believe, the recently defunct Woodworking magazine a while back that described how to determine grain direction of a flatsawn board by looking at the end grain. The idea was look at the endgrain to determine which side of the board was facing the "bark" side of the tree, and which side was facing the "heart" side of the tree. The rings on the endgrain form arcs. The convex portion of the arc faces the "bark" side of the board, the concave portion of the arc is the "heart" side of the board. Now look at the "cathedral" patterns on the the face of the board: If you are planing the heart side of the board you should plane from the open end of the cathedral towards the point, i.e. if your cathedrals are a V you would plane downward from the open end of the V to the point. If you are planing the bark side of the board you should plane from the point to the open end of the V shaped cathedrals. The Schwarz explained it as: follow your "heart" into the cathedral, and look at the "bark" side as though it is a dog barking. He also said, sometimes no matter what signs you look at on the board, the grain will fool you and you'll get tearout, if you do, turn the board around and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamking Posted November 3, 2010 Report Share Posted November 3, 2010 I know we can get all scientific and woodgeeky over this one. I can for sure. BUT, here's a super simple trick my teacher gave me to determine the direction the grain is running. Pet the dog. Yup. That's what he said. Run your hand over the surface of the board. You'll feel very little resistance if you're running your hand with the grain. If you rub against it you literally feel the fibers of the wood prickling up. Exactly like petting a dog against the direction it's fur lays. There's always exceptions since wood is an unpredictable organic material, but I've used this method for almost ten years without fail. Seriously. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mahoganus Posted November 3, 2010 Report Share Posted November 3, 2010 I know we can get all scientific and woodgeeky over this one. I can for sure. BUT, here's a super simple trick my teacher gave me to determine the direction the grain is running. Pet the dog. Yup. That's what he said. Run your hand over the surface of the board. You'll feel very little resistance if you're running your hand with the grain. If you rub against it you literally feel the fibers of the wood prickling up. Exactly like petting a dog against the direction it's fur lays. There's always exceptions since wood is an unpredictable organic material, but I've used this method for almost ten years without fail. Seriously. Hope this helps. My god what a great way to describe it,, I will remember this fore ever and will pass this on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-bone Posted November 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2010 I know we can get all scientific and woodgeeky over this one. I can for sure. BUT, here's a super simple trick my teacher gave me to determine the direction the grain is running. Pet the dog. Yup. That's what he said. Run your hand over the surface of the board. You'll feel very little resistance if you're running your hand with the grain. If you rub against it you literally feel the fibers of the wood prickling up. Exactly like petting a dog against the direction it's fur lays. There's always exceptions since wood is an unpredictable organic material, but I've used this method for almost ten years without fail. Seriously. Hope this helps. thanks, but is that the surface or edges? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamking Posted November 3, 2010 Report Share Posted November 3, 2010 Works for both. Wood, being a living substance, will always tell you what you need to know about it. You just have to learn it's language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Bennett Posted November 3, 2010 Report Share Posted November 3, 2010 Once again Adam you've hit the nail on the head so to speak. Funny I almost never use nails! The simplest answers are always the best. It's amazing how we all miss them in looking for the technical explanations. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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