Fixing Tear Out

[Varangian]

There is plenty said here and elsewhere about avoiding tear out, but not so much on fixing the problem once it occurs.

I stumbled onto some white oak that is full of swirling grain. I've been ripping this down then planing to boards about 3" wide and 1/2" thick. This means the pieces I am working with are somewhere between rift and quarter sawn depending on where they were ripped from the larger stock. I have a good bit more of the wood to play with (started out as 10 feet of 12+/4), however I'm getting noticeable tear out on the faces in just about every board. I'm thinking I'll be getting a toothed plane shortly to ease this trouble in the future.

My real question is, what can I do to salvage/fix the pieces already cut and planed to dimension and thickness that have gouges from tear out up to 3/32" deep?

[AcornHouse]

There is plenty said here and elsewhere about avoiding tear out, but not so much on fixing the problem once it occurs.

I stumbled onto some white oak that is full of swirling grain. I've been ripping this down then planing to boards about 3" wide and 1/2" thick. This means the pieces I am working with are somewhere between rift and quarter sawn depending on where they were ripped from the larger stock. I have a good bit more of the wood to play with (started out as 10 feet of 12+/4), however I'm getting noticeable tear out on the faces in just about every board. I'm thinking I'll be getting a toothed plane shortly to ease this trouble in the future.

My real question is, what can I do to salvage/fix the pieces already cut and planed to dimension and thickness that have gouges from tear out up to 3/32" deep?

I know exactly the type of WO grain you are talking about, having dealt with it myself over the years with varying degrees of success. If you can't go any thinner to get below the tearout you're either going to have to accept it, or get creative. One solution would be to add a non-tearout veneer over it. If you want that wild grain (which I am partial to), try to find a wide enough belt/drum sander to get rid of it and then add a veneer to the back to get back to your desired thickness.

As far as avoiding it in the first place, Chris Schwarz had a session on "impossible" grain at this year's WIA. A very well sharpened hand plane with a high angle or a bevel up smoother with, again, a high angle seemed to be the tool for the job. But even a well tuned, well sharpened plane can work wonders by altering the angle and direction of attack. This is where they have an advantage over power planers/jointers. With a hand plane, you can plane different parts of the board selectively in different directions.

Or, again, if you have access to a wide enough belt or drum sander, you don't have to think about grain direction at all.

My thoughts.

[Roger T]

There is plenty said here and elsewhere about avoiding tear out, but not so much on fixing the problem once it occurs.

I stumbled onto some white oak that is full of swirling grain. I've been ripping this down then planing to boards about 3" wide and 1/2" thick. This means the pieces I am working with are somewhere between rift and quarter sawn depending on where they were ripped from the larger stock. I have a good bit more of the wood to play with (started out as 10 feet of 12+/4), however I'm getting noticeable tear out on the faces in just about every board. I'm thinking I'll be getting a toothed plane shortly to ease this trouble in the future.

My real question is, what can I do to salvage/fix the pieces already cut and planed to dimension and thickness that have gouges from tear out up to 3/32" deep?

A well tuned card scraper will do wonders on tear out areas. Care has to be taken tho as you can dish the area out rather badly if you dont feather the area around it somewhat. This will make it look wonderful, but you will likely be able to feel the dished out areas.

Roger