Need some help with planing a tough board

[Meatwad]

I've got this board of ash that I am trying to smooth. No matter what I try I cannot get this sucker planed. My smoothing plane gets stuck. I've got start/stop marks all over it. I've sharpened 100 times and adjusted my chipbreaker and closed the mouth on my plane as much as I can but it's no good. Any ideas? Is the mouth on my plane too big?

 

[BonPacific]

Stupid question, but which direction are you planing from? Towards the camera?

I've had better luck with a low-angle jack plane and a very narrow mouth setting than a #4. That said, ash is a pain-in-itself to get perfectly smooth with the best of tools.

Is it close enough you could go straight to a card scraper? More work, but less sticking and tear-out.

[Meatwad]

On 10/6/2022 at 3:07 PM, BonPacific said:

Stupid question, but which direction are you planing from? Towards the camera?

I've had better luck with a low-angle jack plane and a very narrow mouth setting than a #4. That said, ash is a pain-in-itself to get perfectly smooth with the best of tools.

Is it close enough you could go straight to a card scraper? More work, but less sticking and tear-out.

Planing from bottom of pic to top. Got tear out from the other direction. It will be close after I run it through my thickness planer I can use a card scraper or maybe even a block plane just to hit the bad spots.

[Tom King]

Must be taking too big of a bite, and maybe also a combination of not putting enough butt behind it.

[Ronn W]

I would say that your opening in front the balde is way too big and I suggest setting up the plane by edge planing and piece of scrap.  Start so that ou are taking no shaving and gradually advance the blade until you get very fine shaving.  At the same time fine tune the skew of the blade so that you get equal t hickness shaving from both the right and left side of the blade.  Then try it on the flat board. 

[Tpt life]

Camber and lighter cuts are your friend. Also, sharp, sharp,….sharp. Closing the mouth and setting the cap iron/chip breaker closer to the cutting edge also help. 

[wtnhighlander]

Another thing you can do is turn the plane so the blade is skewed in relation to the direction of push. This changes the effective cutting angle of the blade relative to the surface, and often help through those 'sticking' points.

[Meatwad]

On 10/6/2022 at 6:03 PM, wtnhighlander said:

Another thing you can do is turn the plane so the blade is skewed in relation to the direction of push. This changes the effective cutting angle of the blade relative to the surface, and often help through those 'sticking' points.

I have used this before to some success with oak but this particular board is not having it. I went back and watched a video on Wood by Wright's channel where he did a lot of work on a tough white oak board and he advised against skewing the blade to keep the mouth small. I even have this exact plane that he does by mine will not adjust the frog forward enough to close up the mouth.

 

[wtnhighlander]

Sometimes all you can do is try a different tool. Scrapers usually work, but are slow. A plane with a narrower mouth might work. I've even been known to try installing the blade bevel up (in a bevel down plane), and adjusting the frog back until the edge barely clears the back edge of the mouth. Then advance the blade to barely kiss the wood. The result is more of a scraping action that is tough to push, but hard to tear out. May not work with the secondary bevel I see in your pic, though.

[gee-dub]

Agree with wtnhighlander, when even the lightest, tightest cut seems to snag it is time for a different approach.  I have a bevel up smoother that I put a very steep iron in for problem areas.  I also have a Veritas No. 80-like cabinet scraper although I use that for rougher work.

Helpful graphic:

 

[Ronn W]

On 10/7/2022 at 9:31 AM, gee-dub said:

I have a bevel up smoother that I put a very steep iron in for problem areas. 

Yeh, that usually works for me - even with curly maple

[Mr H]

That's a clean board, shouldn't be an issue. The way you have it means you're planing again the grain, you're smoothing the cat the wrong way.

Your mouth is just fine. Move the cap iron close if rotating the board isn't enough. Close cap iron and light cuts. This ash was planed with no tear and no follow up with abrasives. No fancy plane required, this was a Record in standard trim.