sbarton22 Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 I just landed a sweet piece of maple burl. I'm so excited to do something with it. Now, with that said, I don't really know how to approach it. Can I run it through the planer? Which way is uphill or downhill? Should I treat it more like end grain? Any advice here would be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flairwoodworks Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 I suspect that you will get a lot of tearout from your planer, but I've never tried planing a burl. I would use a sander or a toothed plane blade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
APierce Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Helical cutter heads excel on lumber like this due to their multi-toothed design and the shearing cut angle. If you have a straight knifed planer I wouldn't do it. It could easily rip chucks out of it ruining a beautiful piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joestyles Posted June 3, 2011 Report Share Posted June 3, 2011 Band saw and drum sander if you have one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raruss1 Posted June 3, 2011 Report Share Posted June 3, 2011 i get gread results with either a low angle plane (25 degrees) or a high angle plane (52 degrees) get yer blade really sharp for this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbarton22 Posted June 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2011 Thanks for all of the great advice....LOL, I don't have a helical cutter, drum sander, or low angle plane. I guess I'll have to rely on the bandsaw and some mechanized elbow grease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted June 5, 2011 Report Share Posted June 5, 2011 I don't have a helical cutter, drum sander, or low angle plane. What tools do you have? How would you plane the wood if it wasn't burl? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbarton22 Posted June 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2011 I'd use my band saw and then my planer, but it is a straight knife planer, (not helical)or my jointer. If I am making an end grain cutting board, I wouldn't put that in the planer, so I would use an array of sanders/grits to get me there. I have a #4 plane, but I am a butcher with it. I need to practice with it, but I don't want to practice on a nice piece of burl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted June 5, 2011 Report Share Posted June 5, 2011 Don't forget scrapers. They really excel on crazy grain. Love my No. 80 and Cabinet Scaper planes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbarton22 Posted June 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 OH YEAH! I forgot that I have a scraper and have yet to utilize it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bois Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 What gives burl that swirling grain effect is just that - the grain is undulating in many different directions. So in many ways, it's not much different than that end-grain cutting board, as any time that grain swirls upward, you're basically getting patches of end grain. So the planer is definitely out. Lacking a drum sander, I'd suggest going from the band saw to a jack or jointer plane if you have one (to get the piece flat). For final smoothing, your no. 4 and then card scrapers are your best bet, but it sounds like your smoother might need to be tuned up. You mentioned "practicing" with it - well a properly tuned and set up plane doesn't require a whole lot of technique so I suspect it either needs some help (there are tons of great resources on tuning hand planes out there). The other problem is that a standard smoother set up with a 45 degree angle is likely still going to tear out on burl. I have three smoothers, two of which are back-beveled to give me 50 and 55 degree pitches. I use these for more difficult grain, and then follow that up with a card scraper. This is much more likely to work on the burl without tearing out as much. But don't even think about going right from the band saw to card scraper, that could take weeks of hard labor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 What gives burl that swirling grain effect is just that - the grain is undulating in many different directions. So in many ways, it's not much different than that end-grain cutting board, as any time that grain swirls upward, you're basically getting patches of end grain. So the planer is definitely out. Lacking a drum sander, I'd suggest going from the band saw to a jack or jointer plane if you have one (to get the piece flat). For final smoothing, your no. 4 and then card scrapers are your best bet, but it sounds like your smoother might need to be tuned up. You mentioned "practicing" with it - well a properly tuned and set up plane doesn't require a whole lot of technique so I suspect it either needs some help (there are tons of great resources on tuning hand planes out there). The other problem is that a standard smoother set up with a 45 degree angle is likely still going to tear out on burl. I have three smoothers, two of which are back-beveled to give me 50 and 55 degree pitches. I use these for more difficult grain, and then follow that up with a card scraper. This is much more likely to work on the burl without tearing out as much. But don't even think about going right from the band saw to card scraper, that could take weeks of hard labor! LOL....yes, sorry I didn't mean to do it all with a scraper. What Rob said. Sometimes it's very late at night when I post and they are not always thought out very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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