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Type of plane for dense hardwoods (Maple/purpleheart/figured maple)

2K views 19 replies 7 participants last post by  lateralus819 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
So I picked up a beautiful 8'x10"x1" piece of curly purpleheart. Didn't have a use for it but for the $ i paid it was too good to not try and use it.

I had a scrap of purple heart from a project a year or so ago and tried to plane it, and it's just as much a pain as maple is. It chatters and skids the whole way making no shavings.

Also have difficultys with figured maple.

Are there planes i could look into that would be better suited to these figure/more dense woods?
 
#5 ·
prices are so hard to keep up with…......A #112 in decent shape typically goes for $100+. Some much more. I paid $75 for mine because it was pretty much a steal.

The #112 is my favorite. I even prefer it over my Veritas.
 
#11 · (Edited by Moderator)
The harder and more figured a wood is, the more prone it tends
to be to tearout. Going with a plane that scrapes a little
more and cuts a little less is the answer.

Scraper planes work, but the angle is usually higher than
you'll need.

A standard bench plane is bedded at 45 degrees, which
works well on straight-grained hardwoods and softwoods -
it is also efficient, can take deep and shallow cuts well,
and is not too much work to push around.

Move the bevel up with an aftermarket "York pitch" frog
(Lie Nielsen), an infill smoother, a custom-made wood plane,
or by back-beveling the iron by 5 degrees.

Brian Burns's pamphlet "double bevel sharpening" is
useful in understanding and solving these issues,
both with hand planes and machines.
 
#15 ·
#16 ·
Sharp, sharp, sharp. Its all about a sharp well tuned plane and a light cut. Get it sharp, close up the mouth, and set the chipbreaker as close as possible. I smoothed some curly maple yesterday with a LN with a 45 degree frog, but my vintage Stanleys will do it to. With a very closely set chipbreaker I got a nice smooth surface. If I do get tearout my LV BUS will usually take care of it.

As another poster said, A back bevel will raise the effective cutting angle if sharp and well tuned don't cut it. Then go to a bevel up smoother, or a scraper plane as a last resort.

If your plane is chattering its either not sharp or its not sharp and the iron is not bedded well and/or you are trying to take to rank of a cut.

Jonathan
 
#18 ·
As Homer Simpson would say "DOH". I didn't realize how dull the blade was in my #6. Well, dull to be planing purpleheart. I was breezing thru african mahogany so i figured it was sharp. I just hit it with the wet stone for a few minutes and it went through the purpleheart no problem, skewing helped much more as well. Thanks all.
 
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