LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Khaya

1K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  sima 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Since this is my first question in LumberJocks Forum,I have to say this is quite helpful webpage for all woodworkers,especially for amateurs like me.
Before I started my hobby,woodworking, I bought one bigger plank of Khaya wood. It is 2.5m long,30cm wide and thickness is 52mm. What I know now,and didn't know before buying it, is that it's very hard to work with this wood :(
Or it's not?! That why I'm writing this…
What I found as a biggest problem with this tree,is that after cutting it,I put it trough planer…uhh,one more time,and one more time and then i realized it's gone be worst and worst..

Wood Drilling Creative arts Rotary tool Flooring


This is how it looks like.Surface is always in bad condition,with holes and never smooth.

Wood Beige Hardwood Wood stain Font


So I'm kinda stuck here…have this plank,don't know how to properly work with this wood and don't have good idea what to make from it since it is ( for me ) hard to work with this wood.

Any solution,idea or advise would be appreciated since here is possible to find a lot of great woodworkers.
 

Attachments

See less See more
4
#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
Looks like you were feeding it through the planer against the flow of the grain. Tear out like this happens on woods like Khaya or Mahogany if not fed properly. Also, if you plane wood like this with a hand plane, it's best do to so with the blade set at a hight angle, otherwise, you'll have tear out like this.

Your best bet is to run it back through your planer in the opposite direction and try not to take so much off at once. Also, check the sharpness of your planer blades. If they are dull, that will only exacerbate the problem.
 
#5 ·
I agree with light passes and changing the direction of how you planning it and dampen it with a wet sponge first , many times that will help tame tear out. Another approach is if you can find someone with a spiral head planner because it has many small blades it's much less lightly to have serious tear out.
 
#7 · (Edited by Moderator)
I was a take light passes guy myself, until I watched a Glen Huey video where he said that, while counterintuitive, making deeper cuts reduces tear-out. I tried it, and found it to be true for me in every case. It also saves me quite a few passes, and since some of my work involves planing 8/4 lumber down to 1-3/8 inch, that's a lot of time saved.
 
#8 ·
I'm using Makita 2012 planer ,and I think that blades are still good.Don't know how to decide are they dull or not,but I can say that I don't see any kind of damage on wood when I'm using it. I've made just a few cutting boards and my bench,basically planer is less then a year old.
I tried to take less when I put it trough planer,but rips are coming out randomly never at the same spots.What I didn't try is what you advise me,to let it in opposite direction. In case it doesn't help I have new set of blades,hopefully that might help.
At the end, if nothing work,there is some furniture company at city,I heard they have drum sender and that will be final solution :(
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top