How to fix tearout?

The knot is formed where a branch was and the grain of course takes a drastic turn at this point. The planer blades will always catch this grain, but if you turn the board around, the blades will smoothly plane the knot. Another way is to sand it smooth. Scrapers also do a good job of this. Most guys will either cut it away or glue it in place with epoxy.

And some really cool fixes are to remove the knot and fill it in with turquoise chips and epoxy! Or you could substitute stone, glass, silver or gold leaf…what have you?

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

Another way to handle the tearout is with a handplane. My preference for the job is a bevel-up smoother or jack plane from Veritas. I use either a 38 degree blade or a 50 degree blade. Added to the 12 degrees of the plane bed, you end up with an effective cutting angle of either 50 degrees or 62 degrees.

I’ve been able to plane without tearout most of the time using just the 38 degree blade. The 50 degree blade will most certainly handle the toughest grain situations.

The other advantage of using bevel-up planes is that there is not frog to adjust, as in ‘Bailey-style’ planes.

-- Earle Wright, Lenoir City, Tennessee

Thanks guys! :)
As said in my first post, is it normal for parts of Purpleheart to shine?

Parts shine and others don’t.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Thanks Gary. I just thought it looked kinda like the stripes on figured maple or something of the sort.

Those pictures I promised, a view of the board and closeup of the tearout.

Sand, sand, sand.

The shininess probably comes from compression when the wood was cut.

Lee

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

I agree with earle. A handplane is the answer.

-- "Heaven is North of the Bridge"

Marcel,
You are right, it is a beautiful board. You have a dilema my friend. I’d recomend finding someone (friend or nearby business) with a planer (with sharp blades) and clean it up. If that is not do able, get yourseld a good scraper and go to work. Pay attention to the grain, It will be easier and give better results in one direction over another. Don’t spend too much time sanding purpleheart. It is very heavy and dense, and will just use up a lot of your sandpaper while leaving the surface of the wood dull and uneven. Check out the “Joliet” box in my gallery and you’ll see that purpleheart shimmer.

Good luck,
Tom

-- Anybody can become a woodworker, but only a Craftsman can hide his mistakes.

You could also try putting it through the jointer/planer at an angle, not straight through.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Thanks guys! I think I’ll try taking it to the local lumber seller and ask if they can resurface.