[Judson Poole]

Hey all,

I just started getting into woodworking with traditional hand tools and have so far worked on dimensioning a couple of boards with varying levels of success. I decided to go for an easy project of making some winding sticks. I used a 1″x2″x38″ piece of hard maple and I was able to get the first face and edge flat and square with relative ease using just a number 5 jack plane, as it is all I currently own. I came back the next to complete the second face and edge which again went fairly well. However, when I came back the third day I was shocked to see that this small board developed a bow along the 2 inch face of about 3/16 of an inch along the 38 inch length. The wood is closer to quarter sawn than rift and has really low moisture content (kiln dried). Has anyone else had issues with this? Do you hand plane it down to a rough dimension and let it sit before bringing it to its final dimension? Or does this just happen sometimes. I have seen it with 2 out of the 5 board that I have hand planed down.

Wyllie

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[Carl Philips]

#2077869

Hey There! You can also try to make these calculations online with a wood cft calculator.

Wood CFT Calculator

[Tim Loraditch]

#2078420

Raising Grain

While trying to dimension oak boards I frequently run into small areas where the plane rips the grain out. I am careful to check the direction of the grain before hand and I think I have it right because reversing direction is a whole lot worse. I think there are just areas on the board where the grain does not cooperate. The blade is pretty sharp. Do I just need to select the boards more carefully for good grain pattern, or is there some trick to this?

[Author]

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