Hi from North Queensland:)

Evening all,
I thought I'd start by introducing myself, my name is Mick and I've just recently decided that I wasn't frustrated enough so I decided to try my hand at some wood work in my shed... Who knows I might even learn some patience :) so far all I've made is a new tote for my brand new Stanley No 4 smoothing plane (and a whole heap of shavings/dust) because apparently the plastic one shatters when I go to pick them up. So I don't clog up another thread with questions on planes could anyone point me to a thread or 2 containing why I can't seem to plane hardwood in any direction other than tangentially? Pine is smooth as silk but hard wood not so much. Even a pm conversation with someone who knows more than me would be very much appreciated.

Thanks for your time

Mick

Hi Mick and welcome to the forum,
You are entering a whole new world of wonder and frustration on why some timber will plane as easy as butter and another piece will drive you to distraction. It comes down to grain direction (which can and will change instantly throughout the piece) and angle of cut as you have found with you're piece of hardwood you can only get a fair cut as you say tangentially is due to sluing the plane gives you a slicing cut and changes the angle that the blade slices the fibers. I have recently purchased a bevel up jack plane that has a 25deg bevel to the blade and tried to plane some Black heart sassafras that had a swirl in the grain didn't matter which way I approached the piece it tore the grain,I changed the blade to a 35deg blade and the difference was instant it cut as smooth as silk I couldn't believe the way the this change made such a improvement to the cut. I realize this doesn't help with you're plane as you can't change the angle of the cut with a bevel down plane by changing the angle of the blade grind as you can with bevel up, but hopefully some one with a lot more knowledge than me will chime in here and help you and me understand this better.
Regards Rod.

Hi Rod,
thanks for the welcome and response. I have found both wonder and frustration so far, generally wondering what I'm doing wrong and then getting frustrated. I don't know what sort of hardwood I have as it's an old step tread from a friends house reno. Hopefully someone can help us both mate.
Regards Mick

Welcome to the forum Mick.

G'Day & Welcome to a top forum "Mick".
There are quite a few members in North Queensland & across the rest of Queensland plus the rest of the world.....
You'll find a heap of helpful & knowledgeable blokes & ladies on the forum and for most very willing to assist.
Make sure you show off your handiwork as everyone loves a photo, especially WIP [Work In Progress] photos with build notes.
Enjoy the forum.
Enjoy your woodwork......
Cheers crowie

Welcome to the forum.

There is a hand tool section to this forum, you can access this via scrolling down the page or via this link. https://www.woodworkforums.com/f152

You can do a search on hand planes or if you don't find anything start another thread. Photos of the piece might also help in identifying the type of wood.

Welcome tot he forum Mick.
The old planes are the way to go, better quality than the plastic "handyman" stuff they make now.
Here's a link to a site that you may find helpful on old stanley's. Well worth a look anyway.


Cheers, Ian