Conan the Librarian wrote...

But I'm fascinated by the idea of planing across the grain. I've
never done that for smoothing a piece. So you wanna send me a hunk of
this stuff so I can play around with it? ;-)


I've got a fair amount left over from an entry door I made last year.

http://www.paragoncode.com/woodworking/entry_door

Email me your snail-mail address if you'd like a piece. I'll try to pick
out a nice ribbony one for you. How big?

The final surfacing on the door was done with hand tools. The smoother
tackled nearly everything without complaint. In a few areas (mostly where
my joinery was less than perfect) I resorted to the scraper. I should
note that I do have a pretty decent smoother.

IME, planing directly across the grain produces a rougher texture than I
like, but I don't recall if I did any of that on this project. Planing
obliquely usually gives me a smoother finish.

Some areas of the door where the grain reversal was particularly abrupt
and wild -- such as in the kick and lock rails -- needed carefully chosen
approach angles to produce the best surface. Those angles were "carefully
chosen" by experimentation on the particular piece (G). Oddly, sometimes
working nearly aligned with the more vertical grain sections seemed to
work best, if that makes any sense. As it was, some of the ribbon texture
still felt a little hairy until finishing. By the time the nibs from the
first coat of lacquer were gone, all was well.

Cheers!

Jim