On Mon, 01 Nov 2004 09:09:44 -0800, Mike
wrote:

i started planing it down this weekend and had massive
amounts of tear out.

Sharp knives, damp surface, finish it by hand. Final finish with a
scraper plane.

You should have a #80 scraper holder and a stone and burnisher rod to
keep it in order. If you don't have one, then buy one - they're cheap,
enormously useful, and they're even cheaper off eBay. Google for
sharpening and use instructions. You need that burnisher -- some
people improvise their own, but at least make sure it has a handle, or
you'll shred knuckles.

With a bucket of money to spend, look at a LV #112 scraper plane
and/or a decent smoothing plane
--
Smert' spamionam