On Thu, 03 Mar 2005 10:31:42 -0600, Patriarch
wrote:

"Dukester" wrote in
:

All, I "Scary Sharpened" my #4 plane iron and practiced on pieces of
scrap. After this, I thought I was a 1/2 step above totally
inexperienced to smooth my glued up panel of red oak, or at least
trying to even out the glue lines (yes I'd removed the dried glue
squeezeout beforehand). Aiggggh! My first attempt however I must have
had the blade set too deep as it skipped along the surface and left 3
or 4 gouges or ruts about 1/8" wide, 1/2" long, maybe 1/16-1/32" deep
- definitely noticeable.


You know that old saw the finishing gurus use? "Practice on scrap"?

As you've learned, there's more to tuning and adjusting a handplane than
getting the blade sharp. And this fellow, Jeff Gorman, has more than
sufficient to help you, he http://www.amgron.clara.net/index.htm

There's a reason that an apprenticeship was longer than 6 weeks...

Patriarch
As he said, start with Jeff Gorman's site, but don't expect that to solve it
all. From the above, I take it your practice scraps were not oak, so that was
the first mistake. There are also harder woods to plane, and you need to try
an appropriate sample before comitting your actual work to it. And for just
removing glue lines, I'd suggest you try a hand scraper or scraper plane, as
it's much easier to avoid tearout. Although, of course, you'd need to read how
to sharpen and use them, so there's a bit more learning there.

As for fixing, easiest is to use the other side and hide this one, or apply
some filler. Failing that, it sound like you'd have to remove maybe 1/16 from
the surface, which may be tough with only a #4.

Finally, realize that even the best with everything tuned up will sometimes
get some tearout. You have to carefully watch the grain and how the first few
passes go.
GerryG