BillyBob wrote:

"David" wrote in message
...


Maybe that's part of the explanation for why it helped.


I'm pretty convinced that you simply produced a better sharpening job,
rather than making any shift in the planing geometry. That's why it worked.

I was a little surprised you mentioned you had trouble with tear out on the
oak to begin with. I've not had much trouble with oak and the smoothers I
own. I did not do anything special to them except sharpen them. Now when
they were not so sharp, I had all kinds of trouble with tear out.

Bob


I agree that may be what happened. I've don't often get a piece of red
oak that tears out a lot, but this ONE piece has got a couple square
inches area that's a bear to plane cleanly. I got it perfectly smooth,
then grabbed low angle block plane and in one pass left it looking
ragged again. That area, when smooth, looks to my eye like the rest of
the surface. Is there no way to tell what wood will tear out, by some
visible feature, in the grain?

Dave