Here's a newbie question:

I'm building a chest of drawers of various hardwoods in my class at
the community college. All lumber is rough sawn and I'm
jointing/planing it all in the shop.

Today I was jointing my 4/4 cherry stock for drawer runners. This is
the first time I have worked with cherry. I was getting frustrated
because of the tear out I was getting on face jointing the boards.
I'm not very experienced yet on milling my own stock so sometimes
figuring out grain direction is still a 50/50 proposition for me. But
it would seem that I would guess right for the first half of the board
but then the grain would switch direction on me and tear out the
second half. Even lightening the cuts didn't completely take care of
the issue.

Once I got the first face "acceptably" jointed (minor tear out that I
could sand out), I put it through the planer, deathly afraid I would
have the same trouble on the opposite face. With this, however, I got
much better results, taking off no more than 1/32 at a time. In fact,
on a couple boards, I went back and put the "jointed" face through the
planer to clean off the tear out.

Is there something inherently squirrely about cherry that I don't know
about? Or, more likely, is there a deficiency in my jointing
technique that has never shown up on walnut and maple? Thanks for any
tips.

Ian

On 23 Oct 2004 20:46:52 -0700, (Ian Dodd) wrote:

Here's a newbie question:

I'm building a chest of drawers of various hardwoods in my class at
the community college. All lumber is rough sawn and I'm
jointing/planing it all in the shop.

Today I was jointing my 4/4 cherry stock for drawer runners. This is
the first time I have worked with cherry. I was getting frustrated
because of the tear out I was getting on face jointing the boards.
I'm not very experienced yet on milling my own stock so sometimes
figuring out grain direction is still a 50/50 proposition for me. But
it would seem that I would guess right for the first half of the board
but then the grain would switch direction on me and tear out the
second half. Even lightening the cuts didn't completely take care of
the issue.

Once I got the first face "acceptably" jointed (minor tear out that I
could sand out), I put it through the planer, deathly afraid I would
have the same trouble on the opposite face. With this, however, I got
much better results, taking off no more than 1/32 at a time. In fact,
on a couple boards, I went back and put the "jointed" face through the
planer to clean off the tear out.

Is there something inherently squirrely about cherry that I don't know
about? Or, more likely, is there a deficiency in my jointing
technique that has never shown up on walnut and maple? Thanks for any
tips.

Ian


jointer knives dull?

"Ian Dodd" wrote

: ............................................ sometimes
: figuring out grain direction is still a 50/50 proposition for me.

On my web site you might find some help - Planing Notes - Grain.

Jeff G

--
Jeff Gorman, West Yorkshire, UK
Email: username is amgron
ISP is clara.co.uk
www.amgron.clara.net

on a couple boards, I went back and put the "jointed" face through the
planer to clean off the tear out.


Hi Ian,

I do that all the time as it gives me a smoother surface. Has to do with
the speed of the knives and how fast the wood moves ( or I move the wood)
through each machine.
And yes, I have had chip-out on one end of a board and not the other. And
not just with cherry. Cheers, JG

Bridger:
jointer knives dull?


And grain direction?

UA100

wrote in message

Today I was jointing my 4/4 cherry stock for drawer runners. This is
the first time I have worked with cherry. I was getting frustrated
because of the tear out I was getting on face jointing the boards.
I'm not very experienced yet on milling my own stock so sometimes
figuring out grain direction is still a 50/50 proposition for me. But
it would seem that I would guess right for the first half of the board
but then the grain would switch direction on me and tear out the
second half.

Grain direction is a big factor. Check out what others mentioned and if
that does not cure it, get a scraper and learn how to use it. You can get
rid of most any tear out with them.

Cherry can be kind of squirrely but so can lots of other woods. I found
when planing cherry, it helps to wet the wood
with water just prior. Softens up the fibers for cutting. Make sure your
knives are sharp and take very little off at a time.
Don't get frustrated with it as cherry is a nice wood to work with.
Cheers,
cc

"JGS" wrote in message
...




on a couple boards, I went back and put the "jointed" face through the
planer to clean off the tear out.


Hi Ian,

I do that all the time as it gives me a smoother surface. Has to do with
the speed of the knives and how fast the wood moves ( or I move the wood)
through each machine.
And yes, I have had chip-out on one end of a board and not the other. And
not just with cherry. Cheers, JG

In article ,
says...
Is there something inherently squirrely about cherry that I don't know
about? Or, more likely, is there a deficiency in my jointing
technique that has never shown up on walnut and maple? Thanks for any
tips.

Ian



It's probably more that there is something inherently squirrely about
school jointers, dull cutters. The cutters in a woodworking class shop
probably takes more of a heavy handed beating and less maintenance then
any two commercial shops put together.

That and, if you were working from rough cut boards, I'd have to guess
you may have been trying to scrub off too much material in one pass.
Like the planer, small cuts. 1/32" at the most and don't rush the feed.
More passes but better results.



--
MikeG
Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net

wrote in message news:


Is there something inherently squirrely about cherry that I don't know
about? Or, more likely, is there a deficiency in my jointing
technique that has never shown up on walnut and maple? Thanks for any
tips.

Ian


jointer knives dull?


Could be. This was the massive 12" jointer at the college wood shop.
No telling what sort of abuse it takes day in and day out from
students.

I just bought myself a 6" jointer and guess I should consider bringing
some of my material home and working on it here to see if I get better
results.

Taking the advise of other posters, I think I'll go back and clean up
some faces with a light pass through the planer and also take the
opportunity to learn to use a scraper (part of my plan for this
project anyway).

Thanks to all who responded,

Ian

When you run a board across the cutter head you need to be sure that the
grain of the wood is not pointing into the cutterhead but rather away from
it. The cutterhead turns clockwise (toward you) and if the grain is
pointing into the head you will get tear out.

Also, take off no more than 1/16 per pass for best results (4 passes will
get you a 1/4 inch)

Patrick


"MikeG" wrote in message
ews.com...
In article ,
says...
Is there something inherently squirrely about cherry that I don't know
about? Or, more likely, is there a deficiency in my jointing
technique that has never shown up on walnut and maple? Thanks for any
tips.

Ian



It's probably more that there is something inherently squirrely about
school jointers, dull cutters. The cutters in a woodworking class shop
probably takes more of a heavy handed beating and less maintenance then
any two commercial shops put together.

That and, if you were working from rough cut boards, I'd have to guess
you may have been trying to scrub off too much material in one pass.
Like the planer, small cuts. 1/32" at the most and don't rush the feed.
More passes but better results.



--
MikeG
Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net

For that matter, if 1/32" gives you improvement, do it. More passes, less
frustration.


"Infidelwillcrushyou" wrote in message
...
When you run a board across the cutter head you need to be sure that the
grain of the wood is not pointing into the cutterhead but rather away from
it. The cutterhead turns clockwise (toward you) and if the grain is
pointing into the head you will get tear out.

Also, take off no more than 1/16 per pass for best results (4 passes will
get you a 1/4 inch)

Patrick


"MikeG" wrote in message
ews.com...
In article ,
says...
Is there something inherently squirrely about cherry that I don't know
about? Or, more likely, is there a deficiency in my jointing
technique that has never shown up on walnut and maple? Thanks for any
tips.

Ian



It's probably more that there is something inherently squirrely about
school jointers, dull cutters. The cutters in a woodworking class shop
probably takes more of a heavy handed beating and less maintenance then
any two commercial shops put together.

That and, if you were working from rough cut boards, I'd have to guess
you may have been trying to scrub off too much material in one pass.
Like the planer, small cuts. 1/32" at the most and don't rush the feed.
More passes but better results.



--
MikeG
Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net

(Ian Dodd) wrote in message . com...
Here's a newbie question:

I'm building a chest of drawers of various hardwoods in my class at
the community college. All lumber is rough sawn and I'm
jointing/planing it all in the shop.

One could always try (*cough*) a hand plane?

http://www.klownhammer.org/progress/3jointing2.jpg

And if you're employing various woods, why choose cherry for the
drawer runners? I'd be inclined to go with maple or birch (harder and
less hassle, generally). Anyways, you got some good advice from the
jointer/planer mavens. For cherry, I'd consider 1/32" to be a very
heavy cut. When I go for final cleanup of a joint, my plane is set to
take off a shaving just about 0.002" thick, or around 1/512".

And anudder thing - using a power jointer might not be the most
efficient way to face-up rough stock, especially given the vexing
grain changes in woods like cherry. If you use a jack plane, you can
be more sensitive to the grain's orientation - and don't we all want
to be sensitive to various orientations in this day and age - planing
diagonally at times to reduce tear-out. I've found this to be the
rule when working with large stock. I wouldn't consider drawer
runners to be large stock... and I'm not sure I'd get all worked up
over minor tear-out in some drawer runners.

Ok, dat's enough outta me.

Humbly submitted,
O'Deen