I’m still milling my boards for my six board chest and dealing with some tear out.
Nasty tear out under shellac.
I applied some shellac to stiffen the fibers and applied a high angle smoother. The board is smooth to the touch.
Smooth after high angle smoother applied with shellac
Another shot .. whad ya think?
Before smoother ..
After with a few areas that need a little work with a card scraper.
It breaks my heart when tearout enters the game near the end of surface preparation.
A good save there Marilyn
Thanks! I’ve got a lot of boards in the same shape. I guess I’ll be getting a lot of use out my high angle smoother and my shellac.
Beautiful wood. I am far from an expert but have read to use a bit of water to soften the fibers when trying to reduce tear out (as opposed to stiffening the fibers). Wonder if you tried that. Also curious which high angle smoother you use. Been looking at the LV knockoff of the Stanley 80.
I tried water and it didn’t work as good as shellac .. on this wood.
My high angle smoother is a LN 4 1/2. I’m pretty happy with it.
Marilyn, did you try a card scraper, or a cabinet scraper like a #80. I think that would be my first choice.
Yes, those would work too.
I was wanting a planed instead of a scraped surface (I know picky, picky) so I use the smoother instead.
Shellac is also used by turners for difficult woods. Water will raise the grain unfortunately. I’ve used alcohol or acetone with good success, before resorting to shellac.
What is the wood?
Sapele and I agree, alcohol, acetone, mineral spirits also work well.
What is the frog angle on your high angle smoother?
I haven’t heard about this trick for smoothing problem woods, it sounds more promising that swearing and hurling it across the shop.
LOL!
Its the 50 degree HAF. http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?sku=4_5. I’m sure its a trick learned from the Schwarz.