# planing hickory



## lightningmike (Jan 18, 2014)

I am having trouble planing hickory. I am geting tearout. what is a good angle to have the plane iron. I am using about 12.5 degrees. is this too low. Thank you.

Mike


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## GISer3546 (Jan 30, 2013)

I don`t have experience with hickory myself but its a little more complicated than the plane angle. What kind of plane? low angle block? Low angle jack? While the low angle can help with tear out its also dependant on the direction of the grain. If you are plaing against the grain you will get more tear out, think of petting a cat in the wrong direction. Look at the perpendicular surface and try to see how the gain is. You can also get any kind of finely spun cloth and rub it along the surface if you feel fibers catching thats the wrong direction. Alos knots are likely to cause tear out since its juts an abrupt change in grain direction. You can always try to follow the grain and if all else fails you can try a card scraper or scraper plane.


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## Wrangler02 (Apr 15, 2011)

I've never planed Hickory, but from my experience it requires a higher blade angle to reduce tear out. I use a low angle bevel up plane with a blade angle of 42 degrees gives me an effective angle of 54 degrees.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

I've used a standard Jack to plane some, 45 degree bed angle, and it worked decently enough, but hickory is tough crap that doesn't really seem to respond well to planing. You're probably going to get a little tear out no matter what. I'd still start by going to a higher angle plane


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## timetestedtools (Aug 23, 2012)

hickory is hard stringy. Even your scraper better be sharp. Go high angle and very sharp.


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## Woodenhorse (May 24, 2011)

Either your iron isn't sharp enough or you are planing in the wrong direction. I planed a bunch of hickory for a chest I made and it was not a problem.


Sent from my iPad using woodworkingtalk.com


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## Fastback (Sep 2, 2012)

A while back I built a table top out of air dried Hickory. I found the that grain changed direction and was hard to joint with my Delta jointer. At that time I did not use a hand plane, but I think it would be the best approach. This is not my favorite wood to work with. My advice is to use a very sharp plane and set it for as light a cut as possible. This wood is "hard and stringy" as already stated by timetestedtools.

Paul


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## GISer3546 (Jan 30, 2013)

I've come into a similar issue hand joining some highly figured black walnut. When I try to cut with light passes with my prewar stanley 7 it seems to just skip across the high spots and not take anything off, which is frustrating. The only luck I've had was when I plane against the grain just out of desperation. Its funny that you say hand planing would fix the issue because I've spent this whole time thinking a jointer would solve my problem.


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## jacko9 (Dec 29, 2012)

*difficult wood*

I've used my Jointer to take slight cuts off almost every kind of difficult grain wood with almost no problems using sharp carbide blades and very thin cuts.

I also have surfaced difficult wood with hand planes and scrapers with very sharp blades and very thin cuts. I have a micrometer and I can measure the shaving I take at .001" - .003" and while I know that you don't get production results doing that, the final finishing process sometimes takes patience.

Jack


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## lightningmike (Jan 18, 2014)

Ok what I am doing with the hickory is making fly rods, and I have to plane 6 strips per section. I cut them triangular on my band saw , and then plane them to size in a planning form. There are 2 sections for a rod. The rods are a hexagonal in shape. The trouble is I have to plane them down to almost nothing on the small end of the rod. Hickory has the very best action for a fly rod of anything. It beats all, fiberglass, carbon, AND bamboo! I have fly fishing for many many years, and used all kinds of rods. But its woodworking at its best, and very precision.

Mike


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## Wrangler02 (Apr 15, 2011)

lightningmike said:


> Ok what I am doing with the hickory is making fly rods, and I have to plane 6 strips per section. I cut them triangular on my band saw , and then plane them to size in a planning form. There are 2 sections for a rod. The rods are a hexagonal in shape. The trouble is I have to plane them down to almost nothing on the small end of the rod. Hickory has the very best action for a fly rod of anything. It beats all, fiberglass, carbon, AND bamboo! I have fly fishing for many many years, and used all kinds of rods. But its woodworking at its best, and very precision. Mike


I've built rods of bamboo, and can tell you that when you are planing that fine, it is imperative that the plane be absolutely razor sharp!


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## fyshy (Mar 31, 2017)

yessir it will happen. Wish I could help


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## fyshy (Mar 31, 2017)

Fly rods are cool...


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## fyshy (Mar 31, 2017)

I am trying to pm Mike.


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## fyshy (Mar 31, 2017)

Razor sharp plane is a must


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## 35015 (Nov 24, 2012)

Hello Mike,

I have planned a fair amount of hickory for different projects. It does have a tendency to tear out badly...if...as suggested, you don't keep your plane blade extremely sharp. 0.1µ to 0.5µ minimal hone on micro bevel (or to establish one)...and it has to be kept that way. Lots of honing and then sharpening...and honing once more. With an edge keep in this condition the blade will not cause tearout...if...the plane is set up for it properly.

The blade bedding angle in reference to bevel on the blade edge created has to be properly oriented for the grain and species you intend on planning...in this case hickory. This is where I would do some test runs to dial things in. It also is greatly effected in a wood like Hickory...what grain pattern you are trying to plane...??...quarter sawn or plain sawn wood or some other variant thereof. This all has a big effect also...

The next suggestion too is almost a must for what you are trying to do, if you haven't already done it. Making...Facet Blanks...for you fly rod are typically made on a type of...Shooting Board Jig. This Jig is proprietary to the plane that rides in it. The work to make these blanks is tedious at best and without a Shooting Board Jig designed for the Facet Angle and taper, the process is about impossible and/or overtly time consuming...with a lot of waste. 

Good luck,

j


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