# Joining Birdseye Maple ?



## hays0369 (May 3, 2011)

Hello all,

I am in the process of building a table for my daughter. She is finally moving out....again. I have two pieces of birds eye that I ran through my jointer however, the "eyes" are proving difficult to get flat. I guess the questions are as follows, Is this common? Would putting a seperate piece help? I have attatched pics for reference.


No Clamps








Clamped








Close up








With African Mahogany


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## Midlandbob (Sep 5, 2011)

Not likely.

Is your problem planing flat so the eyes don't tear out. Or jointing so the can be edge glued.
Both a machining issues. Jointing the edges flat and square to the face is the same for all boards.
If the eye tear out is a problem, there are solutions. 
Adding a joining board should be more of a design aesthetic issue. What is causing your concern/problem? Hopefully there is some help.


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## hays0369 (May 3, 2011)

Midland bob

Thank you for your reply. The issue seems to be that the "eyes" create a space when I try and join the two boards. I went ahead and put the piece of af mahogany in between. It joined quite well. THANK YOU for your reply!


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## Midlandbob (Sep 5, 2011)

It sounds like it is the problem of tear out of the "eyes".

They can be tricky. You need very sharp plane blades and to take very small slices.
Bench planes need to be sharp enough to shave with. It can help to use higher plane angles. I use the 50 degree blade rather than the usual 38. This can give a 72 degree cutting angle in a low angle plane rather than the usual about 50 degree total.
Check out the LV site:

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=49708&cat=1,41182,41186,49708

The other great tool. Is a thickness sander which I do use foe some difficult surface grain. A cabinet scraper also works as it takes a different type of cut. 
The jointing surfaces have not been a problem. Sharpening the blades just before use works. I'm glad you are happy with your solution.


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