Grain Direction

[Tom D]

Is it possible to tell the grain direction of a flat board by just looking at it?

[MadMark]

Yes.

Look at the edges. the grain will be //// or \\\\ and very, very seldom ====.

You can also tell by looking at the "cathederals" (arches) formed by the intersection of the growth rings with the surface. >>> is going to look /// from side while <<< is \\\ from side.

Some wood have terrible grain, may start <<< and change to >>>. Makes it hard to run thru planer because you want to feed \\\ end in first so cutters are crossing grain and not digging in (prevents chip out).

M

[dicklaxt]

It took me a moment to figure out what the hell all the slashes and arrows meant. That is a good way to express it .How would you do quarter sawn on the butt end? |||||| w/alittle )).

Start the day off with some fun.

Dick

[merickson]

Run your hand along the wood. One direction should feel smoother than the other direction. If you don't feel a difference, the feed direction shouldn't matter.
If you do feel a difference, hand plane in the smooth direction.
Does someone know how that would translate into feed direction for a planer?

[Sonny Edmonds]

Yep.
Wiskers towards the back. Smooth direction feeling end in first.

Your hand plane direction, the knife is going the same direction as the knives in a planer (assumeing the planner knives are on top).

Or to try Mad Marks method: ))))))= knives
Board = \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ >>> = direction of feed

In any event, if you get it wrong, you'll know pretty damn quick, cause your face will be like this :-(

My face often looks like that because I run into boards that do this: \\\\/////*\/\/\/\///#\\//////\\\\\\
And that's why I bought a drum sander. But it was a real PITA!:'(
So it doesn't live here anymore.:D

So by now you can see Sonny has found the emoticons and is becomming a PITA with them as well. :P

So that might help clarify some stuff.

Sonny }>
http://home.earthlink.net/~sonnypie/