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I Had a smallish set (made too small by too much jointing) I was saving for a small build. I'm building a baritone uke now.

I'm thicknessing with a good quality B/U smoother, used well sharpened 25*, 38* and toothing irons all to no avail. One side of the top had a spot near the center that would not plane well no matter the sharpness of the iron, no matter the direction, it would just blow up! I got the set at a luthiers meeting for about $20 and selected it because it looked to have nearly vertical grain. Obviously there was a lot of run-out, but I'm not able to see that before I take plane to wood.

FWIW, I have never had this bad a problem before thicknessing by hand, and I thought I knew how to produce light, fluffy, pretty shavings off spruce but this one, yuk! And yes, a drum sander hopefully is in my future some day.

So the set is now just a bad memory, it gave up a nice snap-tone when I folded it in half and I'm sure it is now barking in h... ( no offense to our four legged friends), oh we'll.

Here's my question: does where I buy make that big a difference? I thought the price represented mostly cosmetic qualities.
Maybe it's just me but I think in the future I will buy from our sponsors, what do you think?
Thanks,
RustySP


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Buying from our sponsors is a good way to get good wood. Eventually you will be able to tell more about the tops when you inspect them and will be better able to pick out good ones - I'm on this journey myself. I have more trouble scraping and planing spruce than other species. Of course, a thickness sander is a wonderful tool just for this kind of thing.

Sometimes you get a piece of wood that just won't behave.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I suppose that you could possibly get a dog from any tonewood dealer. The nice thing about the OLF sponsors is that they are great to deal with and any problems are always dealt with quickly and to the customer's satisfaction. Pals, Vic.

anything said now will not resurrect and reconstitute your kindling but might help me understand your problem.

i'm surprised no one else has asked, but i'm not afraid to demonstrate my ignorance: first, what is a b/u smoother? some new type of smooth plane? 25" and 38" irons? i assume you refer to a specifiv radius to which they were ground? (high tech sharpening gear?)

though a smooth plane would not normally be my first choice for thicknessing a top i have done it and i know many others do so too.

it almost sounds as though you might have had a knot shadow with its attendent twisty grain. curved strokes of the plane, even using a block plane, will often assist in such cases. ditto the use of a scraper in such areas.

did you wet the wood to help ascertain grain direction and runout before deciding which side of the top to join.

as to your main question, does it make a differnce where you buy?

if you able to assess a set, e.g. reading the grain and the runout, judge relative stiffness with and across the grain in your hands, assess its tap tone, etc,, if you can personally so assess the wood then, no. it doesn't make much difference where you buy.

but if you do not have these skills, then it is far wiser to rely upon those who have a solid reputation for being able to do so because that is how they became known as a reputable vendor.

and yes, amongst the different offerings of a vendor within a given species, relative price will certainly reflect cosmetic variation, but may also reflect variation in stiffness, degree of quartering, runout, etc., and a reputable vendor will reflect these differences in his descripions.

Hi Michael,
My plane is a Veritas Bevel -Up smoother, designated a block plane like a Stanley as opposed to a bench plane with a bevel down iron, frog, and cap.
Instead of regrinding various bevel angles into an iron, I just change the iron. No frog adjust, no cap, easy.
No, I have never wet the top before, thanks for tip and I will try it next time.
I don't have the skills yet to choose a good set with confidence, just need more time and experience.
- Rusty

Sounds like what you ran into was knot shadow or some sort of wavy type figure in the wood... Sometimes, bear claw can do similar things...

So..
First thing... Sounds like you had the mouth of the plane too wide open.... Close down that mouth as much as possible...
Second - when working curly wood - sometimes a higher angle iron does better than a lower angle - as the lower angle tends to "Pull" out chunks rather than slice through them....
Third - chip breaker - real close to the end of the edge...

Next... Reading the wood... A real good exercise is to look at lots of wood... You will see that the grain shimmers a bit - and the shimmer changes or swirls around when you get near knot shadow... Rough cut - you will see the fuzz moving different directions...

Generally - we try to find stuff like that and either keep it outside of the outline, or stuff it up under the fretboard or in the soundhole cutout - where it won't matter....

Shame you couldn't make it work...

Thanks