Pippy timbers - how to handle?

[Escudo]

Looking for a little guidance fellas,

I have a lovely piece of pippy elm, covered in "cats paws" (I think that is the phrase). What is the best advice for handling this with regard to smoothing?

It looks troublesome. :roll:

Thanks, Tony.

 

[Chris Knight]

Tony,

The "pippiness" shouldn't make a great deal of difference. Elm can be tricky to plane at the best of times as its grain goes all over the place (ask Rob!). In fact it is that feature that makes it desirable for some uses as it doesn't have a particular line of weakness that can allow it to split. Chair seats and some cartwheel parts are examples of this use.

A well tuned sharp plane will do it and be prepared to skew and slice as needed to get a clean cut.

 

[bugbear]

Looking for a little guidance fellas,

I have a lovely piece of pippy elm, covered in "cats paws" (I think that is the phrase).

Not heard that one, but "birds eye" is a term sometimes used of a particular grain pattern.

BugBear

 

[Racers]

Hi,

I thought cats paw and pippy where interchangeable terms.


Pete

 

[mr]

Looking for a little guidance fellas,

I have a lovely piece of pippy elm, covered in "cats paws" (I think that is the phrase). What is the best advice for handling this with regard to smoothing?

It looks troublesome. :roll:

Thanks, Tony.

If it's the piece I'm thinking of it's very pretty too. Sharp blades should do it, scrapers might come in handy as well. As someone previously mentioned Rob (Woodbloke) has recent experience and might be able to shed light.

Cheers Mike

 

[Imperial]

I would imagine this is the kind of thing you mean

rather than this?

 

[Escudo]

Thanks for the replies shipmates,

Mike is right this piece of Elm has a particularly nice grain, lots of character, acquired from Yandles at the last show when Mike, me and Tony were rummaging through the wood sheds.

Here is a picture of the piece of elm in question, Bloo I think we are on the same wavelength;

I am going to use this piece first, which is less pippy but has a lovely interesting grain,

I plan to make a box with part of this piece and will need some more Elm to do something a little more adventurous with the first piece. Maybe a little side or hall table.

I will have a test at planning the offcuts, to learn the best approach. I may fire-up my new scraper plane for it's first taste of some action. A session sharpening my plane blades would also seem essential.

I will report back.

Cheers, Tony

 

[wizer]

Last resort you could use sandpaper? :shock:

Alex of CHT gave me a sheet of 1000g Abranet to try. :shock: :shock: The results is absolutely unbelievable. The sort of finish I imagine a fine planed and scraped board to be.

 

[bugbear]

A session sharpening my plane blades would also seem essential.

The basis of all planing, and especially finish planing.

Paul Chapman report on toothed blades might also be of interest.

BugBear (oh, and thanks for introducing me to a new term for a grain pattern)

Google is my friend:

from:

http://www.tedtodd.co.uk/az.asp

PIPPY
Small clusters of knots, that are collectively called Pips or burrs. The very heavy concentrations are called Burrs. Usually desired in Oak but also found in Elm and Sycamore. It is also mainly found in the United Kingdom and is rarely found in either Europe or North America. They can also be described as cats paws – as they look like the paw prints of cats.

 

[andy king]

A technique used on end grain is to use small circular movements, and it can often be employed to good effect on wild grain patterns.
The circular movement slices across the wild areas, and you can rotate the plane as you do so, in effect planing in towards the centre of the problem area.
A very fine cut is ideal for this, and of course, a sharp iron.

HTH,

Andy

 

[Harbo]

Keep us posted as to how you got on - I bought some interesting pieces from TimberMill (Mottisfont) the other day - lots & lots of cats paws!

Rod

 

[Escudo]

Will do Harbo, I will post a thread in the projects section. I have taken a few pics of early progress.

This project is a present for one of the girls in the office. She is getting married next Saturday so I haven't got much time.

Cheers, Tony.