wood friction

[GEPPETTO]

Hi All,

Most of you know me, and know I don't have a lot of experience therefore excuse me :lol: but I must to do the new question:

OK. So far now, I have worked with fir and oak, I ever had worked with beech. Yesterday I planed on a slab of beech for three wall shelves for SMWBO. I found that to work on that type of wood the plane (hand plane) has more friction. I must to wax more and more times with beewax.
Now I question: Does it be in this way or do I anything wrong ? Are there woods which bring more friction of others?

Cheers
Gabriele

 

[PowerTool]

Hi there Gabriele - no,I don't think it is anything you are doing wrong

Different timbers have different qualities that will affect how easy or difficult it is to plane (or work with any tools)
Hardwoods are generally harder anyway.Softwoods can be very resinous,which can make them very sticky.Teak is hard,and contains silica,so blunts tools very quickly.
Also,the grain direction will affect how easy it is to work.

Like all things,it's just practice - you will soon find out which wood you find easy to work with,and which needs more care.

Good luck

Andrew

 

[woodbloke]

A useful tip is to lubricate the section of the sole in front of the mouth with a smear of candle wax. As you plane merrily away the waxed shavings are of course removed. In my experience you only need to wax the sole every six or so shavings - Rob