curly maple troubles

[eddy merckx]

I'm making a Curly Maple and Brazilian Cherry jewelry box for my Mom. This may be her last Christmas, so I thought I'd try something really over my head.

So far so good, but now I have to make a Curly maple panel for the top. It will measure 1/2" thick , 9" wide and 13" long. It is made of two boards, 3/4" thick, 4 1/2" wide and edge glued to get the 9" panel. It has to be planed to 1/2". I have a planer but it really tears up the Curly Maple. I was thinking of planing it close, then sanding to final thickness. I have a ROS and a belt sander. Will I get good results this way? Is there an easier way? This is my first ( and possibly last...) experience with Curly Maple.

Thanks, Eddy

[scmhogg]

Eddy,

I have had fair success using my planer. Just before I put the board through, I wipe it with a wet sponge. I feed it at an angle at the slow speed.

If that doesn't work, you could "resaw" 3/16ths off on the table saw and sand to dimension.

I made a small box out of Padauk, with a birdseye panel in the lid. When the Padauk darkened, the combination looked great.

Steve

[Russianwolf]

couple tricks to planing figured woods.

1) scew the piece. send it through at a 45 degree angle (or as much of an angle as you can.

2) wet the wood. not dripping wet, but good and damp. the fibers have more flexibility when damp, so tearout is minimized.

I would still leave it a little thick and use your ROS on it to finish it up. But the two tricks above should get you real close.

[eddy merckx]

Thanks so much for the quick reply Steve. I will certainly try wiping with a sponge. That's a great idea. My planer doesn't have a speed control though.
For future reference, I wonder if I could add one of those router speed controls, since my planer has a universal motor.

Thanks again, Eddy

[eddy merckx]

Thank you also Russianwolf. This advice is invaluable. I would never have figured this stuff out on my own. What a great forum.

Thanks again,
Eddy

[JimD]

You want to make sure your blades are sharp when planning figured wood and also take light cuts. When I made 4 jewelry boxes largely of curly maple (they had walnut accents) I cut the wood down to thickness on the BT3100. I cut slightly oversized because I knew I would have to sand a fair amount. I also planned the wood some but it is tricky and if you take a chunk out right when you are making the last little cut if feels pretty bad. Sawing and sanding is safer (the sawing part is not safer to your fingers, just your wood).

Jim