Planing across the grain?

[dbhost]

I have a really nice storm blowdown trunk section, that I took a slice out of with my chain saw (The P.O.S. electric that needs to be replaced...), crosswise, and I was attempting to plane this thing to a 1.5" thickness. Unfortunately the trunk slice did NOT like this, and pretty much exploded in my planer...

Is this just a bad idea? There was no metal in the trunk, and the planer blades are fine (still). It just got to the point where the blade passed the center point of the slice, and it seemed like it pulled the wood apart...

As far as I can tell, this trunk slice is American Sycamore. With the storm blowdown I had to try to identify based on the bark...

[Uncle Cracker]

A planer is not a chainsaw. It does not excel in cutting wet wood. You probably should give extended dry time before attempting this. Then, you should make your end grain cuts in very small increments.

[dbhost]

So slice, sticker, stack, wait, THEN plane... Gotcha. I was trying to plane it out prior to drying... My bad...

[Russianwolf]

yeah, planing before drying is useless anyway as you'll need to replane once the wood has moved (warped, cupped, racked, bowed, etc.) during drying.

Also, planing across the grain tends to get more chip out on some woods. It will literally pull long strands of fibers out in chunks.

[dbhost]

Gotcha... There IS another method for thicknessing / evening it up once dry... Thickness Sander! ANOTHER PROJECT! Oh crud....