I was fooled.

Grain direction is key when working wood by hand. When I am teaching you can always hear me preaching the wood will speak to you. Light cuts. Sharp tools. Focus. Remember its only wood, and it grows on trees. Now if the wood doesn't speak to you than it will point to you how it wants to be planed/worked. That said there are always exceptions to the rule. Perfect example is cherry board showcased above.  The grain is pointing from left to right. This tells me to push my plane left to right. Well think again my friends, think again.  I went left to right with a sharp plane and tear out city is what I got.  For some odd ball reason I said well I'll take my low angle jack from Lie-Nielsen and come right to left and see what the results will be. Well the results were amazing. The edge was smooth and glistening. Who knew!!!

Today's lesson is, don't be fooled. There is always an exception to the rule.


Cheers!