With the limited experience I have of treating sawn or even S4S stock to give a planed look I agree with Roger. Smaller, lighter, quicker strokes. In my case I wasn't trying to develop a perfectly flat and precise surface over the entire length of the timber - but one that was 'smooth' with makers marks evident. In no way similar to jointing a piece for furniture.

And like the bike and gears - moving the work to smaller gears and quicker revolutions of the pedals makes for efficient mountain pass climbing.

As stated, Ron will have to figure a lot of this out for himself and the client. This all reminds me of when pull saws started catching on and metal chisel hammers. Neither where well understood or liked in the beginning, except to those of use that had learned on them. Same is true for many planning modalities. I don't see any advice here that is out of the normal spectrum of "ways and means," just different body dynamics and experiential back grounds to there use.

Does the orient plane across or along the timber?

For sure Jay! I'd be getting some short lengths of timber prepped with some finish options and I would be trying to gauge how long ($) each options
took.

Exactly Mike!, that is the way we did it just about two years ago on a solid white oak (massive) arbor for a private estate outdoor grill and fireplace. We went through sever permutation before we landed on one that would give the traditional finish that we could do for the price of the project and one that the client also liked. It was bandmilled just like Ron's project and we did across the grain @ 50° scrub and then almost with the grain with jack and/or jointer which offered a nice but unusual affect of almost looking like a "gouge" or "chona" finish.

Hi Tim,

Great question!

You would think that China, Korea, and Japan would have very similar styles (and in many ways they do) but I would say much more is different than the same. Most of China and Korea plane like we do by pushing (not a hard fast rule as some do both), while Japan pulles many of there tools including gouges and chisels at times.

They do go across the grain to "rough in" and then with the grain to flatten and smooth. I still have not seen outside of Japan and Asia, and "wood culture" that even comes close to the art and finesse of planing that you find in Asia (particularly Japan.) They even have clubs and competitions that focus on nothing but planes and planning, with shavings you measure in microns are several meters long.

There are many subtle difference there in the timber crafts as well that I still use. One basic but unusual one is "killing wood," which is a form of "chamfering." So instead of using a small block plane, you take you metal chisel hammer (the rounded end not the flat) and smash the fibers of the tenons and its edges (especially if you are not getting an easy fit during raising. On a timber frame or furniture, you can take a "too" tight tenon to mortise (hozo-ana) and "kill the wood" then the tenon slides in easily, but within a short time the fibers expand (often larger than they had been) and the joint does not come apart easily (sometimes not at all which is very similar to a "hell joint.")

Regards,

j

Jay,

You know where I'm going with this. Ha!

In The Berner Oberland, and much of Bern in general, planing is extremely refined and important.
Planing is, in fact, the first step of timber layout when laying out a frame or log wall. The timbers are planed to incredibly precise dimensions and angles so that the scribing process is simple, and so that joints can be expected to fit wonderfully withou the need to cut housings.

In the Oberland, they have made an art of planing. Literally. They have wide planes with blades maybe as wide as 6" (gasp) and take off long, smooth shavings. Then they make things out of these: Cheese forms, baskets, buckets, and some artistic items. It is very difficult to make the shavings needed, especially for the cheese forms which need long, wide shavings -5 or 6 inches wide and maybe 4 feet long of a constant thickness. These have to be consistent so they can be bent into a constant circle.

My favorite is the 'Fügeboum' which is a giant jointing plane. This is about 6 feet long and cuts a rabbet. The point is to make a very flat surface along the length of the timber.
two corners are planed to precise dimensions, then the ridge between smoothed off.

Jay, smashing the fibers like that...... I may just try that some time! Never heard that one before.

Wonderful information D.L. and little off topic, but I would support your description of the Swiss as having some wonderful planning traditions, well before Japans (not as old as the Middle Eastern ones but much more refined.) I still will contend, as do most wood historians, that the "plane craft" of Japan is unmatched anywhere in the world had has been for the last 500 years for the plane as we understand it has come to be, yet the spear planes, called yari ganna, has been there for a very long time. Outside of Japan, I would agree that the Swiss probably have the most diverse. They still do not have the size and diversity range you find in Japan over the last 300 years, with many in size (largest are 400 mm or ~ 16" in width) and finish quality and length of ribbon (0.3 micron thickness over 20 feet long or longer) is not uncommon even today. I would also not that they have taken these byproducts of shavings and made much use from them in all different realms of folk traditions from wrapping papery to wood cloth and screens.

Hey Tim,

Be warned Brother, if you get a really good 700 gram Japanese barrel chisel hammer, you may never go back, and you will love the "killing wood" method...its addictive and effective.

Jay,

I don't doubt the Japanese tradition is more extensive and richer. I just thought I'd let you know a little about some of the planing practices I know.

These hings we can take back at least to the 1300's

As for pulling a plane/gouge.

We have an interesting little tool, kind of like the English Scorp. It's essentially a gouge with the blade turned around. It has a looped blade on the end of a short handle. You use it for the same purpose many would use a gouge for, only it's pulled and not pushed. We just call it a scorp now, I'm sure it used to be called another name (because it's old, and didn't come from England)