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Crossed 500 linear feet of hand-planed maple in one project
It was for a library built-in, and I just kept track out of curiosity. It made me realize how much we rely on machines now, I used to do maybe a quarter of that by hand on a good week. Anyone else still find time for that kind of handwork on big jobs?
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mark_carr76mo ago
That's a lot of planing. I've never seen a real difference in wood movement between hand and machine work if the final surface prep is the same. The real variable is usually the time of year the wood was dried and milled, not the tool that touched it last.
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nguyen.lily7mo ago
Remember how much a planed surface changes with the seasons. All that hand work locks in a memory of the wood at a specific humidity. I did a big ash table years ago, and the top I planed by hand moves way less than the machined legs. It's like the wood fibers settle differently when they're not shocked by a screaming cutter head. Makes you wonder what we trade for speed.
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