Surface Finish - Plane vs Card Scraper

[titanxt]

I was messing around with a piece of scrap cherry today. I sharpened a plane blade (nothing special #3 Stanley) and did some passes on the wood. I noticed that the wood had a nice sheen to it after the planing. I then decided to grab a sharp card scraper and go over it as well. I noticed that the sheen went away. My first guess is the sheen is produced by the plane body burnishing? I did not have any wax on the sole of the plane that would skew the results a bit. Does this sheen carry though to finishing? I might tray half and half on this board and give it some finish to see. 

Andy

[MarkSingleton]

Could be one was sharper than the other?

[titanxt]

Quite possible that it was the limits of my ability to sharpen one over the other.

I went ahead and put a coat of Waterlox on the wood to see what kind of finish I would get between the two sides.

[AHill]

You will never get as good a finish with a scraper as with a plane.  A scraper cutting edge simply isn't as smooth and straight as a well-sharpened plane blade.

[DaveBeauchesne]

You will never get as good a finish with a scraper as with a plane.  A scraper cutting edge simply isn't as smooth and straight as a well-sharpened plane blade.

Agreed - I was at a LN Event a few years ago - the guy I was with was adamant that a scraper would leave as good a finish as a plane. Welll, our LN guru was none other than Deneb - a few different types of wood, re-sharpen the scraper - plane won, hands down.

Dave B

[C. in Indy]

Even with a very thick & sharp scraper blade (such as an HNT Gordon plane with the blade reversed), the scraped surface may show lower gloss than the planed surface.  Especially on softwoods, a lower cutting attack angle really "shines".   Not for nothing are the Japanese planes bedded for ~ 40 degrees, and you can argue there is no post-cut burnishing from the plane's body, since they relieve the post-cutting section of the plane body/sole.    I think also that one famous Japanese video on planing chipbreakers noted that a super-anti-tearout setup -- on softwoods -- will produce lower gloss than a more relaxed setup.

Cherry is sort of like a softwood in this type of discussion.

Enjoy the experiments!

Chris

[MattRadtke]

I find a planed surface to be the best one.

In a perfectly world, we would slap finish on wood right from the cutting tool.  But we don't live in a perfect world.  So we futz with different angles and a super-tight chipbreakers in the hopes that we can do that.

If you can, terrific, you have won!  Be happy.

If, however, you've got some more difficult stuff, by all means break out the scraper.    Of course if you do, it's probably worth hitting the whole surface with 220 or 320, just so whatever finish you apply looks even.

I will say most if not all differences in sheen tend to go away once finish is applied.

[tablesawtom]

I find a planed surface to be the best one.

In a perfectly world, we would slap finish on wood right from the cutting tool.  But we don't live in a perfect world.  So we futz with different angles and a super-tight chipbreakers in the hopes that we can do that.

If you can, terrific, you have won!  Be happy.

If, however, you've got some more difficult stuff, by all means break out the scraper.    Of course if you do, it's probably worth hitting the whole surface with 220 or 320, just so whatever finish you apply looks even.

I will say most if not all differences in sheen tend to go away once finish is applied.

If you are going to stain the wood with a pigmented stain to smooth a surface can cause the stain to be lighter than you want. There is a time for a plane finish, a time to use a card scraper and a time for sandpaper and skill is knowing when and how to use all the different methods. You can't buy skill you earn it the old fashion way , by doing. And trying out different ways to see what happens is how it works. good job.

And a final note. My wife would have me  commited  if I ever stained a piece of Cherry.

Tom

[MattRadtke]

If you are going to stain the wood with a pigmented stain to smooth a surface can cause the stain to be lighter than you want. There is a time for a plane finish, a time to use a card scraper and a time for sandpaper and skill is knowing when and how to use all the different methods. You can't buy skill you earn it the old fashion way , by doing. And trying out different ways to see what happens is how it works. good job.

And a final note. My wife would have me  commited  if I ever stained a piece of Cherry.

Tom

Solution: don't stain anything! 
 

But in all seriousness, this is correct.  When I dye oak, for example, I prefer a 150 grit -> wet -> knock back 220 approach before applying.