Thread: Merbau - leaving hard residue on metal planes?

I get these planing QLD redgum; pretty sure they are just little globules of resin. One thing I’ve noticed is that the higher the polish on the sole the less often they appear.

I use beeswax on the plane sole to prevent them and steel wool to remove them when I don’t wax enough...

Merbau is notorious for "leaking" resin/tannins, the heat from the friction has probably caused it to harden on the sole of the scraper.

You could try increasingly aggressive solvents to get it off, but a sheet of 1200 wet/dry paper on glass won't meaningfully affect the flatness of the sole.

Waxing the scraper should help with that, but I'm not sure if any wax transfer will affect whatever finish you put on top.

Thanks Elan,

Very good points.

Would you envisage the same problem with a wooden sole? I was worried with a woodie that any residue might burnish into the sole and really do some damage.

It might be a good occasion to fix up and old woodie lying around a drawer and lay into it and find out, of course!

Honestly no idea, I've never used a wooden plane so I don't know how it would behave.

Thanks Chief

My first thought was that - well it's a Veritas sole, that should be as flat/smooth as one can get.

But I have not used a great deal and perhaps the rust preventative has not worn off yet, adding friction. A good tip and I will give a go.

I'm very new to woodworking. But you should try using a wooden plane.

Hi CG. I was always taught to only sand after all blade work was finished. Theory being that sand paper left behind grit that would make blades dull. Would hand held scraper blades be easier to clean?

I have planed quite a lot of very well air dried kwila/merbau and have not experienced this problem. My kwila just blunted the blade rather fast, and tear out was a problem especially where the grain was really interesting.

I would be more incline to think that the problem stems from the glues used in the lamination process.

As to solution, I agree with Elan; try progressively more aggressive solvents - my heirarchy is Metho => Acetone => Xylene. Then, as a last resort, some very fine wet and dry used wet, wetted with the solvent as the glue will probably clog the paper real fast.

I have seen some horrible staining from leaching from merbau decking, but always assumed that this stemmed from improperly kiln dried timber. Perhaps I am wrong?

Thanks Graeme - maybe the Bunnings panels are done to a lesser standard, or it is a combination with the oil they use. Or perhaps it's just the gnarliest pieces end up in the panels.

I have not had this problem before though and suspect the previous posters may be right that it was temperature from vigorous planing heating up the surface with friction.

I ended up deciding the panel was flat enough for the intended purpose and used a freshly sharpened card scraper to finish off the panel and remove all the marks and tear-out. Worked very well. It is really turning into one of my favourite tools as such a problem solver. A practical benefit is you can also use it to flick off/clear the shavings/crud so you can always see what you're doing.

Despite my view it was likely caused by friction->heat I think I will be indefinitely nervous about letting a quality tool touch Merbau again!

I work with Merbau and put a thin layer of Diesel on my tools (sole and blades) before working on it. That prevents any resin from sticking on it.

Yes, as Andy said a small amount of diesel works well. It’s like it forms a layer of protection. Don’t use too much. You will need to reapply when it starts to feel gluggy again