In this session I spent quite a bit of time planing the back board flat and thin. I didn't take a lot of photos because they would all look the same. But some interesting issues did come up. For example, the edges of the board had some issues of splitting along the grain.
This Piece Split Off of the Board
There are also some places farther in that are beginning to split, as shown in the photo below.
This Will Eventually Split Off
Fortunately, these defects are far enough toward the edge of the board that they should not be a problem. So I continued planing the surface using my smoothing plane.
I Moved Around On the Board
Since the grain is tricky across the entire board, I changed the direction of the plane often.
Sometimes I Planed This Direction
Sometimes I Planed That Direction
I found that scrubbing the plane around in a circular motion helped to keep it from snagging on the grain. I could feel the plane grabbing, and then I would change direction. So I simply spent a few hours working the wood, trying to get the board evenly thicknessed over the entire surface. It was sort of mindless and relaxing.
