Reply To: beginners corner, the work bench
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Yes, I can. I believe that must be some very knotty wood and while that would make it a very hard surface, it is going to be very difficult to plane (and making the bench requires A LOT of planning). It will also require a lot of grain reading if you’re going to continue with it–the grain most likely changes direction on every other side of each knot so what is smooth in one direction is going to have tear-out as soon as you get to the other side of the knot (as you noted in your first post, planning at a skew is probably the best approach but is by no means foolproof). That is one reason why we generally look for wood that is as knot-free as possible when selecting wood for projects. Knotty is also more difficult when it comes to chopping mortises/dadoes/etc. for joinery. I’m not saying it is impossible but you have certainly given yourself a mighty challenge and if you persist and succeed you will be very proud of your accomplishment, though it may not feel like it is worth it.
I guess I’m jaded by big box stores but you have no access to simple pine/cypress construction 2×4’s anywhere near you (for the benchtop at least)?