Why We Skip Plane Wood Slabs: Letting the Wood Dance

When processing live edge slabs, we use a technique called "skip planing" or "hit and miss planing" rather than fully surfacing the wood immediately. Skip planing preserves thickness but leaves some low spots, or valleys, in the surface of the wood that are still rough sawn. Here's why this approach produces better results.

The Core Reason: Internal Wood Tension

Wood sometimes contains significant internal tensions locked within the wood fibers since the tree was alive. While wood movement after drying can be a sign of a drying defect (e.g., case hardening), many trees simply form internal tensions in their wood while growing. When wood is surfaced some of this tension can be removed and the wood will move until it finds a new equilibrium.

As a result, wood can sometimes move in the days after it is heavily surfaced. For best results it is best to take a second flattening pass after this movement has occurred and the wood has had a chance to acclimate to it's ambient environment. This is what woodworkers call "letting the wood dance." 

Why Skip Planing Works Better

Preserves Thickness: By making only a light cut, we keep maximum material thickness while still triggering the movement that may happen as the wood acclimates.

Flat Final Pass: Once stabilized, we make the final surfacing pass with our CNC machine. Because we preserved thickness initially, we have plenty of material to remove any movement and create a flat surface.

Reduces Waste: When customers want only a portion of a slab, we haven't wasted time and material fully surfacing wood that won't be used. They can evaluate the grain pattern from skip planed surfaces, then we finish only their selected piece.

The Bottom Line

If we fully planed slabs immediately, any subsequent wood movement would result in boards that are no longer flat. Skip planing lets the wood move when it wants to, then we surface it perfectly after it has stabilized. The result is slabs that are more stable in their final application and less likely to develop problems after installation.

Skip planing requires patience, but this approach respects the wood's natural behavior and produces superior results.