Sapele wood for floorboards

[SHyland83]

I just bought 39 board feet of 1" rough sawn Sapele for my Cabin Floorboards. I've been reading that Sapele is difficult to plane because of the reverse grain but can't find any helpful suggestions. Does anyone have any experience working with it? Can I just plane it then give it a light sanding to fix up any tear out?

[Keith]

I've been reading that Sapele is difficult to plane...

My plans should be here any day now. I have no idea what I will use for the floorboards when I get to that stage, but I just bought a thickness planer, so I'll be making my own.

[Donm1753]

The most important thing is to use very sharp plane irons. If you are using a thickness planer either replace the blades with new ones or have them re-sharpened. If you are planing by hand a low angle block or jack plane will help, but again, you need to keep the blades sharp. As soon as you feel the blade hanging up it is time to touch up the edge again.

[SHyland83]

I plan on using a 12" delta thickness planer. I think i have a new set of blades for it so I'll replace them before I get started. Thanks for the advice, i'll let you know how it goes.