Chatoyance on hand planed pine

Chatoyance is the fancy term for wood that shimmers and shines in the light. It is most prevalent in certain types of wood, especially heavily figured examples, but can be observed in just about any species. In case you've never seen it, this is what it looks like on freshly planed pine. As you can see, a properly tuned and sharpened hand plane gives even this big-box hardware store pine a stunning, reflective look.

This is what I refer to as a "Class 1" surface in my book With Saw, Plane and Chisel.

This was achieved with my shop-made Dutch style planes, specifically the voorlooper and the gerfschaaf below.


  1. When I first heard the word "chatoyance", I thought maybe it was the 6th Jackson brother.
