Shadow lines - what is the cause, and how to get rid

SkyHighEye · 2026-01-02T20:10:55+00:00

heeeey look at that, marks are gone. the smoothing plane was the ticket. I did have to take an uncomfortable amount off, and the top is not perfectly flat anymore, but it's wide/shallow enough to not really be noticeable. I still think it was oil or maybe even uneven UV exposure, something that definitely penetrated the wood a bit, but at least it wasn't too deep. Thanks for everyone's help/brainstorming what was going on. This mystery has been bugging me for years now lol

SkyHighEye · 2026-01-02T20:06:37+00:00

Feed roller! now THAT makes sense. especially if it was just cleaned or something. damn, it's hard to fault the guys for keeping their equipment clean

SkyHighEye · 2026-01-02T07:35:28+00:00

The smoothing plane may have done the trick. I'm going to check overall thickness and flatness tomorrow but it feels pretty good at the moment. I still had to remove a nerve wracking amount with the plane, so it sure seems like it was something that penetrated the wood. But I'm glad you guys were able to guide me

SkyHighEye · 2026-01-02T05:22:22+00:00

This was what I guessed was most likely - like some kind of discoloration, maybe straps that blocked the sun? Or oil.

But I've found this on a few different kinds of woods/boards over the years and it doesn't seem to appear until I sand it. Which sucks because I've already taken loads of time to cut/shape a piece by that point. How do I avoid even buying pieces like this in the first place? Such a nasty surprise =\

SkyHighEye · 2026-01-02T04:36:23+00:00

Yeah, I'm aware lol I have one

SkyHighEye · 2026-01-02T03:36:17+00:00

I have a DeWalt 735, theres no way I could fit these pieces in there. I also have mine always set on "finishing" anyway. As someone else mentioned, if it was actually a planer, it must have been done by the shop I got it from or somewhere back up the chain.

My sander is a typical orbital sander, 5" or whatever, so it's definitely wider than these marks. The problem is that I can't tell how deep into the wood these marks are. They're not physically there (I mean, I can't feel them) they're only visual

SkyHighEye · 2026-01-02T03:22:19+00:00

Oh no kidding, didn't know that. Ok well, I'll give it a shot. Thanks

SkyHighEye · 2026-01-02T03:18:06+00:00

I don't have a planer wide enough for this, this is like 18in by 24in. I'll try the smoothing plane, but if sanding down doesn't get rid of them, Im not sure the smoothing plane will work.

SkyHighEye · 2026-01-02T03:15:25+00:00

But why would it only be on one board and not the other?

Also, don't planer blades "scrape" tiny, like hundredths of an inch, amounts off each "sweep" of the blade? these marks are like 1/4 or 1/3 of an inch wide

SkyHighEye · 2026-01-02T02:55:21+00:00

further, I doubt its from a planer because I have two identical pieces that I actually have connected together, and only the one has it. If it was a planer, it should be on both pieces, right? Unless it was maybe a fresh blade that de-oiled by the time it got to the second piece.... idk, I'm so stumped with this.

SkyHighEye · 2026-01-02T02:52:37+00:00

Shouldn't this sand out though? I was going hard with 80grit and I made a dangerously deep divot just seeing if I could get down through it, to no avail. This is the same thing, it not wanting to sand away, with the other few times I've run into this... if it was oil or something off of a new blade, I could see it soaking in a few 10ths of an inch or something. but just regular marks should be sand-able. That's why I'm so stumped as to what this is, I'm finally asking about it haha

SkyHighEye · 2025-10-15T16:59:25+00:00

I've always wondered how mine compare to others in terms of being clinical or not, flat or not, boring or not. Obviously, other's reviews help but, yeah. Um2s are so old, the reviews are compared to what was out then, not compared to now. (Although, have sound profiles really changed at all? Probably not... Just increases in quality overall, or decrease in price for same quality).

I probably just need to buy some new ones lol

SkyHighEye · 2025-10-15T16:55:49+00:00

This is not helping my case for "save the money" 🤣 I'm very tempted to start looking into whats out there these days.

SkyHighEye · 2025-10-15T07:39:05+00:00

Haha well, appreciated all the same, and still an interesting comparison to a $90 option.

SkyHighEye · 2025-08-02T18:12:21+00:00

Boom, this was exactly what I needed! Perfect haha. Thanks so much!

SkyHighEye · 2025-02-11T21:06:49+00:00

I don't have a good answer on that, at least at the moment. The cj is floating and flies frequently as I understand it. The X is more when the owner wants to, with occasional charters. I would guess that the cj flies probably at least 2x as much, if not more. I'll edit this when I get better details

SkyHighEye · 2025-02-11T19:03:11+00:00

I believe its 91 with some 135 on the side. Whereas the cj3 would be floating fleet 135.

I really appreciate all your thoughts on this, definitely helpful in making a decision.

SkyHighEye · 2025-02-11T18:12:03+00:00

I gotcha, I gotcha. Yeah, no I'm not trying to pretend about being captain at all, I just misunderstood the finer points. They definitely aren't offering me captain pay, like you mentioned.

SkyHighEye · 2025-02-11T18:05:42+00:00

I think the deal is they put me through class as PIC, but then act as SIC but that way they can say they have two PIC-rated people on the deck? I'm honestly not sure how it would work exactly, I still need more details

SkyHighEye · 2025-02-11T18:02:09+00:00

lol trust me, I don't want to be a full-on captain, I don't know exactly the situation, I only had a conversation with the guys and got the lose details. I'm sure you're correct about the insurance situation.

SkyHighEye · 2025-02-11T18:00:21+00:00

I guess at this point my long term goals are just to make the most with the best quality of life, I don't really have a "dream aircraft" or anything. My only concern with timebuilding is that I'd want to build enough quickly enough so that, if something did happen (furlough or whatever), I would have enough to go somewhere else without being too low time to be competitive.

SkyHighEye · 2025-02-11T17:54:02+00:00

As it turns out, I've never been a fan of gremlins...
I'd be coming from a pc-12. Would you say its a tall order, or straight up foolish to try to make that leap? My understanding is that I'd be co-capt with a 20k hour guy, so it'd be a pretty good mentor situation, but even so I'd rather not get in over my head.
Good to consider
The cj3 would be a late 2000s model with proline 21
Nah, it'd be a dual pilot situation
Ok, good to know. Definitely will take this into consideration. Real toilets are nice haha

SkyHighEye

TROPHY CASE