Is this a dining table? If so, birch will be better than pine - it's a much harder wood.

I think what you are talking about is "hand-scraped" not "hand planed"

Hand planing doesn't really offer any advantage over the alternative, which is machine planing. However, hand scraping offers an advantage over the alternative, which is machine sanding.

Hand scraping leave a gloss finish on close-pored hardwoods such as maple and cherry. This the method of choice for highly figured pieces.

I don't think pine or birch lumber would be worth the effort of hand scraping.

Here's a company that makes some hand-scraped tables. The stuff isn't cheap

IMHO

The sales person at the store I believe said hand planed but she might have said hand scraped.... Anyway, is there any advantage or disadvantage. I am looking for distressed harvest table one solid wood tob no leaves. It was a beautiful table and I could either get the table in pine or birch. (I only saw it in pine love the knotts and distresssing so I don't know what birch would look like.) The hand scraping/planed made the table top a little wavey. Maybe I sould set a glass down on table top and make sure it doesn't tip easily. Thanks Paddytc

The advantage of the the hand scraped process is that, aside from the slight waviness, the wood gets "burnished" by the scraping process. The wood almost shines. The process of scraping replaces the process of sanding.

Any process involving sanding will scratch the wood fibers, regardless of how fine the sandpaper is. Sanded wood will never shine like the hand-scraped boards.

Here's a no-frills hand scraper. As with most hand tools, it not the tool that matters, it's the person using the tool.

As mentioned earlier, scraping is time consuming. Usually it is done only with the most expensive of lumbers, some of which start to look like glass when scraped and shellaced.

I'm suprised that you found a pine table that was scraped.

tom nwnj-- thanks for all the information. I will double check on the table but it looks just like you described. A little wavy, almost shiney...love the look. Would birch still have all the character as pine, (if that is the would that I saw). Paddytc

Well, it would be hard to anticipate how the birch would compare to the pine that you saw. Some pine (new england pine as opposed to western/ponderosa pine) can have good color, pinks, browns, etc. Birch is technically an open pore wood, (same as oak, walnut and ash), so the burnishing would have less of a positive effect. And most birch is pretty bland stuff, compared to NE pine. However, I have seen stunning examples of flame birch (flame is crotch figure that looks like a plume). Ask to see an example.

From a practicality POV, the pine is soft (as in softwood). It will dent faster than almost any hardwood, including birch. Just so you know, in case you have small kids or large critters in the house.

Buy the way, the ripples in the wood are caused by the scraping technique. The scraper blade is not used straight like the blade of a hand plane. Rather the scraper blade is slightly bent (concave) when used. So, in an exaggerated way, it's like dragging the edge of a soup spoon down the length of the board.