I've got a piece of English that I'm working on now for the life of me I can't figure out what's going on with it.
I'm hoping some of you guys with more knowledge then I do when it comes to working woood can tell me.

I'm in the process of inletting this blank when I use a chisel or scrapper the wood chips instead of having a nice peel to it. I've had wood chip before but never like this.
My chisels & scrappers are sharp so I know that's not the problem.

I can't control how much wood is being removed & the inletting looks like hell.
I don't want to go through the whole process of turning out a stock if all I'm going to end of with is a pretty piece of balsam wood.

Would I be better off cutting my losses & picking another piece of wood for this project ??
I'm hesitate to do this because this blank is a very nice piece in regards to figure & layout.

Looking forward to what you all think I'm dealing with here.

???

1. There is sharp and then there is SHARP
2. You may be cutting against the run of the grain. Cut from the opposite direction and see if that helps.
3. You might try reducing the blade angle of your chisels and gouges.

Most straight grained English cuts, scrapes and rasps very nicely provided your tools are right.

One of the major problems I have is the more exotic the grain the more I have trouble determining the run of the grain.