also, with a drawknife, if the knife is cutting deep and tearing out wood, then turn yourself around 180 degrees and try to draw it the other direction. I screwed up a couple of boards because I didn't pay attention to the way the grain was running and I didn't turn around. My guess is that the grain will either force the knife "up" and allow for nice shallow draws and long curls, or "down" and dig the knife in, causing tear outs.