Hi Blu;

: I am not sure if my wood grain is wrong

In a stripper, wood grain will end up running every which way, sometimes changing direction every few feet as you plane.

: when I plane it certain strips have chunks ripped
: out of them. I don't believe it is a question of
: plane sharpness(I sharpen it daily).

After you sharpen your plane iron, try to shave some arm hair with it. . . That will tell you if it's sharp enough. The only times I saw any wood tearing was when the blade was dull.

An ROS is a beautiful device (I use heck out of mine), but a hand plane will warm the heart like no other tool (as I wax romantic . . . )

If you search the archives for "block plane" and "scary sharp" you'll find lots of quality discussion as to how to obtain great results. Look also for posts by Hank Vanderaa.

Best of Luck, Spidey