I mostly make small furniture (end tables, nightstands, etc) and some case work. I’m a pure hobbyist making one-offs. So I cut grooves and rabbets. I have a router plane, rabbeting block plane, and medium shoulder plane. Along with a saw and chisels, I can get the job done with solid results. But then I see videos of folks using a plow plane and it just looks more fun (and faster/cleaner). I’m here for the fun (good results are fun). I could be missing something, but it seems the two things the 45/combo plane does that a plow plane does not are 1) reeding/fluting 2) cross grain cutting.
Reeding isn’t really my aesthetic. I would like the ability to do tongue-and-groove joints by hand (something a plow plane can do).
I get stuck when I look at the cost of, say the Veritas plow plane ($249USD) plus a potential future desire of adding a skew rabbet plane ($269USD) for cross grain work. The cost of their combination plane ($419USD) doesn’t seem so high. Then there is the option of getting a Stanley 45 off eBay. Restoring old tools isn’t my favorite thing. And then I might end up with a combo plane that proves that a tool designed to do lots of things is mediocre at each. Then, I’m right back where I am now plus a neat looking tool with lots of knobs.
Ugh, just “thinking out loud” tells me I should just stick with what I’ve got. After all, I am so far from being a professional furniture builder. This is my hobby. But tomorrow, I’ll be looking for a distraction. I’ll search eBay for Stanley 45s and the whole cycle will turn and turn again.
Y’all know how it goes.
Replies
I bought a stanley 45 and restored it. Difference being I really love restoring old tools to usability. Don't use it very often but it's nice when I need it.
I picked up a #45 and restored it, which was enjoyable. I played with it for an afternoon and learned 3 things:
1. It ain't as easy as it looks.
2. The result is not perfect.
3. The old timers had patience and muscle
Jay, if all you wish to do is grooves, rebates, and T&G, then the Veritas Small Plow plane (plus wide-blade accessory) is the best bang for the buck. This plane is capable of all these joints.
Having written this, the Veritas Combo plane is a gem and the best combination plane on the market. Taut and, importantly, the blades are true and excellent steel. The Combo also excels at grooving - just more solid in the hand than the Small ... but both do the job very, very well.
The Veritas Skew Rabbet Plane is my go to for rebates. In fact, I sold all my other moving fillisters recently.
Please note that I have been testing planes for Lee Valley for over a decade, but try to offer objective advice. I own and use many other makes as well.
Regards from Perth
Derek
I haven't used the Veritas plow or combination plane, so I can't judge them. But their skew rabbett plane is the best at what it does, period. I've used old moving fillesters, Stanley 45s, 46s, and 50s, and the Veritas skew rabbet is far, far better, period.
Try some beads on a good plane made by Matt Bickford or Old Street, then try beading on a Stanley 45. The Stanley will never have a beading cutter in it again. Junk, in comparison.
I use the 50 for plowing grooves. It's handier than setting up the 45 or 46. A wooden plow is still nicer to use, but the 50 is ok.
Combination planes were marketed as a single replacement for a toolbox full of other tools. Technically, I guess. But they don't do very much particularly well.
John, I use the Veritas planes to cut beads, and they come out perfectly. A few years ago I came up with a technique that really works well.
It occurred to me that high cutting angles are great for preventing tearout, so why don't we do this with beading planes as well. The Veritas, like many planes, have a common angle bed (45 degrees). What if the angle was a half-pitch (60 degrees)? This can be done using a 15 degree back bevel.
Consequently, I added a backbevel about 0.5mm wide. It is only on the flats. That is where the tearout occurs. A high cutting angle there prevents the tearout. You can backbevel the hollow at the baseline with a dowel and 2000 grit sandpaper, but this is not necessary if you set your depth stop to end at the tip of the final thickness. The insides of the bevel are cutting on a skew.
Here is a link to my article on this:
http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/VeritasSmallPlowasaBeadingPlane.html
There are more articles and reviews on this Index page:
http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/index.html
Regards from Perth
Derek
For T&G I have the Stanley 146, 147, and 148. All they do is cut T&G and they do it very well. I had the swing fence versions and "traded down" to the simpler double-enders. If you buy the swing fence type look for cracks in the main casting caused by overtightening the cutters.
I've never used those. Always been curious about them.
In a spasm of tool buying engendered by a reduced workspace and a lust for shiny tools, I acquired (amongst other items) the Veritas combination plane with (so far) some grooving, rabbeting and T&G blades. This was unjustified with the "less workspace" reason so was pure tool lust. :-)
I've spent decades cutting grooves, rabbets and T&G with a router (freehand and table) so I can compare the techniques and results of the two (router vs combination plane). I've so far discovered this:
1. It takes about the same time to set up a router (table) as it does to set up the Veritas combination plane. The plane requires also the preparation of the blades, whereas router cutters come ready-to-cut. But they are very well made and all the parts work together as they should.
2. Both router and plane need the user to acquire a certain level of skill to obtain good results.
The router is easier to learn but has a far greater potential for a mistake in use to rapidly make a hash of the groove or whatever. (It goes so quickly). You can't make any mistakes without some significant damage.
The combination plane requires more user ability to set up and more control and skill to keep the groove or whatever straight and clean ... but the slower pace of the cutting tends to avoid the more drastic results of any mistake.
3. The router handles some materials better than does the combination plane.
I've just been cutting 1/8" X 1/8" grooves along the join of solid cherry lipping to cherry-veneered block board shelf panels in which to insert stringing. A downcut 1/8" router spiral bit cuts very cleanly in both materials whereas the combination plane can easily tear off bits of the cherry veneer from the block board, even with a very sharp blade at a shallow cut, carefully made and with the snicker knives deployed.
4. The combination plane is more satisfying to use because of the lack of loud noise; and the feedback through your hands (that a router does give but with far less definition).
5. Router cutting can make stopped grooves et al but the combination plane can't. However, you can often make a through cut with the combination plane then fill the ends again with a grain-matched piece. This slows things down even more but ...... that's part of the hand tool pleasure.
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The quality of the Veritas combination plane is superb. It's sometimes a fiddle to set up (all those brass knobs to twiddle) but it works very well indeed once you have the skills to shove it aright.
It also has a large range of blades, all them very high quality and near ready out of the box, requiring only a final hone and any user-wanted reconfiguration of the cutting edge angle.
Lataxe
David, routers cut perfectly. I have a terrific router table and have cut my share of perfect beads.
The beads off a hand plane are not the same. They are look excellent, but not perfect. They have little flats or a little bit too much here-and-there. But this adds charm. They do not look like a machine has made them.
Different strokes ..
Regards from Perth
Derek
Derek,
Yes indeed - the hand of the maker evident in one's wooden items can be an enhancement or signature of a certain quality demonstrated by the skill of the tool-using craftsman.
Do you recall my walnut hall table made some years ago, with all the round-overs done with a spokeshave? A neat-looking round-over from normal viewing distance but evincing those pleasant wee facets you mention if felt-up by a furniture fondler.
But too much maker's hand evident in a piece can be the opposite - an indication of a cack-handed bodger-bloke. Not the chair-making kind of bodger but the ilk who makes everything the wrong side of "it'll do" where it is instead "inadequate".
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Today I've been doing more grooving for stringing, making the odd little error which I've then corrected, sometimes with a bit of infill or even a dutch-patch. These too can be "hand of the maker" but it's oh so easy to allow them to stray from "near invisible artful fix" to "ugly hand of the bodger". :-)
Lataxe
I bought a Stanley 45 and later a box of cutters in great condition. Didn't use it for about a year and found another 30 miles away for $50.00 so I bought it too. Finally used it in making my Moravian workbench and I found it very satisfying. It cut the groove perfectly and without noise or dust. For a fist time use I believe it was faster than setting up a router for the task (I haven't made a router table yet).
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