I have a Delta 13″ thickness planer and a reliant 6″ jointer
that I primarily use when “playing” in the shop as my wife calls it.
I don’t think I am ready or in shape enough (yet) to use hand tools
for dimensioning stock.
My question (finally) is what is the next hand plane that I should get?
I think that I would want to use it for smoothing after machining the wood. If other uses are possible while still being a good smoother, then so much the better.
Given that good plane as pricey, I cannot use my preferred technique of
when in doubt, buy several just in case. I would like to buy a LV/Veritas plane as they seem to have been favorably reviewed and now as expensive as some others. I am VERY left handed in case that makes a difference.
It is a requirement that the plane be basically be ready to use out of the box, except for perhaps honing the blade. I don’t want to make a career out of tuning the plane. Once I gain proficiency and enjoyment from hand planing, this is something that I might attempt.
I work mostly with Oak and Cherry. I am starting to use hard maple.
Related tools that I currently own:
-small record low angle block plane (50 1/2 or 60 1/2. I can’t remember)
-card scraper
-Craftsman Bench Plane (I have worked a bit at tuning it but with mixed results but I don’t really trust that I have it tuned well enough yet.)
Replies
Brian... if you need a plane to be multi-role, your best bet is to look around the #5 or #5 1/2 kinda size... they're long enough to edge joint, heavy enough to tackle wild grain with some authority yet light enough to use for a fair while without too much fatigue....
something like this would be ideal as a first "serious" plane...
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=3&p=49708&cat=1,41182,48944
Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Thanks. I was considering this plane with a extra blade for high angle work.
Brian... I don't claim to have used it, but by all accounts its an exceptional plane... Spare blades to give more options is never a daft idea... ;)Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Mike,
#5 is the only duplicte plane in my shed that is used for other than decoration. I had bought an old stanley that works pretty well i have tuned for fairly fine cuts, fitting drawers etc. Last year my brother found and gave to my daughter a 'Falcon' as part of an auction lot where he wanted a couple of the chisels. This was a cheap stanley knock-off that at some stage had been set up like a scrub with a wide mouth and a radius on the iron. It works OK she uses all of my stuff and in exchange I have left her plane in its purchased steup.
dave
The jack plane group is the only size I've duplicates of too... Started out with a new Stanley #5; the stock blade being the ideal vehicle to learn how to sharpen... loadsa practice... It was later joined by the #62... awesome plane; did everything I'd hoped the #5 would be able to do...
The latest addition to the group is the #5 1/2... I coulda saved myself a small fortune in doorstops if I'd bought this one first... I've thrown it at some particularly gnarly boards... doesn't miss a trick... but its party piece is when used as an uber smoother... when the blade's fresh off the stone, mouth set just right it'll take a 1 thou shaving leaving a near perfect finish... What's special about that...?? It's against the grain... It'll finish smooth with the grain with contemptious ease...Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Look Laddae, a 1 thou shaving the noo???? eh?
I should $@ hope that there is a smooth surface, as ye havnae tekken 3/4 of 5/8ths of annathin wi tha an all- ah mean ye would have to take 62 passes to remove a mere 1/16th of an inch-ye ken?
Yew're shootin a the wrang targit sonnae.Philip Marcouq1`
I always think about that when I hear guys bragging about their .001-inch shavings.
Personally, I'm more impressed with a plane that will leave a glass-smooth finish taking .010 shavings.
Being basically lazy as I am...Laddie!
David C
I should $@ hope that there is a smooth surface, as ye havnae tekken 3/4 of 5/8ths of annathin wi tha an all- ah mean ye would have to take 62 passes to remove a mere 1/16th of an inch-ye ken?
Och min.. di I ha'e t spell it oot afore ye ken fit I'm sayin....??? Ye can tak a 1/16th shavin wi yer grunny's false teeth if ye try hard enough... yon's the easy bit... bit fit happens fan a' ye need is a wee thoughty teen aff t get ye t finish thickness...??
Nithin mare t di than ca-canny.... aye....??? An fit happens fan yer board's een o yon bonny swirly grained eens... ye canna aie pick fit direction t work fae cos ye need t work fae a' directions at eense.....
I thought you wid a kint a' aboot 'at afore noo...?????????????
;)~~
Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Dinnae warry ye heed, laddae, Ah ken fit the score is. But my thicknesser is accurate to the nearest half thou, although recently there has been an issue with my contact lenses.
Have a good Christmas and a merry new year.Philip Marcou
If you take a wee .001 off your board and then you breath on your board looking at the fine work wont the moisture in your breath raise the grain resulting in the .001 returning. You could go on forever.
While, I have no idea what AB's work is like or how he works, most of the comments I see in this arena are from people who've never actually measured how closely they work. You can feel and see .001" and that .001" can make a huge difference in the fit of a joint. Would you accept a height difference between the surfaces of door stiles and rails as thick as a dollar bill? I won't and that's .004". I suspect if people measured how closely they work, they'd be surprised.I do fitting of critical wood parts on a milling machine. The mill is graduated in .001" increments and, just yesterday, I was adjusting it by eyeballing parts of those increments. I'd like to have a DRO so I could work to ten thousandths.
Edited 12/24/2005 10:31 am by lwilliams
Humor
Would you accept a height difference between the surfaces of door stiles and rails as thick as a dollar bill? I won't
I wont either!
I regularly achieve height differences and gaps around 1/4th of a dollar bill, the thickness of a quarter! Sometimes even the thickness of a dime!
:-)
David C
David, I think the unit of reference for the fanatics should be the Zimbabwean Dollar-at the moment eighty thousand of these equals one U.S dollar. For ease of use for myopic woodworkers we might as well round that to 100000 to one-quite handy since they have recently printed a run of notes in that denomination.
Now there is no excuse for hanging doors cockeye, unflat honing stones or , worst of all, tolerating bent planes.Philip Marcou
man i looked at that plane today for an hour just about bought it sure feels nice in the hand
Dan... the only gripes I've heard about it have been with its rear tote... the taller angle and chunkier form can cause probs for smaller hands. That said, Rob Lee is constantly encouraging people to experement with optimising the shape of the tote to suit your hand...Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
And it is quite easy to do-both of these have had the treatment and were worth the effort.Philip Marcou
Phillip,
Still wainitng to see the FN pistol grip on one of your planes.
Nice job - I will muck about with metal tools all day, but I still feel shy about mods to my cabinet tools. Snobbery?
Dave
FN PISTOL grip??? No no no mate-I am now thinking BIG, as in The Bazooka Plane , the plane to end all planes.....
How are you progressing with your military chest(s) ?
Re metal work-what are you waiting for? the two can go well together. I find any excuse to use my metal lathes-bushes, spacers , collars bits and pieces for jigs,maintenace/modifications, tools , planes, threads, nuts u name it....
I have ascertained from South Bend lathe works that my model pictured was shipped ex States in 1949-still works accurately and smoothly.Philip Marcou
hey now c'mon..... hitting a board with an infill is one thing... but an RPG...?????????Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Phillip,
Nice tool, I thought earlier this year that I might get to babysit a comprehensive fitting shop - the owner was discussing a retirement home - instead I have a standing invitationto use the tools but am just too busy.
As for the chest - this 12 months I have moved house, joined a swing band, started parading as a reserve officer, and doo all the stuff I was doing last year. All this because I though I would have a bit of time up my sleeve when I moved into town.
Funny though - I have also completed more 'stuff' than the previous 3 years.
About three years ago I saw what I think was a coopers tool. It was a large wooden plane, about 4 1/2" - 5" in cross section and 5' long. Now that was a plane. The reason I think it was from a cooperage is that there were a couple of other tools next to it including a crozier. The only use I could think of was to stir up the sister in law over my brother's collection; and I'm not quite that silly.
Dave
I agree with the others that the #5 is a great plane but mine is used more for initial dimensioning since it and most jack planes have a cambered blade. I would suggest a good smother like the 4 or 4 1/2 from Lie-Nielsen if you do not want to spend lots of time tuning it up. I believe that even the L-N's need a blade honing. Another basic plane purchase would be a #7 which is the jointer. It is my preferred plane for edge work and fine tuning drawers. Some use the #7 for everything but it is a heavier plane and the length might be too long in a lot of situations.
As far as left handed planes I know of only one maker who makes left handed models:Clark- Williams. Nobody else has ever asked me. The Stanley models work very well in my left hand but what makes a huge difference is the bench configuration. You have to put your vises in the opposite ends of where they show you. For example the front vise has to go on the right side as yo are facing it.On an end vise I dont think it matters. I have been told we are the largest minority in the world: 25% of the world's population is left handed.
Dan
I'd take a look at the 4 1/2 or the 5 1/2 size planes. As Midnight said, very versatile and will handle almost anything with authority. These are the two sizes that I find myself reaching for the most. I don't have any experience with the LV planes, although I've read many very good things about them, but I can recommend the LNs, without reservation, from personal experience. And both companies, from personal experience, have EXCELLENT customer service; I've been very pleased with the other woodworking items I've gotten from LV.
As for using hand planes to dimension your wood: the first couple of times you do it exclusively with hand planes, your arms will certainly let you know that you have abused them. The reward for that abuse is the feeling of accomplishment that you gain for having flattened, squared, and dimensioned a piece of wood in the same fashion as has been done, literally, for thousands of years. Does it make your finished piece better? Depends....but I, personally, have a bit more feeling of accomplishment, knowing that I have done it "the old fashioned way." (I'm a bit of a traditionalist.....)
<<Related tools that I currently own:
-Craftsman Bench Plane (I have worked a bit at tuning it but with mixed results but I don't really trust that I have it tuned well enough yet.)>>
I have an early 80s vintage Craftsman #4 size bench plane. If yours is of similar or newer vintage, don't lose too much sleep if you can't tune it to your satisfaction. It's not a very good plane, in my opinion. It will work fine for rough work, but if you want to use it for "fine woodworking," forget it; it ain't gonna happen -- at least not without a LOT of work.... Spend your time and money on a LN, LV, Clifton, or an old (pre-WWII) Stanley (or on a Spiers or Norris, if you have REAL deep pockets....).
If you think that you will eventually use hand planes to dimension your wood, then you need the following, as your basic arsenal of planes:
A scrub plane (to remove gross amounts of wood quickly and do basic dimensioning;
A #5 or #5 1/2 size plane to fine-tune the dimensioning that the scrub plane started;
A #7/#8 size plane to get the piece of wood flat (also works very nicely for jointing edges...);
A #4 or #4 1/2 size plane for final surface smoothing and preparation for finishing.
<<I work mostly with Oak and Cherry. I am starting to use hard maple.>>
I recently finished a bookcase made of red oak. It presented some challenges that I had to do some work-arounds on to get the results I was looking for. If you buy a #4 1/2 or 5 1/2 plane (from LN), you might want to give some consideration to buying their high angle frog, also. I don't have one, but from everything I have read and have been told, it works very well on grain that the usual 45 degree frog balks at. (It's on the wish list from Santa....)
Although this a bit after the other posts, I hope that this will be of some use to you.
Edited 12/14/2005 10:49 am ET by pzgren
Thanks for everyone's input.
That Lee Valley Low Angle Smoother is a wonderful thing. With the low angle blade, it is good for endgrain such as fitting moldings, and with the high angle blade, it will smooth the squirrelliest grain, with nary a chattermark. It is great in a shooting board.
You will love it, and you will have no doubts when you have it tuned right. It has no frog to cope with either. When you need a small throat, it takes a second to adjust.
It won't care if your left handed
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