Which Jack Plane regular or low angle
wgsdvm
| Posted in Power Tools and Machinery on
I plan to purchase a jack plane. I love LieNielsen and they have a low angle jack plane. Is there benefit in purchasing a low angle jack plane as my one and only jack plane or should I purchase a traditional jack plane? To help thus far in my “tool kit” I have 2 stanely block planes, a shoulder plane, and a Lie Neilsen 4 1/2 smoothing plane.
What would you purchase?
Replies
I bought the L-N low angle jack plane and have been completely satisfied. It's a fabulous tool and I love using it.
Ditto. The only thing I'd add is that you're going to find yourself looking for more things to handplane with it. It feels & works that good.
The low angle jaclplane is easier to use on difficult grain.
The advantage of the L-N low angle jack is that it is essentially a big block plane; and therefore, has fewer parts and is easier to adjust. There is no lateral adjustment and the mouth adjustment could not be easier. It will work better on end grain than a regular jack plane, so you can use it in a chute board.
The regular jack plane with the higher blade angle will be better on long grain, especially on difficult grain and figured wood. If you are planning on using the jack plane for its traditional purpose of rapid stock removal before using the jointer plane and smoother, that is not much of a factor. However, if you will be using this plane for some final finishing as you would a smoother, the higher blade angle will be a benefit. L-N makes a high angle frog for their smoothers, it may work for the number 5 as well. Having said all that, I have had good luck on bird's eye maple with the low angle jack.
The choice is yours. I'd get the L-N low angle jack and a Steve Knight jack for about $50 more (quick calculation in my head ) than the L-N 5. http://www.knight-toolworks.com. He also has weekly offerings on Ebay. By the way, Steve makes his jack planes with a 47 degree bed angle.
Good Luck
Kyle
Just this weekend, I bought a L-N low-angle jack at a local woodorking show. I saved for months and spend every dime at the L-N booth. I went planning to buy a #4 smoother and the York pitch frog, as well as a scrub plane. They convinced me to get the low-angle jack instead of the scrub plane.
I spent 3 hours watching the guy at the booth and asking questions. He demonstrated the low-angle jack in fantastic detail, and I became convinced that it is by far the most versatile plane around. The only downside to this plane that I can think of is that the blade adjustment looks like it'll take practice. The lack of a frog keeps it cheap and light.
The low-angle jack by L-N is available with a toothed blade; this is essentially a standard blade with spaces missing at the front at regular intervals--looks kind of like an electric shaver like the barber used to use on the back of your neck. What this does is allows the user to "scrub", making very deep cuts with no tearout; then you just put in the other blade and plane off the little grooves left in your wood--he made it look outrageously quick and easy--and you've scrubbed off a huge amount of wood and have no tearout at all. I watched him do this on curly maple. Worked like a charm.
In addition, if he wanted to change the angle of attack--the equivalent of changing the frog angle in a conventional plane--he just pulled out the standard blade and sharpened to a new angle. Not the primary bevel, mind you, just the little 2ndary one. This works because, as was pointed out earlier, the mouth is adjustable like a block plane. He told me that I can go all the way up to 60 degrees if I want or need to. Using this technique, the low-angle plane will do anything the convintional one will do, and for less money, along with a few things the conventional jack plane won't do, like scrubbing, or planing end grain (or at least, that it won't do well. It occurs to me sitting here that this would work with an adjustable mouth block plane too, if there were any reason to do so.)
Now, this is all accomplished with a simple but wonderful sharpening setup; two 1000 grit water stones, one 8000 grit, a 12 x 12 flattening plate and a bunch of sandpaper, along with a cheapo sharpening jig and some preset blocks of wood attached to the bench in order to speed the setup of the jig. He just sets the sharp edge of the blade to be sharpened against the correct stopblock, and sets the jig against the edge of the sharpening bench, tightens it and he's ready to go. Couple of passes on the 1000 grit, remove the burr on the 8000, couple of passes on the 8000, then use the Charlesworth steel ruler thing (recently shown in FWW) to take off the last of any burr, and presto--he's got a new angle. Literally took him less than 5 minutes to do this. The rest of the setup is to help him conveniently keep his stones flat. He flattens them about every 100 strokes.
I had a great time, as you can probably tell. They were out of #62's (the low-angle jack); I'm pulling my hair out waiting for them to ship it.
Charlie
I tell you, we are here to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different. --K Vonnegut
Edited 11/24/2004 1:14 pm ET by CharlieD
The 62 was the first L-N I bought; talk about an awsome tool.!! As Charles has pointed out, a change of blade profile transforms the tool; adjustment of the blade really couldn't be simpler, and the adjustable mouth lets you cut as fine or coarse as you want.
If I didn't already own a scrub plane, that toothing blade would have me thinking.....seriously....
In use, it's really comfortable. The handles fit my hands near perfectly, the plane cuts with minimal effort, and you really gotta work at it to cause tear out.
That said, I have a #5 too, and use it almost as much as the 62, simply because it's tuned slightly differently.
If I'd to do it over, I'd go with the 62 and buy 3 or 4 blades for it. Conventional blades honed at 25, 30 and 35 deg should cover most eventualities, and the toothing blade sounds too interesting to ignore...
Buy it, enjoy it, learn what it can do, and think about the next one you need... Trust me, these things are addictive....
;)
Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Mike,A toothing blade for your 62 is only $40 US (at least at the show it was. And I know you're across the pond...) There was NO tearout. Saved a ton of material, I tried 'em both (62 and 401/2 scrub) on a 16/4 slab of curly maple. The 62's a tad slower, but geez--NO tearout! Worked amazingly well. The smoothing afterward was done in just a few passes; the 62 flattened as it scrubbed, so it may have saved time in the long run. I'd get the thing if I were you. I'm really chomping at the bit, can't stand waiting.CharlieI tell you, we are here to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different. --K Vonnegut
Edited 11/24/2004 11:22 pm ET by CharlieD
lol..... Charlie yer a tormentin sod.... ;)
Not long after I bought my #7 I retired my bench jointer; now that I'm up to speed with the 40 1/2 scrub, I've practically retired my thicknesser... Trust me, I know how capable these things are...
No tear out huh....?? damn it, ya got me thinkin about it.... At this rate I'll never get the 5 1/2...Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
"At this rate I'll never get the 5 1/2..."I can't see how you need it, really. The 62, in theory, ought to do everything the 5 1/2 does and more. As a matter of fact, I'm kicking myself a bit since this thread started, thinking I should have gotten the low-angle smoother instead of the #4 that I got for all the reasons being discussed (although I have both frogs, and it IS a right beauty...)CharlieI tell you, we are here to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different. --K Vonnegut
I can imagine re the 4... I did the same with the 4 1/2... both frogs... I agree with you to a point re the 62... that point starts the first time you sharpen the primary bevel... it took me ages (all handraulic sharpening). I'm torn between the 5 1/2 or saving for ages to try an infill panel plane... decisions decisions.... ;)Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
How do these things work when the wood is really hard? I'm sure you can measure Redgum, sydney blue gum, and gidgee with an RC value - certainly harder than anything american i have tried except really well cured oak (haven't had access to maple).
Our 'native' planes - the HNT Gordon wooden ones are all high angle. His helpers at shows tell me this deal with our hardwoods.
Dave
Sure, I get the high angle need.Well, what I was shown is that because the mouth is adjustable, you can just vary the angle of the microbevel and get any angle you want. Then you can adjust the mouth to compensate for any difference caused by the change in angle. Just took the guy a few minutes to do this, and he was making perfect scrubbing and flattening operations with no tearout whatsoever. Pretty cool, really.CharlieI tell you, we are here to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different. --K Vonnegut
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