Thread: Beginner hand planes

I couldn't continue watching the Wood Whisperer prattling on about unrelated guff........BUT

there is a good fail safe in starting out with just a LA Jack - you can always add more planes to it if you wish, and it will always be a useful plane. Probably the second plane to add is a Block Plane of some kind. Extremely useful little fellas - cleaning up small areas, end grain, chamfering edges.

Apologies, wrong WW link. Here is the correct one: https://www.popularwoodworking.com/t...handplane-need

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

...there is a good fail safe in starting out with just a LA Jack - you can always add more planes to it if you wish, and it will always be a useful plane. Probably the second plane to add is a Block Plane of some kind. Extremely useful little fellas - cleaning up small areas, end grain, chamfering edges.

Agree wholeheartedly. The LAJ will be a great adjunct to machining your stock (assuming you use a jointer & thicky now). It will function admirably as a smoother, you can use it to experiment using it for jointing, and you can use it on a shooting board. Buy a few extra blades. The additional blades can be ground for highly figured wood, and you can grind another to make it function as a scrub plane. Suggest you look at the Lee Valley Veritas LAJ and get the PMV blades - the hold up well or Aussy hardwoods.

IMHO every woodworker should have a good block plane - no matter if they are an all-out power tool junky, a hybrid woodworker or are purely into handtools. So useful!! A good argument could be made for the Lie Nielsen low angle rabbeting block plane if you only want one. As well as normal block plane duties, it will also do the job of a shoulder plane in fitting tenons, cleaning up rabbets etc.

Here is a can or worms:

You will need to get to grips with sharpening. Its a religion for many, and opposing faiths are passionate to say the least.


But a plane will do you no favours unless you can get it sharp (properly sharp) and keep it that way. I'm sure Brett will have a say on this, so I'll stop.

The low angle jack has gotten a lot of press in recent years because a lot of people want to just own one plane. I can appreciate this mentality, and for some it may work, but in my mind, as someone who uses bench planes all the time, it just doesn't end up working out like that.

I just can't see how it could be efficient at all to change blades all the time. That's cumbersome, time consuming, and just downright unnecessary. Chances are you're going to end up misusing one blade in an effort to avoid putting the right one in.

So I'm not on board with this approach.

If you think you want to "get into" hand planes, which is sounds like is what you're kind of thinking about (correct me if that's wrong), then I'd say just get the plane you need at the time, which, it sounds like, is a smoother. I would suggest an old one that's in good enough nick not to require a bunch of work. Figure out what it means to sharpen a plane, set it up, and use it effectively to smooth wood. Once you've done that, you will probably find yourself thinking about getting another one, and at that point none of us can help you...

I wouldn't write off the jointer. If you build furniture larger than a step stool, it's invaluable. It is the benchmark for straightness in my workshop. Cleaning off table saw marks with a jointer plane prior to an edge joint glue up is a critical operation.

Anyway, I'm not going to launch into a "which planes you should buy" rant, but my AU$0.02 is that the one plane, many blades approach is flawed and inefficient for many (most) woodworkers, and it would be an expensive trial and error if you decided it wasn't for you.

Good luck,
Luke

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

I just can't see how it could be efficient at all to change blades all the time. That's cumbersome, time consuming, and just downright unnecessary. Chances are you're going to end up misusing one blade in an effort to avoid putting the right one in. Yes.

So I'm not on board with this approach. No, nor am I, but LAJ is as good as anywhere to start sliding the slope

I wouldn't write off the jointer plane. Indeed not, far too useful for all sorts of tasks, esp those that can't be done (or easily done) on a thicky/jointer

A Jack and Jointer is a good way to start getting the twists out of difficult boards before trying electron burning on them.

Originally Posted by RossM

But a plane will do you no favours unless you can get it sharp (properly sharp) and keep it that way. I'm sure Brett will have a say on this, so I'll stop.

Already covered in qwertyu's chisel thread Ross

IMO hand planes have 4 main functions

Stock preparation
joint fitting -- including grooves and rebates
smoothing
embellishment -- includes champhering edges

from what qwerty has written (here and in his chisel thread), he has little interest in stock preparation, but can see a use in joint fitting and smoothing.
No doubt he will discover embellishment later.


While a low angle jack can be used for both joint fitting and smoothing, in my opinion you are better off separating the two functions, so budget for 2 bench planes.
However, when it comes to joint fitting, a shoulder plane or two and a router are much more useful than expected.
And don't forget the utility of a plow plane.

embellishment is a whole other aspect. But once recognised will lead to the acquisition of a truck load of router bits or a small number of specialty planes.

Ignoring which type of planes (smoother, jointer or jack) or blades you’re looking at, if it’s a cost saving you’re looking for, you can get a pretty decent vintage Stanley for the price of a Lie Nielsen or Lee Valley aftermarket blade.

I’m with Luke on the idea that one plane with multiple blades is not workable. You often want to take a stroke or two and grab the plane and do it. This way, you’ll be grabbing the plane, taking the blade out, putting the other blade in, adjusting it and then taking two strokes, before having to put the blade you just took out back in again.

I see no benefit in trying to do everything with a low angle jack. Financially and functionally you’ll be better off using two or three Stanleys.

Where is a good place to look for 2nd hand planes?I don't have any room for an electric jointer in my garage.

My newbie collection is made up of a veritas LAJ and router plus a Stanley low angle block.

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Right here. There's been an absolute PILE of planes on sale in the Market Place in the last few weeks. Have a look through to what isn't sold yet.

When you only own one or two planes, it's surprising what they can do - I know that 'cos for many & many a year I had a Stanley #5 and an old 110 block plane. With these, I made a lot of stuff, some of which still looks ok to my eye, some of which even the kindest appraisal would find pretty fugly. Some compromises were made because I had limited tools but developing skills has had the most beneficial impact on what I turn out nowadays.

If you have the right temperament, a couple of extra blades sharpened at different bevel angles will certainly expand your repertoire, but as others have said, not many can tolerate constant blade-swapping for long. Most of us find ourselves pushing a dull blade more often than we care to admit, just to avoid the hassle of dismantling, sharpening & re-setting!

Planes are definitely horses for courses - if you want to do a limited number of processes, one plane may very well do all you need. A box-maker could easily dimension, joint & smooth their stock with a #4, but you would work awfully hard to prepare stock for a hefty workbench with a #4. So think hard about what you will use your plane for, do a bit of researching or asking for what others think does this best, and buy the plane you think most fits the bill. It really doesn't matter what you start with in the long run - if you never learn to love planes, whatever you get will do, and if you are like 95% of us, it won't be very long before you add another plane, then another......

But as Luke said, by then you won't need to ask anyone else what you need.......

Cheers,

Thanks for the responses guys. Im open to getting second hand tools but at the same time I dont really want to spend any time cleaning it or fixing it up. So if a good example came up it would be considered I suppose.

Does anyone have thoughts on tool steel? I think A2 sounds like the one to go for but I've been seeing a lot of good reviews for Luban planes which use T10 steel. From what I understand T10 is even softer than O1?

I think I will aim for a LAJ and a rabbeting block plane to begin with (are most rabbeting block planes low angle bevel up?). I'll add a smoother in the future

Whether I go with Luban or Veritas/Lie-Nielson I dont know yet. The Veritas/Lie-Nielson is quite a bit more expensive and I dont know if I can justify it. From what I see online the Luban planes are well made, its only the blade material I am concerned about. If anyone has experience with Luban planes would like to hear their opinion on edge retention.

If smoothing picture frames, is there any planes which can go across the face of the mitre? Or is that only a job for sandpaper

Originally Posted by qwertyu

From what I understand T10 is even softer than O1?

According to this site T10 is High Speed Steel which won't be softer than O1. HSS makes good blades but is one of those steels that we spoke about in the other thread that requires special waterstones.....or diamond paste and cast iron blocks

Edit: but then this discussion says it's like W1 or 1095 steel, so go figure.

For me, you cannot go pass the following Stanley planes, 4 1/2, 6 & 120 to start with.

The 4 1/2 can be a smoother, scrub or scraper plane. The 6 (Try plane) can joint and smooth and the 120 is a block plane, that is able to handle a multitude of functions, including sizing ply boards being installed as walls.

Now days I have quiet a few planes, including the Veritas version of the 62 (LAJ).