Thread: Hand plane advice wanted.

I would say the 3 main hand planes are a block plane for small work and endgrain, a smoother (Stanley No 4) for cleaning up before/instead of sanding and a jack/small jointer (Stanley No 5 or 6) for larger work. A spokeshave is also handy for curved work if you're doing that sort of thing.

As for brands, DO NOT under any circumstances buy a new Stanley or Record to use as anything other than an expensive paper-weight. An old (1910s - 1940s) Stanley is a good place to start if you don't want to spend big money. There are enough of them floating around that you can pick and choose to find one in good condition.

If you want to go new, Veritas and Lie-Nielsen are both great, but expect to pay 2-3 times as much as a new Stanley. My personal preference is Veritas, but you'll get people from both camps who swear that the other one is "just not as good". I'm sure the nice people at Carba-Tec will be happy to let you have a play with both to see which feels right for you.

I'm sure others will have much more to say as well.

Good luck and welcome to the world of hand tools

I agree with the above regarding which breeds to get. Something else to consider is blade angles. A low angle jack plane with a 25 degree and a 50 degree (?) blade will perform a variety of tasks in different woods.

I recently bought my first high end plane and have been chuffed with it. An initial review can be found Here. I'll add a post about how it performs in the shed now that I've had a good chance to play with it.

If you chose either LN or Veritas you wont be disappointed in any case, they are about as good as tools come and a pleasure to use, some have small things the others don't, but it doesn't detract from their quality in any way.

Welcome aboard the quiet realm of the craft.

LV or LN, as the guys above have said. Block plane (I love my low angles) rabbit block is the most usefull and multi purpose I think, low angle jack with the assortment of blades would almost do you for starters. A smoother is handy and I love my LN #7 jointer. But as I said the rabbit block and the very versatile low angle jack would be a great start.

Hi Ratty,

You want a Jack, and Jointer & a smoother, plus a small block plane & a shouder plane.This will cover the basics.

You set up the jack plane with a hevy camber for rapid stock removal. The jointer will then get the board flat. The smoother will take fine shavings & leve a surface ready for finishing.

The block plane will do a multitude of touch up, joiner fitting, chamfering & so on.

The shoulder plane will help fit your joinery, especially fitting tenons.

Any of the premium planes will work well. Terry Gordons planes are magnificent. LN are both beautifully made.

Don't forget thet these will only work well if the bledes are properly sharpened, so you will need to invest in a decent sharpening system. Many start out with "scary sharp" sandpaper on glass method due to initial cost. Plenty use (or graduate to) japanese water stones. Brent Beach has a website with more than you ever wanted to know about sharpening. He has some good info on a cheap & repeatable sahrpening/honing process using home made jigs - see here

I highly recommend Chris Schawrz book "Handplane Essentials" as it will explain may processes & what various planes do & how to use them all in very readable style. Also, spend some time trawling through his prolific blog In the Navigation box on right, click on Handplanes & be prepared for a lot of information to be returned!!

To what the others have said, I suggest you look at the YouTube videos which you can get to from the Lie Nielsen web site Lie-Nielsen Toolworks Australia | Home the link is right under the picture of a shoulder plane
also, some DVDs that are more than useful in explaining the different types and length of planes are:
Building Furniture with hand planes
Coarse, Medium, Fine: Fundamental woodworking techniques
Hand Planing and Sharpening

Wow what a wealth of information for me to absorb! & not just planes themselves but sharpening too.
Ross, i had a look at Chris Schawrz's book Handplane Essentials & liked the look of it so i've ordered it, its on its way.
Durdge thats a real nice lookin block plane, i remember when Carbi-tec realeased the latest Veritas version, it really caught my eye & got me starting to think more about handplanes. The prices of good planes was a bit of a shock to the system, definitely something to sneak into the shed when the wife isn't looking. I've read a bit here on the forum regarding the scary sharp sandpaper method of sharpening & i liked it as a good starting point & its something that i've been meaning to setup for my chisels.
For now its more reading on what planes to use where & just how to use the darn things

Hi Rattrap,

Your alias is well chosen for the dark siders... because...

Beware... it's a trap...

All of the guys who have replied know it is a trap, did you notice you started this thread saying you might get 3 or 4 planes, already these guys have modified your thoughts to 4 or 5 plus a spokeshave. They know that in about a years time you will have enough planes to plane anything from a matchstick to a fully standing elm tree.

If you don't believe me then check out https://www.woodworkforums.com/f152/s...-planes-47780/

It won't be long until you have to sneak the occasional 'essential' plane past your wife

Good luck
Chris

Lol Polie, actually yes i did notice the increase in plane numbers, i also caught that thread u linked & was blown away by the number of planes some of these guys have. However as i also suffer from a chronic case of tool fetish, the same as a lot of members here, i have already spotted a couple of very interesting that i might like to add to my arsenal.

I was good, I was good, I only suggested two, ok and a couple of blades.

in another list you will find discussion of the ALDI smoother

$10 on special and they work - not as good as my emmerich (sorry not as easy to set) but you can slip it in with the groceries and do a lot of learning about use etc without much cost - and the two I bought to modify for other purposes work well out of the box

Neil

you have to sneak the occasional 'essential' plane past your wife

Ha-ha, they're right you know - just got home after 'working late' aka picking up (another) router plane !

My advice - the older planes are much easier to hide 'oh this was Dad's, I've had it in another toolbox for years......'

Well here goes:

1) The most versatile plane on the market is the Low Angle Jack. The Veritas one has more bells & whistles than the LN jobbie. You've gotta have one of these, with at least one extra iron (for different cutting pitches), preferably two.

2) A block plane. Both Veritas and LN make a few models.

3) A hack - for rough stuff or when there's a chance of nails (you don't want to stuff your LAJ iron !!). I suggest an older (2nd hand) Stanley/Record #4, #4 1/2 or #5.

So that's your basic three. Then if you've got change you'll want a nice bronze LN No.4 - that'll really get you started on the slope....

I hope this helps,

Cheers, Vann.

Yup - Vann has the winning entry

The LV Low Angle Jack is definitely first choice. Add an extra high angle blade, and you can handle most timbers.

My most used plane..........

For a very modest outlay, LN do a Plane Set. Lie-Nielsen Toolworks Australia | Joinery Tool Sets or The Works for a bit more. Or an heirloom quality chest complete with a jaw dropping array of tools for $14,000 You can see it in the Open Day 2010 video on the LN site. 3:13 in YouTube - LieNielsen's Channel