More than one plane of the same type?

[Scribbly Gum]

While doing laps on the ride-on mower this morning, my mind started to wander, (a more regular occurrence these days) and I pondered whether any woodies have found it useful to keep more than one of a particular type of handplane. For example a couple of smoothers, a couple of jacks etc. I know that some of us have bevel up planes, with extra blades ground at different bevels for different woods and conditions, and I am interested to hear of your experiences in this regard. Perhaps it is easier for you to keep two or more of the same plane, setup differently, for whatever reason.
It will be interesting to hear your responses.
Thanks in advance for sharing.
SG

[jmk89]

I have a couple od scrubs and a couple of smoothers with the same setups because I find that with our timber I often get a blunt edge halfway through a job and this way I can just change planes, finish the job and then sharpen

[petersemple]

I have heard of this with planing guitar plates to thickness. Apparently ( I haven't done it but it makes sense) you use 2 #4's. One of them you cut notches in the blade, so as you plane you leave behind little raised lines. Then you use a standard blade to just remove those lines. Basically this is a way to make sure you have covered the entire surface evenly.

Peter

[Polie]

I have a couple of block planes.
One is setup for rougher work, eg quickly remove a few millimeters of material.
and the other is setup to take super fine shavings to finish small parts.

Regards,
Chris

[Woodwould]

I have a couple od scrubs and a couple of smoothers with the same setups because I find that with our timber I often get a blunt edge halfway through a job and this way I can just change planes, finish the job and then sharpen
You decadent so-and-so! :q :U

I have a couple of planes with alternatively ground bevels for different purposes, but for the most part, I resharpen what I have as and when required.

[haggismuncher]

I have 3 #4 planes.
1 is some unusable rubbish I bought at Bunnings when I first started woodworking, possible one of the worst tools I have ever seen.
I have hidden it at the back of the drawer.

Every so often I take it out and feel good that I now know just how cr@p it is (a $15 lesson well learned), I spent 3 days trying to flatten the sole. I learned a lot, like just how good Luban White's planes are, even the "Boneyard" ones.

[jmk89]

You decadent so-and-so! :q :U


Decadence not seen since the court of the Emperor Elagabalus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elagabalus):D

[Woodwould]

What a guy!

[Virgil]

Indeed! Make Gaius Caligula look positively pedestrian.

[rsser]

IIRC Brent Beach suggests keeping an equiv plane or blade with a fresh edge for the finishing cuts cos the temptation is to try to finish without the interruption of honing.

Same kind of thing's been recommended with router bits.

[IanW]

I'm another decadent, but a reformed one. I have two #5s (well, one is a 5 1/2) and two 4s. The 5s are different, I suppose, & I tend to use the 5 1/2 as the real jack, & the 5 for pre-finishing. For more years than I care to try to remember, I had only the 5 and a crappy 4, so I tended to use the 5 for everything, from scrubbing to jointing to smoothing.

I could still use the 5 as my smoother, but a few years ago I had a rush of blood to the head & bought a #4 Clifton. Have to admit, that once fettled & set up to my liking (including making a decent handle to replace the piece of crap it came with!) it does do a superior job, so that is now my finishing plane of choice. The other 4 is relegated to rough work, or to start cleaning up a surface that might have a bit of grit in it, & that sort of thing - that way the goodie is always sharp & fine-set & ready to go. Or so the theory goes, somehow, I frequently end up with 5 dull planes and a half hour of sharpening & resetting ahead of me. :~

About 15 years ago, I started to accumulate benchplanes. I was looking for a decent older #4 to replace the piece of junk I had - an Australian-made Stanley bought in about 1980 - I just could not get that thing to work well, no matter how much I fettled & fiddled, & it still frustrates & puzzles me exactly why! I quickly developed a problem that whenever I came across an unloved & beaten-up tool I wanted to give it a good home & try to nurse it back to health. Pretty soon, I had a dozen planes or more & it was getting out of hand - I had a very cramped work area & nowhere to keep them, anyway. I got rid of all but the best of the #4s, and for quite a while had 3 bench planes - a 7, my old workhorse 5 and a decent 4.

There are few jobs that couldn't be tackled adequately with one or two of these, and I would have held it there, but I weakened & bought the aforesaid Clifton. Then I inherited the 5 1/2 from my dad, so it HAS to stay, too. I rearranged the toolbox a bit, & they can all snuggle in there ok, so that's where I'm determined to keep it at!

Unless I stumble on something irresistable..... :;

Cheers,

Addendum. After posting, I remembered the little high-angle smoother I just made. It qualifies as a benchplane, so here I go again - recidivism rears its ugly head. What's that you were saying about our criminal past, Woodwould? :U

[rsser]

LOL.

I love planes, not that I use them much ... there's a thrill in the swoosh that produces a fine shaving. What syndrome am I suffering from I wonder.

Like Ian, I went thru a stage of buying and restoring old Stanleys. That occupied many a Sunday when I was confined to home.

But I tired of that and sold most of them. Now just have a 4, a 5, and a 6 with a Hock blade.

I fell in love with Veritas planes and acquired a BU smoother, BU jack and LA block, but still often reach for the 4 Stanley as being light and quick for cleaning up box panels which is the current flatwork interest.

[orraloon]

There is sonething about planes that is addictive and I am in the finding and cleaning up old plane phase of the sickness now. I got by for years with a 4 a 5 a very cheap block and 2 spokeshaves. This last couple of years I have been picking up quite a few interesting planes and discovered wooden planes are very moreish since I cracked the method of adjusting them. I now have 2 pairs of plane. 1 pair are german style woods with the front horn. One has a rather wide mouth so I use it to get wood off quick and the other takes a real fine shaveing so does the finishing strokes. I have 2 No. 4 planes and I just use these in tandem if one needs a sharpening. I guess I need to rationalise the hoard but it is hard to part with any of them.
Regards
John

[rsser]

(Shuffle, mumble ... just put in a bid for a #7 :- ... planophilia strikes again).

[Slow6]

While doing laps on the ride-on mower this morning, my mind started to wander, (a more regular occurrence these days) and I pondered whether any woodies have found it useful to keep more than one of a particular type of handplane. For example a couple of smoothers, a couple of jacks etc. I know that some of us have bevel up planes, with extra blades ground at different bevels for different woods and conditions, and I am interested to hear of your experiences in this regard. Perhaps it is easier for you to keep two or more of the same plane, setup differently, for whatever reason.
It will be interesting to hear your responses.
Thanks in advance for sharing.
SG

Hi Tom :)

I have a notion that you and I share a similar disease. No matter how many pictures you look at you really never appreciate a particular make or type of plane until you have one in your hands... only then can you answer all those little niggling questions that bounce around in your head late at night.. but then you start to wonder what the next size up looks like:doh:

I'm still being tough with myself and sticking to my "one in - one out" rule unless it's a tool that I really can justify adding to the kit because on it's usefulness merits alone (a good shooting plane would apply here). But still I have a few doubles, all bench planes and all because I like playing with them or I have some attachment to them.

I went through my shed last night to see if there was anything I should lose.. a roll call of my doubles.

3 no.4's a V&B 704, a Stanley 604 and a Stiletto (thinking one of these might go)
2 no.4.5's a V&B 4 1/2 and an early Stanley 4 1/2C
2 no.5's a Sargent 714 and a V&B 905
2 no. 5 1/2's (both waiting for a fettling, one will go and one will get a TS blade and stay) an early Stanley and a Union.
2 no.6's a Sargent 718C and an early Stanley no.6

Everything else is singular.

The 7** Sargents are just downright fun to use and are such pretty planes.
The V&B's are my weakness so they stay.
The Bedrocks I only own so visiting woodies don't laugh at me.
The stiletto is just a lovely little plane to use.

[Scribbly Gum]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.
I did have a good reason for asking the question. There has been some rationalising of the number of tools that I have and I have sold some of them. Having done this a couple of times I then started to get what the real estate agents call seller's regret. I know that my tools are good ones and I might not see their like again. Soooo... from the back of my cerebellum a little voice started saying "........ what if you find a need later on for a second one of those number (insert number here)'s, you will kick yourself for parting with that one you sold...."
Over the years I have chased the elusive must -have tools and on occasions collected more than one. Sometimes a must-have turned out to be not necessary at all, and it could happily be let go.
I do have a pair of number 3's, 4-1/2's and 5's. The travelling tool box set, and the Sunday best for the workshop that no-one gets to use but myself.
And you all know that I offer good condition market-finds on the Buy Sell and Swap Forum from time to time.
So I do appreciate the sharing of your own experiences here.
I do have too many chisels, but that is another story altogether.
Cheers from Tele Point
SG

[Ball Peen]

I have two timber planes from China that I use to shape double bass fingerboards. They are set fine and finer. Extreme small throat openings with a brass wear strip. I think they are made of Bubinga or a look alike. They are longer than a smoothing plane, shorter than a jack plane, and the cutter is almost in the middle. Perfect for my purposes, to shape a radius and put in string relief. I bought the first one at the Brisbane Working With Wood Show from an Indian trader. I was so chuffed with the plane I bought the last two that he had the next year for the princely sum of $9 each.

My other double use plane is a Stanley cabinet scraper that I've ground the leading part of the sole to fit around the heel on a bass neck and the peg box on a bass neck. I use this to clean up and level all the spoke shave markings. I've replaced it with a newer manufactured Kuntz scraper and I wish I would have ground it instead. It certainly isn't as nice.

[thumbsucker]

I have a LV Jack and Jointer plane, and with three blades. One at 25º for shooting, 35º for general work and 54º for finishing cuts.

I tend to use the 35º for the bulk work of squaring and dimensioning stock, followed by a few passes from the 54º. I pay little attention to the traditional categorization of body length, its more about what plane suits the task and stock at hand. I prefer the jointer for stock over 300 mmm, as my general plane to ensure everything is true and flat and then the jack is used like a smoother.

I routinely swap out blades on the same plane for the same piece of stock.

[rsser]

Yes, blade swapping btwn compatible V. planes is a big plus.

[Claw Hama]

Hi Guys, just back off holidays and getting back into normal life ( no work yet maybe next week). Devout planeaholic although managed so fare to avoid any real expence. I have 3 Stanley 4's, one with the TS custom blade for heavey use, bit of a composit some new parts some old the body is a little longer than the average, works like a dream. Then I have a fairly stock standard approx 1930's Stanley, sweet little plane and then I have another one similar that I bought for spares but when I cleaned it up it looked too good, so it's in the back of the draw for a spare. I also as said above like to have a few planes and blades so when you are in the middle of a job don't have to loose momentum and start sharpening blades. I also have a beautiful old Noris A2 that is great for those special smoothing jobs. I have a No5 Footprint that I bought of Ebay when I first started making furniture seriously as my job, I thought it was just a cheapy that I would eventualy trade out but it's a great plane and enjoy using it, I use it and an old 51/2 Stanley that I inherited to take off the meat, the 51/2 has a TS blade also. I have a Stanley No6 set up as a jointer with a slight curve on the blade, another TS blade, I dont use this one quite so much, I have a Millers Falls 7equivalent with a corrogated sole that I picked up from Ebay in the US in almost as new condition, with a TS blade this is a fantastic plane for those long joints, and a spare TS sharp in the drawerwhich fits the 6 & 7. I have Alan Peters book, Cabinet Making the Professional Approach, in the book he says that he used to use his No7 for almost every job, large or small which reinforced something I was already doing a lot. Everything is straighter and flater than using a smaller plane, this made me far more confident with what I was doing with the larger planes. I have numerous block planes, a new Stanley 120 (stupid purchase) which I use as a work horse knocking of edges and taking meat off odds and sodds, also a small Maffussa which is quite a nice little heavy block. My favourite and sweetest is a Millers Falls 57 that I got from Luban, I keep it for all those special jobs, cleaning up drawers etc. And as above its nice not to have to sharpen in the final throws of a job, just open the drawer and pick up another sharpy. Two, spoke shaves etc etc. so yes I like multipul planes and if I had more space YES I would have more .........................