Thread: #60½ Block plane ruminations

Well Lance, let me relieve you of that horrid tool. I owned a Stanley for about 40 years and would love a replacement, as I no longer have my much loved Stanley.

I agree with the one handed comment which is why I'm looking at a LN 103 or Veritas Apron Plane. I also have the LN 60 1/2 and Veritas DX60 block planes which can be used one handed but admittedly I have got pretty big mitts. Both are awesome planes. I prefer the look and feel of the LN but prefer the depth and lateral adjustment of the DX60. They can be used where the number 4 won't fit or work holding on the bench / in the vise is not an option. Finely set and sharpened with the buff to finish, they are lovely to use. I don't hesitate to reach for mine.

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Lucky you had a stanley 102 lance. I came late to block planes and got an asian copy of a 102 about 20 years back. Six bucks in the local hardware store bargin bin. For many years I only used it to arris corners and places a 3 or 4 would not fit. Was a bit hohum in performance. When I got to making smaller items I needed a block plane more but it's performance was giving me the irk so I got a Quengshan version of the 60 1/2. Looks very like your Luban. This was much better at end grain and felt nice and solid. Like you I prefer a plane with a proper handle where it will fit but I am growing to see the need for block planes too. Now back to the $6 102. I was about to bin it but for some perverse reason I flattened the sole and cleaned the bedding post and other places the blade beds with a file. The result was a plane that is many times better than it was. Not better than the 60 1/2 but they now both have a place on the shelf. I also picked up a 130 double ended block someplace along the way and while that works reasonably well I am not finding anything it can do that my #3 would not do a bit better. The footprint is about the same too. So far the bullnose end has seen no serious use. Reckon the first half of my woodworking I just had a #4 but I do like to have a block plane around these days.
Regards
John

Perhaps it is time for me to once again trot out my review of the Orange Block Plane ....

The Orange Block Plane ? a review

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thats even more basic than the $6 special but it does show what can be done with basic.
Regards
John

Lance I think you've simply confirmed yet again that one size doesn't fit all. I think there are a number of reasons why A might love a 60 1/2 while B will loathe it. I wouldn't worry at all about not liking the 60 1/2, if it just doesn't feel right & you don't enjoy using it, it's not for you. If you have a tool & rarely use it (& when you do use it, it feels sort of blah), it's time to find it another home where it will get more lerve. I think a lot of woodworkers are like I was early in my career, I thought there was a set core of planes that everyone had to have, to call themselves a woodworker. Nope, that's called "collecting", which is a fine hobby if you are so inclined, but if you would rather make things, then you only need those planes that you find useful, whatever they may be.

I use block planes quite a lot, especially for one-handed trimming, arissing, etc & for my first 25 years or so of woodworking, I had a 110, which is a bit bigger than the 102. Then I picked up a 60 1/2 at a very good price, and started using that. I liked having a screw adjuster and the smaller size fitted my hand better for one-handed use, but I quickly found that although the lower bed angle of the 60 1/2 was a bit better at shaving end grain, it caused more tear-out on contrary grain if the blade was ground/honed at the same angle as my old 110 blade. That may be something you are experiencing too, as your old 102 has a higher bed angle than the 60 1/2. I fixed that problem to some extent by simply increasing the grind angle on my 60 1/2 blade so it had a similar cutting angle to the 110. That worked well enough that I used the 60 1/2 far more than the 110 (I can't chuck the 110 nout 'cos it's one of the first tools I bought, at the ripe old age of 12, & we've literally travelled the world together for 63 years...)

Some years later, a Veritas "apron plane" came into my life (a christmas present). I was a bit dubious about the little thing at first, but found I liked it more than the 60 1/2 because the Veritas fitted my small-medium hand better. The 60 1/2 became a dust-collector just taking up space in the tool cupboard, so when my yoingest daughter expressed an interest in getting some tools, the 60 1/2 got a new home.

Fast forward another 20 years & about a year ago I made myself an "English thumb plane". It's the same size as your 102 (or an apron plane): Apron & Thumb.jpg

...but has a 15 degree bed (roughly halfway between the 60 1/2 & the 102/110). By good luck more than good management, I'm sure, this little plane has turned out a star! It's more comfortable to hold than the apron plane either one or two-handed, and works superbly. I had intended leaving it very simple, it was easy to adjust with a small hammer, but being an inveterate fiddler, I did add a screw adjuster recently: Adj 1.jpg

Now the apron plane is redundant!

So to sum up, don't be surprised if you change your mind on which tools are best for whatever, or find some tool you lusted after to be a bitter disappointment (that's happened to me more than once!), as you go along. Needs change & your skills change & you may find yourself liking some tool you thought was next to useless the first time you tried it. All good fun & part of a learning process that never stops....

Cheers,

Hi Lance. One of the first planes I bought to refurbish was a Stanley #6. Researching on the internet produced much negativity with regards to its role, purpose and/or place in the "pantheon". I worried that I had made a newbie error and that I would regret it. Quite the opposite, I love it!! It feels great in my hands, takes fine shavings and has required little fettling to get right. Not sure of it's vintage (Made in England) but it does have a tallish skinny knob.

QED, MA. One man's meat is another's poison, as they say. I've seen the #6 mocked quite a few times too, most notably by Patrick Leach, who does have some strong (& not always well-founded opinions). One of the gurus in my earlier days was Alan Peters (d. 2009), a Btitish trained cabinetmaker who made a pretty respectable name for himself in the woodworking world. His favourite weapon was a #6, which he used for just about everything you'd use a plane for, from jointing to smoothing. I remember seeing a picture of him using it one-handed like a block plane! He wasn't a big bloke, but was pretty trim & he didn't seem to be having any more trouble wielding that 6 than I would a 110...

So you can take heart that you are in good company!

Cheers,

Thank-you all for your responses. Perhaps for those that love using your block planes, what makes you reach for them rather than a #3 or #4 bench plane?

Originally Posted by Picko

Well Lance, let me relieve you of that horrid tool.

The thing is, it's not horrid. It's a beautiful piece of engineering. I like it for the same reason I love typewriters and sewing machines; elegant mechanical design. I just would have liked to love it as a tool too.

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Perhaps it is time for me to once again trot out my review of the Orange Block Plane

This post came about after building a cabinet over the weekend, and once again, despite trying to use and fan a romance with my block plane, the spark just wasn't there. Knowing that you've written a lot about block planes I read several articles on your web site yesterday morning to try and see if there was something I was missing. One of the articles read was your orange plane review, which opens with the following sentence: "After paring chisels and spokeshaves, my favourite tool is a block plane." I appreciate that was written fifteen years ago and opinions change; perhaps some words on why you love block planes wouldn't go astray?

Originally Posted by IanW

So to sum up, don't be surprised if you change your mind on which tools are best for whatever, or find some tool you lusted after to be a bitter disappointment (that's happened to me more than once!), as you go along.

Thanks Ian, a great response. Your comment about bitter disappointment after getting a lusted for tool is perhaps the why this bothers me so. I'm pretty good at not buying things without much angst and contemplation. This however was one of the few where I thought that once I had a good block plane the birds would sing sweeter and the dawns would shine brighter. Oh well. Perhaps I just need to enjoy the detours as sightseeing trips, rather than a wrong turn.

Originally Posted by IanW

Needs change & your skills change & you may find yourself liking some tool you thought was next to useless the first time you tried it.

This is certainly one reason the little #102 has grown on me of late. When starting out trying to adjust the blade depth reliably with a hammer seemed a near impossibility. Now it's quite simple to tap-tap-tap and off I go (not to discount the occasional "Augh, too far", whollop-tap-tap-tap).

Lance, I forgot to mention that I have been trying to secure a 60 1/2 on Ebay for quite a while but you have possibly made me rethink. And I understand the angst of tool purchase.

Originally Posted by LanceC

Thank-you all for your responses. Perhaps for those that love using your block planes, what makes you reach for them rather than a #3 or #4 bench plane?

For me Lance it was probably convenience/laziness. During the forty years that I spent using planes in my day job I was a carpenter/builder. The planes I owned were a 5 1/2, a 60 1/2, a 78, a german jack and a towa electric. The 60 1/2 lived in my tool belt and therefore was the closest to hand. I also carried a small pocket stone in a pouch and would touch the blade up whenever needed, without having to even get down from a scaffold if I was doing eaves for instance.
I now own many more planes and use them half as much.

My first handtools acquired in the early 1970s included a Stanley 4-1/2 and a 102.
I did all my planing with these, and didn't own another plane until the late 1980s
Interestingly one of the next planes I acquired was a 60-1/2 - for its low angle blade, adjustable mouth and the easy depth adjuster. The other plane was a number 7 - Anchor brand (beautiful plane - wish I'd kept it)
It stayed in the workshop for joinery while the trusty 102 was almost always in the apron or toolbag.
The 102 sits higher in the palm and is easier to manage while on the job - renovations and the like.
I like them both.
One important aspect of hand tool usage that is often glossed over, or simply overlooked, is the ergonomic relationship with the user.
It is all very well to measure shaving thickness and such, but if the plane is a pain to use it will likely sit in the cupboard.
The Stanley 130 was a plane I briefly owned for its supposed versatility and dual use.
In the hand it was a dog. I couldn't get rid of it fast enough.

I had never seen an orange plane like Derek's before his review, but they do appear in the marketplace from time to time.
Here is a recent one for sale - can you see it?

OP.jpg

Without the tote extension, The veritas block plane is just any block plane.
With the tote extension, it behaves exactly the same, but it feels like a small bench plane.
20211020_124234.jpg
I always thought that it was always more comfortable holding a plane with a tote, so this is the best of both worlds

Originally Posted by LanceC

......Perhaps for those that love using your block planes, what makes you reach for them rather than a #3 or #4 bench plane?.....

Well my short answer is "whenever a small plane is appropriate" - i.e. when I want to hold something in one hand & knock a corner off, or make a small roundover, or trim a small mitre, or probably a dozen other situations where a larger plane would be too awkward to use one-handed or obscure the work.

It just occurred to me that for a lot of folks my age, a block plane was what we started with because they were plentiful, cheap & considered fit for a 12 yr old (& hopefully kept you away from your father's tools). It didn't always, of course, the old bloke's tools were so much sharper & better set-up, at least until we boys snuck them out & planed or sawed the odd nail or gritty board. But until my mid 20s, my old 110 was the only plane I owned & I gradually learnt to make it do things it really didn't want to do. We just sort of grew accustomed to each other but as I progressed & acquired some "real" planes there was never a time when I didn't still use the block plane. My first bench plane was a #5, and with that & my trusty 110 (& a coupla other tools) I built my first kitchen from scratch.

So I wouldn't lose too much sleep over your lack of enthusiasm for the 60 1/2. If you prefer using the 102 to the 60 1/2 clone and the 102 serves your needs well, there is no problem requiring a solution, imo (other than what to do with the 60 1/2 ).

Cheers,