Thread: Insufficient bench planes ;)

Originally Posted by DomAU

I like using the low angle jack with a low angle iron for end grain and so would leave it setup like that, with the #5 taking over duties as a mid size general jack plane.

I have a #9 (Cabinet Maker's block) for end grain duties.
Others use LN's #51 or the Veritas equivalents.

Of course a #6 or #7 on its side has the mass to shoot end grain. And importantly, it's the blade that needs to be at 90 degrees, not the side and sole of the plane.

Gents; there are some major mental health issues I have to deal with on a daily basis. What those issues are is not for the public domain. For those that were kind enough to post those fantastic emojis. Much appreciated.

ps; do not respond or reply to this post.

regards Stewie;

Originally Posted by ian

I have a #9 (Cabinet Maker's block) for end grain duties.
Others use LN's #51 or the Veritas equivalents.

Of course a #6 or #7 on its side has the mass to shoot end grain. And importantly, it's the blade that needs to be at 90 degrees, not the side and sole of the plane.

Yeah I have the Veritas shooting plane equivalent of the #51. I have only used it on a shooting board though - hadn't thought to use it on a workpiece for some reason.

Originally Posted by planemaker

Better still; if your a member of this forum, and your still using bench planes above common angle, keep that information to yourself.

Come on now. There's no need for comments like that.

adjustable angle frog.JPG

Originally Posted by DomAU

In reality I'll probably go through the same process as a lot of people and after realising I don't need or even want too many planes I'll downsize in the end - but I'll end up with exactly what I know I like... and crippling credit card debt of course.

Cheers, Dom

Dom,
Given the resale value of LN and LV planes - I suspect you will come out just fine... The market for used premium planes like this is brisk and selling prices are very near full new prices...

Originally Posted by DomAU

Here's a distraction; photos during weekend woodworking on my shave horse.

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Hopefully the shavings and hand planes of various angles and denominations can help achieve calm . Not enough pictures in this thread is probably annoying everyone.

Back on-topic. I played around with the 10 1/4 and really love it. I compared the specs against a 5 1/4 and it looks like it's the same overall width but with a 3/8" wider blade and 1" longer at 12 3/4". The weight is 1/2 pound more than a 5 1/4 and 1/2lb less than a #5 which is also 1 1/4" longer at 14" but with a narrower blade of 2". I could therefore see myself really liking both the #5 1/4 or the #5. The major disadvantage to the 10 1/4 is that you wouldn't want to run camber on the blade as it would lose it's utility as a rebate plane - though with the cap-iron doesn't necessarily need a tight mouth for effective smoothing. I really like the feel of the plane in hand though and it works wonderfully. Hence I can see a #5 or #5 1/4 in my future for sure. 5 1/2 might feel a little chunkier than I'd like - but you never know. I'm thinking I'll likely end up with the #8 (still on order), a #5, #4 and #3 and probably add a #6 in at some stage - so basically all of them haha  - why even lie to myself.

Cheers, Dom

I am somewhat envious! I'd envisioned getting some pins and tails cut in metal this weekend, but the neighborhood association asked if I would make a "little free library" out of wet exterior plywood (but I did cut the dadoes in it with a dado plane and a router plane, because I don't know how else to do it!!).

The shavings in the middle picture appear to be cross grain but on narrow material. Puzzling at first!

Originally Posted by Mnb

Oh yeah. So as some one new to the chip breaker experience I learnt a lot from this thread and wanted to quickly check my understanding. A lower cutting angle gives a better surface because you get fewer end grain bits visible on the surface? Higher means the blade is cutting across the surface more rather than lifting the fibres up before it cuts? So there's less chance of tear out because if there is a break there's less wood behind it to break off as well? The chip iron dos a similar thing by breaking the shaving so there is less wood behind it? And: The point D.W. makes about the disadvantages of not learning to use the cap breaker makes sense to me but do you guys think it can go the other way? As someone new to it I think I'm relying on setting the cap close to make consistent shavings. You all can get uniform shavings without it presumably and I think I should spend time learning to do that - what do you think? And apologies - I'm embracing my ADHD atm.

From one person with a short attention span and perhaps the fixation on bizarre things that goes with it...to another: There's nothing really to learn with a high angle plane other than sharpening it and using it. If you really love it for smoothing work, especially on hard woods, you can go back to it at any time. It will quickly teach you what you don't want to do with it, though, that you'd much rather do with common pitch and a cap iron.

That's really all I'm advocating, is that people try both with something to accomplish in mind.

Be it 15 board feet of curly cherry that needs to be dimensioned to spec, etc, or something else. If you want to skip the task and stick with machine planing, that's certainly fine. Especially if the wood gets into the high hardness range with no predominant grain direction (it will always be resistant no matter what direction you go - tearout isn't so much of an issue, but the planing resistance can be).

As far as the consistent shavings go, if you have the ability to plane downhill, you should get them any way with any thickness. When lumber quality drops a little and there is no end to end planing stroke that will allow that with more than a trivially thin shaving, then relying on the cap iron to keep the shaving together is actually a *good* thing. There is no magic to learn in that case where you're forgoing the cap iron - you want to use it that way. There's a discussion going on another forum where someone is discussing dimensioning by hand, and the initial difficulty. A well accomplished professional user was describing the last part of dimensioning to a given spec (which is making the parallel opposite face and planing to thickness). On that step, you want predictability, and speed will come to the point that it's physically available (at some point, you can't get a whole lot more efficient removing a given volume of wood without plugging something in or working it green, etc). Everything has to hit at the same time (you need to hit the mark with consistent through shavings and not have a subpar surface left behind, because that requires you to go past the mark to fix it).

But no worries on using a high angle plane, there's no real nuance to it other than keeping it sharp and not getting too aggressive setting the depth. (I find them quite pleasant, by the way, as long as I'm not trying to get something specific done - in the world of planes to use to put a narrow stick on your bench and just get into that "zzzzzzzzzzzzzz..." kind of mind idling where you take one shaving after another...well, they do that quite well. And that's exactly how they're sold over here. The more weight and the more agreeable the wood, the better they feel).

Originally Posted by planemaker

Gents; there are some major mental health issues I have to deal with on a daily basis. What those issues are is not for the public domain. For those that were kind enough to post those fantastic emojis. Much appreciated.

ps; do not respond or reply to this post.

regards Stewie;

Do what you need to take care of it. Derek's extension of an olive branch is perhaps one of the best ways to make a stride in the right direction, even though the thought of that might cause your brain to send you into a thinking trap.

I have struggled with some of the same, although I'm sure that none of us has the exact same trials as another.

ps; do not respond or reply to this post.

Likes for both DW's posts. The iPad doesn't seem to be doing that today.

Thanks for the answers DW. Makes sense. I just thought of something- I was having trouble sharpening square but Mr. Brush gave me a hand to fettle the guide. I haven't done much planing since then and it may be that will help a lot. *Btw, John I tried to send you a message a couple of times and your inbox was full.

As to the cutting angle aspect: I don't think I will ever own a new plane and for the foreseeable future I will be learning to use what I have already. I wanted to make sure I had the basic principles correct. For me it is the way to learn.

good to see a sense of light heartedness returning

Originally Posted by D.W.

I am somewhat envious! I'd envisioned getting some pins and tails cut in metal this weekend, but the neighborhood association asked if I would make a "little free library" out of wet exterior plywood (but I did cut the dadoes in it with a dado plane and a router plane, because I don't know how else to do it!!).

The shavings in the middle picture appear to be cross grain but on narrow material. Puzzling at first!

Yeah the shavings were from cutting some breadboard tenons on the stock for the shavehorse seat - so crossgrain and narrow as you deduced.

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Cheers, Dom

Originally Posted by DomAU

Yeah the shavings were from cutting some breadboard tenons on the stock for the shavehorse seat - so crossgrain and narrow as you deduced.

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Cheers, Dom

They look wonderful. You don't often see crossgrain shavings with some heft on forums. We usually see "hobby piles" at the ends or feet of benches, pretty much on every forum (states, UK and here).

Once you get the plane loaded, it's the same feeling I recall as a kid as when you get a baler running on windrows that are just about as much as it can feed, or getting a lawnmower into thick grass, but not so thick that it bogs.