Thread: More than one plane of the same type?

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.

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.

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

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 .........................