Thread: Scrub Plane - if hand tool user - BUY ONE !

couple of comments - I had this discussion on a UK forum - in time, you'll find an english jack to be a lot easier to use per volume of wood (you can set the radius based on however aggressive you want it to be, but the jack plane has better directionality, the ability to use the cap iron and better control over flatness).

....and much less friction.

(I also tried both premium scrub planes and have a continental wooden ...can't remember what they're called, boat planes or some ....can't recall, a very short two handled plane with a lot of radius). A friend and I used to get each offering from LV and LN when they both came out with something new (router plane, scrub plane, etc, and then we'd trade them around). the efficiency of a wooden jack is difficult to beat, but nobody makes a good new one and the wedges on the old ones need to be refit.

Welcome aboard! And no snipe either.

I will add: Paul Sellers has a video on using a Stanley 78 as a scrub and just by heavily chambering the blade. I have used a variety of blades and agree this is the best I've used for heavy work.

Hi WP (and DW and CG, don't want to leave anyone out ). I too had a recent scrub plane revelation. They are amazingly simple yet effective. Just used mine to take the cup out of a redgum board (in order to flatten the face to feed through my thicknesser I'll admit). I think I used an 8" radius for the blades camber

MA, absopositivelutely. The 6 boards I had were originally put onto that pallet fresh off the saw and a sopping green tree, so they were all cupped.

This scrub ripped the middle out of the crowned side quick smart, then took care of the side-cup-tops on the other.

A different technique for either side, well, not huge, but different, and I've now 6 boards that are in usable form with a minimal of thickness loss.

If I'd done this with the old thicknesser I'm pretty sure there would be only a veneer thickness left!



I might also add that I did this right up to 11.30pm Saturday night on my units balcony.... I've neighbours in all directions. All were out enjoying the cool night air and a tipple, yet not one thought to shout at me and ask me to desist. (I've asked them all to do so if I get a bit too much).

Now way in hell that could be done with machinery!

Oh do I need a bench!

My rickety outdoor table is totally inadequate.

Used the scrub today on the bench/stool. Used a few Japanese hold down techniques. Worked better.

Spent FIVE hours flattening plank after plank of old hard oak.

Eventually the right technique seeped into my ossified brain... 60° strikes to rough,
30° swipes to flatten, then swipe up lightly to neaten, then the jack to finish.

Quick work, but lots of planks... Honest, sweaty work.

Came in at 6.30pm and passed out for 90 minutes in the sleep of the dead! What a workout!