Replies

1. 
   pzgren | Dec 26, 2006 08:56pm | #1

   Ron,

     What you should buy depends on what you want to do with your plane(s) and what kind of wood(s) you'll be using.

     If "normal" domestic hardwoods (cherry, maple, walnut, etc), then bevel down ("normal" configuration) Bailey pattern metal planes will work quite well the majority of the time.

     But, if you're going to be working with woods that have difficult grain, then you have several choices:

        Bevel up planes, with the bevel ground to an appropriate angle; very flexible and probably the least expensive route for the most capability.

        Bevel down planes with a higher frog bedding angle (such as the LN York pitch frog); more expensive; works well for most of the domestic nasty-grained woods and some of the exotic tropicals.

        An infill plane with a 50° or 55° bedding angle; can be very expensive; works well for all but the very nastiest grained of woods.

        Wooden planes with a higher iron bedding angle (such as the C & W or HNT Gordon lines); moderately expensive to expensive; works very well with very difficult tropical woods and the gnarly-grained woods of Australia.

   _____

     A couple of other questions that you'll have to answer:

        What do you want to use your planes for?

        What planes to buy? (I.E., block plane, smoother, jointer, etc.)

   _____

     Here are the five that are generally regarded as the "standard" set of planes:

        Low angle (12°) (adjustable mouth) block plane; [good on end grain, and for long grain on soft woods; excellent trimming plane; one of the most useful and most-used planes made].

        Standard angle (20°) (adjustable mouth) block plane; [good for long grain on small pieces of wood; excellent trimming plane; also one of the most useful and most-used planes made].

        Smoothing plane (#2, #3, #4, #4½, or #5½); [size depends on the size of the project -- #2 and #3 are good for smaller projects like jewelry boxes -- #4 and larger for just about any project; #4½ and #5½ make very nice final smoothers].

        Jack plane (#5 or #5½); [#5 is general purpose jack; #5½ can be used as a wider/heavier jack, as a panel plane, or as a shorter trying/jointer plane].

        Jointing/fore/trying plane (#6, #7, or #8); [for flattening board faces and also for flattening edges to make glued-up panels, etc.; general rule of thumb is longer is better and will result in a flatter surface; #6 works well for smaller/shorter boards].

        Other planes to consider: a scrub plane if you intend to prepare all of your wood by hand, otherwise, an optional plane; a shoulder plane for trimming tenons and rebates, etc.; a router plane for flattening the bottoms of grooves/dadoes/sliding dovetails, etc. to a uniform depth; a (bench) rabbet plane for making rebates.

   _____

     I am not a fan of the bevel-up for everything school of thought, although there are others that will enthusiastically recommend them, based on their experiences. I look at BU planes as specialised planes, well-suited for a limited number/type of planing operations; others, through their experience, have found them useful as general purpose planes. My experience is that the standard configuration planes work just fine for the vast majority of woods that I use; others' experiences are different and so they will likely recommend something different than I would. For myself, I prefer the LNs, and highly recommend them.

   _____

     Some of the keys to making any plane work well are:

        1) A sharp iron (probably the most important single affecting a plane's performance);

        2) A flat (or at least co-planar) sole (at the very least, the toe, the ½" or so directly in front of the mouth and the heel should be co-planar; for smoothers, flatter sole is generally better);

        3) A mouth opening appropriate to the job being done (wider for rough work, closed-up for fine work) ;

        4) The rest of the plane well-tuned (frog, cap iron, chip breaker, etc), to preclude chatter, iron set-back, etc.

   _____

     As far as quality goes, you won't go wrong with any of the three main high quality metal plane makers' wares: Lie-Nielsen, Veritas, or Clifton. Both LN & LV have exceptional customer service, and both will "make it right" if you're not satisfied with the plane(s) you receive from them. (Clifton is made in England and distributed in the US through third-party sellers, such as Japan Woodworker, etc.)

   _____

     Hope this helps you some; have fun deciding which new toys to get!!

   Beste Wünschen auf ein glückliches und sicheres Neues Jahr!

   Tschüß!

   Mit freundlichen holzbearbeitungischen Grüßen aus dem Land der Rio Grande!!

   James

1. 
   derekcohen | Dec 27, 2006 05:12pm | #4

   Nice post James.

   Regards from Perth

   Derek

2. 
   sapwood | Dec 27, 2006 02:55am | #2

   Do you have any planes now? What are you used to?

   Last year I acquired a Veritas bevel up smoother. It's nice, but wierd. I'm used to the bailey style plane and that's usually what I reach for. I'm not dismissing the new plane, I'm just not "comfortable" with it yet. Some will praise the low center of gravity of that style plane, but since I don't typically speed around corners with a plane, I can't see the advantage.

   I got the Veritas because I like the idea that I can change the angle of attack simply by changing out the iron.

3. 
   Sean2112 | Dec 27, 2006 06:50am | #3

   I have a Veritas #7 bevel up plane and it's ( WOW ) really nice to use. Norris type adjuster, adjustable mouth, thick ( really thick ) iron. Beautiful tool.

   I have an HNT gordon smoother.  For tricky grain, there is none higher. 60* pitch ( or 90* if you turn the blade around for a scraping action) along with a tight mouth tames the wildest of grains. You'll have to be patient about learning to adjust the iron ( Gordon's planes are wood bodied) but becomes second nature in no time.

   Then I have dozens of Bedrock type planes. Lie-Nielsen and old Stanleys. LN is awesome, but the Stanleys can be tuned up with Hock or LN blades and a bit of fettling.  Tuned up, these planes perform superbly.  Check out David Charlesworth's books for tips on plane tune-up and sharpening. They are full of useful knowledge for ww of all levels.

   Hope this helps, given I don't know what your needs are. Eventually you will find one or two planes just wont do. I have around 50 in my shop, but I always seem to need another one! 

   Best regards,

   Sean