Planes

[Ken Darga]

Anyone use them?

What's your favorite?---make____model____.

Block planes?

What features do you like about your preferred plane?

 

[Zachariah ("Zack") Coombes III]

Whew! what an open-ended question!  Kind if like: "in the next 5 minutes; tell me all you know."  I have and use a bunch of handplanes because I'm trying to teach my 10-year-old son woodworking, and the deal I made with his mother and grandmother is no power tools until he's at least 17.  We want him to have all his fingers!   Handplanes are very satisfying to use; they're quiet, and they generate shavings instead of sawdust.  The one caution I can offer is to avoid cheap handplanes;  you'll get nothing but frustration trying to make them work!  Buy either Lie-Neilson (American-made) or Veritas (Canadian).  Different planes are used for different tasks, and using planes requires a properly equiped workbench.  You also need to master the art of sharpening steel chisels and plane blades in order to make them work properly.   Plenty of material available online and in books.  My most used planes are a low-angle block plane, a jack plane, and a router plane.    Google: "Bob and Dave's Good, Fast, and Cheap Bench", and follow the author's then 12-year-old building a workbench for a 1999 tool show using only handtools.   Lots of pictures and diagrams.  Picture of hand-tool enthusiast Roy Underhill congratulating young Dave on his completed bench.   Bob's original web site in no longer in existence, but this article so informative that other people have preserved in in an archived version.  Best regards.

[Jay Boutwell]

Hand planes can be special to any woodworker and in the hands of a experience craftsman is a fast and  accurate tool for fitting  wood surfaces together.  In my work I find the hand plane to be a necessary tool for fitting things like drawers and doors to accurate tollerances.

I, like Zack, find that using a hand plane on the surface of wood is "satisfying" to use.  The use of one is relaxing and like music to the ear.  You also get the satisfaction of smelling the aroma of some of the most pleasurable woods known. One of my favorites is that of pine especially during the holidays and approaching Christmas.  It is this time of the year when my wife will be sure to have a few projects made of pine and the shop fills with that unforgetable aroma of fresh cut pine. 

I also agree with Zack on the quality of the planes you purchase.  The cheap ones are frustrating and never stay in adjustment.  You will find yourself scrapping  wood rather that cutting it.  Your accuracy with an cheap tool will suffer and will disappoint you as well.

In my shop I use several different types from the common bench plane to the finely tuned block plane.  On occassions, I will resort to a jointers plane to remove a high portion of a edge that I'm gluing together. 

My favorite planes are the Stanley's because of their durability and simple construction.  I find them to be very accurate and they are well made having excellent blades.  I also use Swiss made planes called  "RAU".  I like these planes because they are accurate and have disposable razor sharp blades.  You can adjust them to make rapid cuts for fast stock removal and can adjust them down to take off very thin shavings for percise fitting of doors and drawers and other joinery projects.

I believe everyone who is beginning to work wood should spend some time the become aquainted with the hand plane's use.  It will teach you to read wood grains and how they differ when being exposed to a cutter.  Most of all it will teach you patience and and accuracy which are fundementals you need to learn to become a good craftsman.  You can read and study all about the hand plane and it's use, but to really master it, you need to get your hands on it and begin pushing it across some wood.

[Jens Jensen]

Take it from Jay he is a master craftsman

[John J Bolgar]

I agree with both Zack and Jay. What I truly enjoy is buying old Stanley hand planes and bringing them back to life. They are truly fine tools and unless they are from the 1800's I feel restoring and using them out weighs the "antique" value of them. I just bought one at a resale shop and can't wait to bring it back to life. The peace of hand tool work is far more enriching than the noise of power tools. I do however have some power tools.

As stated above, quality is the key to hand planes.

[Joe McBride]

Lie-Nielsen low angle block plane, either the bronze or the cast iron version (I own both) or the Skew block/rabbet plane.Excellent quality and at a reasonable price. Went to the factory, what a great experience. Also what excellent service. broke a pert on the skew block plane and called them up they asked me to confirm my address and sent it FREE, even though I told them it was 15 years old. They definitely get my vote

[Ken Darga]

Jay,

Thanks for your enlightening reply.

Very informative.

[Jay Boutwell]

Ken I am a fan of edged tools in the shop and sometimes like to build using only hand tools.  I enjoy just taking a piece of wood and hand fitting and shaping it into something that is percise.  Things like a jewelry box or a clock cases are examples.  They are actually too small to use some power tools 0n and require a hand touch to perform some  percise cutting of the woods.  I use not only hand planes but also chisels, draw knives, spoke shaves, many types of carving knives and cabinet scrapers.  Even when doing wood enlays I find myself going back to the hand plane to take very small amount for the enlay woods.  I even use a "widows tooth" plane (also refered to as a router plane) to cut the grooves for enlays with curves.  The hand plane is also the last tool that I use before finish to insure that the enlay is flat to the surface.

 You have opened a topic of which has a great importance in the shop.  It is one of the oldest tools used to cut wood in to smooth shapes from just making it smooth and even thickness but also in fitting complicated wood pieces, but is is also one of the most enjoyable tools to use. 

While talking about edge cutting tools I will pass along a couple other tricks that I have often used.  Usually I use a cabinet scraper and turn a nice burr on it to take very small amounts (less that a shaving) of wood from a wood surface.  However if you do not have a cabinet scraper and find your self wishing you did you can fashion one from a piece of broken glass.  It is not the safest thing to do but sometimes is un-avoidable.  I take a piece of broken glass and cover both sides of the surface with duck tape leaving a very small area of the broken edge to be used as a cutting edge.  Using a pair of gloves and definately safety glasses, push and or pull the glass edge over the surface you wish to cut.  Holding it at an angle so that the edge will cut, you will remove small scrapings of wood and will not have to sand it.  Another advantage is that if you have a difficult angle to reach into you can easily find or make  a small piece of glass that will work.  You just have to use extream caution in doing this.

Sometimes you can use a very sharp knife and or razor blade and do the same thing but because the glass breaks at an extream angles it leaves an excellent cutting edge.  If used gently you will be amazes at how well and long glass will cut.

Another thing I have done is to take some of my wood chisels and grind the surface behind the cutting edge and the handle.  Grinding all of the corners until they are absolutely flat and square with all four surfaces. Then I will hone these until they are mirrow like in appearence, paying perticular attention to be certain that the edge is square to the surface.  When done correctly you now have a scrapper that you can push and pull along a wood surface.  It acts much like a cabinet scraper however acts much slower in cutting.  You also have excellent control of the cutting as you have chisel handle to hang onto.

  

Ken Darga said:

Jay,

Thanks for your enlightening reply.

Very informative.

[Leslee]

 I like my number 45. A friend of mine gave me a wooden box with some woodworking tools and three planes. One was the 45 degree angle plane and it has all the profile blades with it. I haven't tried it yet but, I got asked if I wanted to sell it. I said "no". I found out how much it is worth online to a collector and I'll just keep it for know. I was really figuring on using one day after my new shed/shop is built.

[Ken Darga]

A ''block'' plane is a necessity in a woodworkers shop.

It can perform many useful tasks.

I can't function efficiently without one.

I upgraded to the Stanley Sweatheart low angle block plane---

when fine tuned and with a stropped cutting edge, 

 I can shave less than .001'' inch---

and make hairlike size shaved curls on the corners.

The beauty of this keenly sharpened tool, is that I can shave the ends of baltic birch plywood---

and have as smooth of finish as a multi-spiral carbide router bit.

I get better results on veneers with shaving vs sanding, 

and you get nice crisp sharp corners and edges.

Shaving results in a glass-like smooth finish.

Akin to a stropped carving chisel vs a rasp.

The results are amazing.