Handplanes #1: What was your first experience with handplanes?

My first experience was terrible. I had some old planes that I had acquired, and I thought that I should be able to just put the sole to the wood and it was going to work. That plane and I had quite a conversation. It chattered, I groaned, it dug in, I complained. Chips jammed. Gouges. It was terrible.

Then, about three or four years ago, I took a class with Graham Blackburn about hand planes. It really opened my eyes. I went home, took the same plane apart, tuned it and cleaned it. I flattened the nose of the chip breaker. I did some sharpening and flattened the sole. I tore the frog apart, cleaned and tuned it. After some much needed attention, I put it back together again and treated it like a friend. The conversation that the plane and I had that time was much more pleasant, and all it said was, “Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhpppppp” when it cut a half of a thousandth of a curl off the top of that wood…...

Ah yes, the benefit of just a little knowledge.

Steve.

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17) †

In Feb 1991 I was at the Kuwait Int’l Airport.

Some of saddam’s associates had left their tank in a hanger.

I found 2 #4’s and a 220 block plane in a tool box on the turret. Some Iraqi “gentleman ” must have stole them from some Kuwaiti’s woodshoop. No chance of finding an owner.
Those planes now sit in my toolbox. First planes I ever owned.
Used planes in woodshop in HS but they did not belong to me.

-- "Not skilled enough to wipe jam on toast!"

My father started doing woodworking when I was a child. I always remember his couple of Record planes and other small stanley (#4), as many other tools…....but I never paid atention to the planes. He passed away when I was 22 (1993). Ten years later, living in California (I’m originaly from Colombia) sudenly felt an irresistible need to find a plane and start woodworking. Ebay was the place where I spend hours and hous for two years trading and learning about all type of planes. I can’t explain my woodworking experience without them.

-- Francisco Luna, San Francisco Bay Area.

I can’t remember my first experience with a plane. Having grown up in a woodshop it was most likely one of my dad’s block or rabbet planes when I was young. Since then though I’ve used a number of planes and since learning to make a hand plane I’ve learned to tune and sharpen them to get a great cut. It’s a great story and thanks for sharing.

-- "At its best, life is completely unpredictable." - Christopher Walken

I saw a guy use one once.
Been thinking about pulling my old antique #78 off the shelf and giving it a try. :)

My dad gave me a box of my grandpa’s old stuff. It had 7 or 8 different planes in it. I did some internet research on sharpening and once I got ‘em all tuned up I fell in love. Now my Dewalt 13” planer just mostly collects dust. I love that SHHHHTTTTLLLLLPPPPP sound of a wood plane.

Gawd…if my wife had any idea what I have spengt on ebay for old planes…I would prob’ly call her the ex-wife.

-- POST NUBILA SOL - After clouds sunshine

I was about 10 years old it was a dull number 4 and it chattered across the wood and made my teeth hurt but I kept going, then ,I was told there was a machine to do that kind of work (ie: planer).but I was hooked and now that I know how to sharpen one… well let’s just say I do not own a planer.

-- All bleeding will eventually stop.

Bought an Anant at HD, I think, just like you, I took it from the box and put metal to wood. Nothing, no chips, shavings, nada. I readjusted the frog and still couldn’t get any shavings, so of course I blamed the wood, it must be the wood, this is a brand new plane, so it must be the wood, right?!
I put that plane in my tool cabinet where it has not seen the light of day for many a year. Then I decided to get better at woodworking and knew that I didn’t know enough to be good at it, so I read as much as I could, then finally got educated enough to know that the plane was part of the problem, but I was the root source of the problem, or should I say my lack of knowledge was the problem. I have since changed my evil ways and have become much more educated on the process of planing and sharpening, what a revelation. The first time I used a sharp, well tuned plane was like magic and I have been hooked ever since. I still have my first plane, maybe someday I will properly sharpen and tune it up, maybe….

-- "You get what you inspect, not what you expect"

My first plane was a stanley bench plane. My dad gave it to me. he showed me how to use it. Okay he used it I didn’t learn much. He handed it to me and said here you go have fun. I put the plane on the wood and pushed and pushed some more. I couldn’t understand why anyone in the world would use one of these crapy things. It messed my wood all up and I was tierd after pushing for hours. I told my dad to put it back I never wanted it again. I was about 10 years old. Now almost 40 and over 50 hand planes and some 10 I have made, I still push and push. Only tierd because of my age. I can say now that I understand how to use and sharpen hand planes.I now,some times just go out to my shop and put some wood in the vise and do nothing but plane. I don’t need to make anything.
I think for any one just starting out with a plane you read everything on hand planes you can. Take them apart and put them back together again set the blade and play with it all the time. I try to do this every time I go out to the shop. I grab one and play with it for about 10 minutes or so. Even if I don’t use it on a project. Any way enough of that. see ya all.

-- Davesfunwoodworking

my first experience was a revelation for me. After 15 years in factories with every toy at my disposal I was asked to make a custom piece for a customer here in the philippines which required a curved bench back and I was stumpted. I had no easy way to do it without creating jigs which was a waste of time and money for a one off peice, so what to do. In the back of the toolroom was a rusty number 3 stanley, The only handplane in a factory full of moulders, spindles, and cnc,s and the only answer that made sense, So I cleaned the rust off the sole with a bit of 220 grit and put the iron across a grinder and set to work, Unbeleviably long shavings began to pour out the mouth of this rusted junk of a plane and within minutes I had the curve I wanted. I did not even know what each component of this strange contraption was called let alone how to use it . I soon figured out how to adjust all the bits and the tearout I had in places soon disapeared . After all those years on the machines that one day changed my woodworking life. The filipino workers were standing around starring in wonder at the shavings I had made and how fast I had created the peice “sir we have never seen anything done like that” I felt like a Guru, I didn,t have the heart to tell them I was as amazed as they were!
My career in woodworking is the richer for it thanks to that day and a rusted number 3 stanley.

-- if the hand is not working it is not a pure hand

I was like you.. But I was drolling at a Lee Neilson and could only afford a GroltZ #4 Smoother that chattered my teeth when I pushed it around. And Like you I read a great deal and “Frettled” it for en entire weekend.. Flattened its Sole, The Blade was beyond hope and I broke down and bought a “hock” blade and chip breaker for it.. I had to file the mouth square, the Frog and its mount points. But like you when I was done.. a bit of wax on the soul and Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuffffffffffffffffftttttttt. was all I heard.. Its so easy to size a drawer this way.. and the finish is ready to go on.

-- Duct Tape is the Force! It has a light side and a dark side and it Binds the Universe together!