Lie-Nielsen planes
I think I need help. It's happening. I cannot stop researching planes and workbenches lately. I don't have room for a bench, nor money for any planes, but they're just so enticing!
Lie-Nielsen has been the most attractive by far, but I find it staggering the number of planes available - 44 standards listed, with an additional 30 variants, not including left/right hand options for the few that have them (same price in each case). The bench plane model numbers (e.g. No. 5) correspond loosely to size, and go from 1 (5.5" long) through 8 (24" long), with 1, 2, and 8 being fairly uncommon, 5 being very popular, and 4, 6, and 7 being common. But then there are the halves, like 4-1/2 and 5-1/2, and there's even a 5-1/4, and those aren't exactly sizes sometimes. For example, 5-1/2 is about the length of the 5, but has the width of the 7. Then there are varied blade thicknesses and replaceable frogs with different angles, optional corrugated bottoms, a few different blade material choices, more for some planes than others, and even a variety of materials for the plane bodies of a few models, typically iron or bronze.
Anyway, ignoring my spinning head, I've been curious to know what the entire suite of Lie-Nelson planes - arguably the most comprehensive set of planes out there by a single company, many modeled on the old Stanley planes (great, in-depth resource on them
here) - would cost. Would they all add up to a billion dollars? I dropped every plane listed on Lie-Nielsen's site - even the weird ones, like the convex sole block plane, and the bronze beading tool and blade set (it's a kind of plane) into a spreadsheet, then moved all the variants out of the way. Variants include non-default casting metal (i.e. bronze instead of iron for some, the reverse for others), corrugated base, HAF (High angle Frog) options, and for a couple of the scrapers and block planes, rodmaker's grooves.
Adding up the 44 standard planes, we're looking at spending $9,968. That's actually a good deal less than I expected. It comes in under the $10k mark. I found myself daydreaming about winning some bizarre prize on a TV show that just happened to be all of these planes. I think I'm too lazy to care for even half that many. Planes require a bit of maintenance, after all.
If you're curious, here is the full list of the standard-option planes compiled from
their site:
No. 1 Bench Plane $225.00
No. 2 Bench Plane, Bronze $275.00
No. 3 Bench Plane, Bronze $325.00
No. 4 Smooth Plane, Bronze $350.00
No. 4 1/2 Smooth Plane $325.00
No. 5 Jack Plane $325.00
No. 5-1/4 Junior Jack Plane $285.00
No. 5-1/2 Bench Plane $375.00
No. 6 Fore Plane $375.00
No. 7 Jointer Plane $425.00
No. 8 Jointer Plane $475.00
No. 10-1/4 Bench Rabbet Plane $375.00
1/2-Inch Shoulder Plane $199.00
Small Shoulder Plane $165.00
Medium Shoulder Plane $195.00
Large Shoulder Plane $250.00
Side Rabbet Planes $225.00
Tongue and Groove Plane $195.00
Bronze Edge Plane $150.00
Large Chisel Plane $199.00
Small Chisel Plane $140.00
Bronze Beading Tool and Blade Set $175.00
Butt Mortise Plane $110.00
Scrub Plane $165.00
Small Router Plane $80.00
Large Router Plane $140.00
Small Scraping Plane, Bronze $175.00
Cabinet Maker's Scraper $215.00
Large Scraping Plane $235.00
Model Maker's Block Plane $75.00
Convex Sole Block Plane $95.00
Low Angle Block Plane $115.00
Iron Low Angle Block Plane $95.00
Standard Angle Block Plane $115.00
Skew Block Plane w/nicker $225.00
Skew Block Plane Iron w/nicker $195.00
Standard Angle Adjustable Mouth Block Plane $165.00
Low Angle Adjustable Mouth Block Plane $165.00
Rabbet Block Plane $165.00
Rabbet Block Plane w/Nicker $175.00
Low Angle Smoothing Plane $265.00
Iron Miter Plane $375.00
Low Angle Jack Plane $245.00
Low Angle Jointer $350.00