LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Value of handed skew planes

2K views 9 replies 10 participants last post by  TJU 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Looking at Lee Valley and Lie-Nielsen planes I see that both offer skew planes in a right and left handed version. Both claim that selection of which to use depends on grain direction for the piece being worked. Does anyone find that not having the proper skew direction affects the outcome? Are there precautions that you take to avoid issues, other than buying a second plane? Are there any situations where you've wished you had or been glad that you had the second plane? Is it more difficult to use the opposite handed plane from your dominant hand?
 
#2 ·
In my limited experience I have had occaission where I wish I could have planed from 'the other side'. Having said this I managed to work with the tools I had so I can see where a skewed plane would be an advantage; is it worth the money? I can't answer that as I'm a very amateur hobbyiest who can't really justify the cost of any of my tools (but my dear wife indulges me anyway!:)

I have planed with my non-dominant hand and I suspect it is just a skill you have to practice, it felt odd but I could see it becoming easier with practice.
 
#4 ·
I can't help but wonder how much I would even use a skew plane. I often need to plane a particular tough spot or a knot or some end grain or a dowel at a skewed angle, but I just turn my regular plane at an angle and let'er slice away . . . guess that wouldn't work if I was up against a vertical obstruction, but I never had that happen. Am I missing somethng here?
 
#6 ·
In planes without a chipbreaker, tear-out is a bit difficult to control. Many
skewed planes I've seen being made today are single-iron, low-angle designs,
which does lend some advantages but also makes managing squirrelly grain
more difficult.

If you're looking at the planes with the integrated fences, you can't change
the angle to the cut much because the fence gets in the way, so when you
hit a tough patch of grain you either have to power through it and fix the
problem later, or use another tool.

The side-rabbet planes are a different thing and have a specific purpose for
working into stopped areas. Having them go both ways comes very handy
when trimming rabbets and grooves.
 
#7 ·
I have left and right lie-Nielsen versions, I rarely if ever use them. Being block planes they would not be helpful for smoothing difficult grain. Not much to say, really, they are pretty, but not necessary for most of my work.
 
#8 ·
If I only used hand tools I would say a left and a right would be a nice convenience ! I have stanley #39's that I use to clean my dado's and rabbets. I also have #46's that have skewed blades. The skewed blade is nice cutting with. And crank49 is correct about using the larger #4,#5,#6,#7,#8 on an angle.
 
#10 ·
I recently thought about this because I wanted a wide block plane for the cheeks of my tenons. I went with the rabbeting block plane from lie-nielsen. Skewing the blade only lowers the cutting angle, which I don't think is necessary for most applications (except end grain). Also, the rabbeting block plane is already a low angle and you can use it left or right handed. In the end it was also cheaper and easier to sharpen the blade. It works great and If you change the bevel on the blade you can change the cutting angle. It doesn't have a fence but you can always just clamp on a straight edge as a guide when rabbeting.

Tim
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top