Why would I ever want a bench plane ??

I keep my bench plane dull to increase the tear out on my furniture.

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

I have a pretty good collection of planes.

Yeah, they’re pretty much for show right now although I would actually like to get proficient in actually using a wider variety of my collection some day. I see nothing attractive or romantic in spending a signficant amount of time in surfacing and squaring lumber by hand though. I guess that’s what the poor young (and strong!) beginning apprentice got stuck doing 100 years ago!

My pattern of use is pretty much like yours. In order of most often used to least would be 1. a small low-angle block plane 2. a 9” Smooth Plane 3. a 14” Jack Plane 4. Rabbet Plane 5. Wooden Molding plane 6. Multi-plane (Stanley 45) I have several others that I don’t use at all. In fact, I’ve never taken the time to sharpen and tune them up. Somewhere in the back of mind I still have this belief that I’ll try a rough lumber to furniture project someday using only hand tools – just to say I did it. But, we’ll see . . . .

-- Paul, Texas

Here’s one reason:

After I used biscuits to align the edging on this desk top, it was pround. The bench plane saved me because there was no other way to trim something that wide unless I had a very long flush trim router bit…which I don’t.

Also, flattening a panel after glueup. End grain squarring. Lots of fine detail things.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Dealing with selected boards that are larger than my 6” jointer. Quicker setup in some cases and more control.

Also, the Joy of it….

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

I used my block plane all the time. I was making a picture frame. The wood was unlevel, so I used my Jack plane, it work nice. Just recently I had all my plane blades sharpened.

Kev

It is after hours and you can’t fire up the noisy tools.

-- John

I only have one #5 plane and I use it to square up boards, flatten boards, clean up saw marks, round over edges, etc. It’s uses can be almost limitless. I is a more peaceful way to spend my time in the shop, when I don’t have to hurry to make a project. I love the sound it makes when curling those wood shavings.

-- Jesus is Lord!

Also, smoothing surfaces that are too small to run across a jointer or though the planer.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

All the time.
Mainly because I now perfer them to noisy, dust-making, takes forever to set-up power tools.
1 #3
3 #4s
5 #5s
1 #7
1 #8
4 60 1/2s
3 #110s

Need I say more…lol

Jimmy

-- Jimmy

I use my (all Stanley’s except the#7 which is a Montgomery-Wards) 60 1/2 low angle block and surprisingly a little cheap #102 (no throat adjustment, no advancement or lateral adjustment mechanism, no front knob) often to break edges, chamfer, round over etc. I bought and tuned a old #4, and inherited a #5 and #7. But all told, if possible I prefer machine planing/jointing because I feel it is more precise. This speaks to my lack of patience and practice as well as no developed technique more than the tool’s capabilities.

I have and love The Veritas medium shoulder plane. For the most parts I use my planes to tweak assembled boxes and clean up joinery. As far as using one for smoothing, I rarely use a plane as it is a recipe for tear-out for me, even with a scary-sharp plane iron (hair jumps off one’s arm just by showing the naked bevel to the hapless appendage). But I do enjoy using a card scraper for smoothing. There is something really satisfying in using a 6 dollar steel rectangle versus paying for sandpaper, plus the burnished wood looks more lustrous.

Being an avid catalogue reader, I tease myself that I might be a plane wizard if I had newer tools (Tom, I see you with that fine Veritas bench plane. I’d pick that one or their bevel-up smoother if I gave into my Galoot/Neanderthal urges). For the most part though, I would rather save the cash toward a new router (Triton is looking good) than invest in a Lie-Nieson or a Veritas.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

I use a 4 1/2 for smoothing and a No.8 for jointing. Run my boards through the planer and then hit it with one or two passes with the jointer plane. I use a shoulder plane for well, shoulders :) And a block plane for various tasks.

John

-- John -- Racine, WI -- Woodworking..."It's not just a Hobby, it's an Adventure"

I don’t own a jointer or table saw yet, so I use my #7 jointer to true the edge of my bandsaw-cut stock. Also the combination of my scrub plane (converted old #4) and my #7 can quickly level out an uneven board. I’ve even edge-jointed 7’ oak boards to make the sides and shelves for a bookcase, and the joint is as invisible as you could ask for. The block plane’s uses are too numerous to list.

I’m about to order one of the Veritas large shoulder planes to use on the big tenons on my workbench base.

The key is to keep your planes sharp and well tuned. The rest is just a matter of practice. After a while you just grab the right plane and go without thinking about it. They are truly often faster than setting up a power tool.

Oh yes, don’t forget a good coat of paste wax—it makes planing almost effortless (ALMOST!).

-- Robert from Raymond, MS. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is therefore not a practice, but a habit." - Aristotle

Also, they are nice to look at…. : ^)

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Yes they are Wayne!!

Jimmy

-- Jimmy

I joint (#7) I even ran my jointer plane after using a friends jointer. Took 2 swipes to get a good full shaving.

My #4 leaves a glass smooth finish that is far superior to anything sandpaper can do.

My 60 1/2 does a good job fitting and it does endgrain too.

My rabbet plane is a lot nicer than setting up the dado for 4 cuts.

I have an almost full complement of power tools (the main 4 I guess + combo sander) Drill press, table saw, band saw, and soon jointer. Hand tools complement those, while you can do everything with hand tools I prefer the hybrid approach.

Currently only a 4 and 62 (technically a block) are able to meet 99.9% of bench plane needs. Power planer and jointer use I learned first. I have no formal training with hand tool joinery, my self taught methods produce results that are out preformed by power tools, time wise and sweat labor. My main use for hand planes is finishing, results are far superior than sanding. Block planes are constantly in use for trim and fitting. Shoulder, rabbets, and chisel planes are relied on for given applications. Situations decides if a power or hand tool is used and the hybrid approach has worked well for my needs

-- Ciao, gth.

I use my block plane all the time. My bench planes are useful but they see a lot less use. I use my bench plane (and a card scraper) mostly for smoothing after I run it through the planer or sometimes when I mess up edge gluingtwo boards together. I use it everytime to smooth a flat surface if the surface is fairly smooth already. It usually only takes one or two swipes to clean up.

For bench planes I use a #3, #4C, #604-1/2C, #5, #605C, #40, #7 and #607C on almost ALL of my projects. I use them in tandem with power tools. I much prefer to make shaving to sawdust. Sanders are basically grinders. Planes allow for a more civilized and much quieter work experience. That and it’s cool to know how to make them SING!

always,
J.C.

-- "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein

Every woodworker should have the basic planes in their kits. It’s silly to use a power tool for 10 secs. of touching up or something. Also, a plane can do things in awkward situations like adjusting the edge of a door on-site, etc.

But, the only difference between a peice of wood that has been worked by hand and one that has been worked by power then finished by hand is a whole lot of effort. All that hand effort doesn’t make the peice any better or “worth more” because it’s “hand made”.

We have that situation in our shop. In the days of yore a peice was hand made and had a certain look. Nowadays we make stuff with power tools and get them all nice and pretty and precise, then hand scrape them to make them look like that old stuff.

We also just had a discussion about dovetails. Dovetails were used because glues were inadequate. As soon as better glues were available (and new tech. with power tools), dovetails were no longer necessary. From a business stand point they were gladly given up.

Personally, I like and appreciate the hand made look, but, life is too short to spend too much time acheiving it. But, there can be alot said to the zen thing every now and again of just focusing on the process.

-- arborial reconfiguration specialist

I use mine (#4, 5, 6, and 7 + #5 converted for scrub) quite a bit. I don’t have the room for a power jointer, and would need an 8” minimum for much of the wood I work with. I use mostly sawmill lumber, so before going to the table saw or bandsaw, it inevitably needs twist removed and a straight edge. Having recently acquired a bench-top thickness planer, I now use a sled for flattening, but usually knock off most of the twist with the planes as it saves more wood. Previously I was flattening the wood by hand, also.

As my TS skills probably aren’t the best, altho I have used a sled to straighten that first edge, I find I do better jointing with a plane, and getting panel glue-ups to match, nothing works for me to get those matching edges where no light shines through the match as well as hand planes.

Would I like to have a “Norm” shop with all the power tools? You bet, but I would still probably be pulling out the old Stanley’s for a lot of the fine tuning.

I guess its an acquired taste, and it requires time and patience to learn and do, as sharpening and honing the irons is a never-ending task if you use them much, (a task I enjoy also, tho, so for me not a chore),and it takes a while to square and flatten an 8” wide, x 6’ long board that may be just one of many needed to make a table, cabinet, or chest of drawers .

I don’t have any “wall hanger” tools, mostly out of necessity, but it has turned into something I enjoy increasingly as I get more competent in their use. Having worked around big noisy machines most of my life, (38 years on and acft flightline) I now appreciate quiet, and when it comes to woodworking, I enjoy the process as much as the satisfaction of the completed project.

I have the luxury of having reached the point in my life where I don’t have to “get it done” so can afford the time to enjoy the slower pace of hand tools. I can appreciate that many do not have that luxury, and life presses them for results “now”, but at my age, using the muscles that hand tools require keeps me a bit more agile, and sure beats going to some gym to smell other people’s sweat (mine is rank enough!!), so for me, its a win-win situation.

Its a good skill to learn if you can make time to, and one I wish I had started learning at a younger age.

Just my thoughts

Go

-- Go http://ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=730

I’ve got no room to upgrade to an 8” or larger jointer, so anything wider than 6” ends up running the gauntlet of scrub, jointer, jack planes. Highly figured wood is often a roll of the dice sending it through a power jointer/planer so often gets the hand plane treatment instead. Then there’s the whole bring-the-work-to-the-tool vs bring-the- tool-to-the-work argument. Sometimes it’s just not practical to use power tools. Plus I have it on good authority from a neighbor that hampsters appreciate my handplane curls for bedding more than the planer chips.

-- Use the fence Luke

I use my block plane, shoulder plane and #3 & #4 the most. I also have a #90 that gets use fairly regularly. I use a #5 with a shooting board every once in awhile. I have a #7 & 8 that are mainly used to awe the neighbors and clients that come in the shop, and ask what they’re for. Sometimes hand tools are better that their powered relatives.

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com