# I need some planes, and advice on planes



## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

I've been a hardcore power tool guy, but the more reading and experimenting I do, I am changing my tune. I did invest in a nice set of chisels (and made myself a mallet), I am getting a set of saws for Christmas (dovetail and carcass), and have picked up a few crappy planes to play with. My problem is I know what I want to do, I am just not sure what I need.

I really need a better way to flatten wood. Rather than buy a jointer, I would like to do this by hand. I'll send it through my planer to clean it up as much as I can first, then smooth it out with a plane. What do I need to get? If I get a "#6" sized jointer/smoother is it going to be too cumbersome? Also can someone explain bevel up vs bevel down? I think I know what it means (blade orientation) but I want to be sure, and understand which fits my needs best.

I would also like a plane to clean tenons. Block plane and shoulder plane?

Lastly and important, I want to purchase *new*. I know there is a lot of used stuff out there for a lot cheaper, but I'd rather spend my time woodworking than on ebay and refurbishing old stuff. I also like shiny new tools, and realize I will be paying a premium. I't just a personal preference. My budget is more Woodriver/Veritas than LN.


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

Jack, jointer and smoother: course, medium and fine. Pick three bench planes of your choice in this order and you'll process stuff with the best of 'em.

Shoulder. But you'll get a low angle block someday, too.

Veritas over Woodriver, from what I've read. It's no contest.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

You need a smoother. A #4 is probably the best.

Although I disagree about the vintage versus new, you can't go wrong with veritas.

Edit: after reading Smitty's post I re-read your post. So I'm now not sure what you want to do. Are you looking to joint or smooth?

To joint, you'll want a #7 or #8. To smooth a #4.

To flatten, Smitty's way is best.


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## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

'I would also like a plane to clean tenons" 
To clean tenon get yourself a Veritas router plane, nothing beat it guarantee.
There are soooooooooooo sweet and not expensive.( I mean for the beautiful quality)
http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=52609&cat=1,41182,48945

Do not buy a new Stanley 92, I have one and I do not like it.
Buy Veritas, they are the best for the price, no contest.( no I do not work for Veritas but i had the opportunity to use them and to compare to L.N, I much prefer Veritas)
http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?cat=1&p=41182


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## paratrooper34 (Apr 27, 2010)

If flattening is one of your main tasks, a #5 jack plane is a good start. I also recommend a jointer as the jack plane is going to leave a rough surface that needs to get flattened. If you want to smooth the boards without using sandpaper or sanders, a #4 would be a good investment also. I suggest you make or purchase some winding sticks. If you don't get the surface flat without wind in it, you will be frustrated after you send the wood through a planer and the board won't lay flat.

For planing tenons, you can get away with a rabbet block plane and forgo the shoulder plane. I use my rabbet plane for finishing tenons all the time and do not own a shoulder plane. Frankly, I have no use for one. When you measure and mark shoulders correctly on tenon joints, a shoulder plane will not be necessary. LN makes a very nice rabbet block plane (I suggest getting the one with nickers).

Lastly, I will make a plug for LN. Their tools are only a little more expensive the Veritas. Plus, you will be buying American and supporting an American company. Nothing against Canada, I just prefer to buy American when I can. Plus being a native Mainer, I doubly enjoy supporting a Maine company.


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

This all really depends on what you want to do with hand planes, but here are a few scenarios and their associated hand planes:

1. to flatten wood = jointer (#7), you'd actually be better off flattening it with a hand plane, then running it through your planer to clean it up and not the other way around.

1B. if you have REALLY messed up wood to flatten = scrub plane + jointer plane

2. to clean tenons = rabbet plane , or shoulder plane, shoulder plane would work better to clean up the shoulders, while the rabbet plane would work better when cleaning the cheeks (so, both would be ideal)

Bevel up vs. Bevel down will remain a debate forever, both will serve you well, each has their pros/cons and I think it's a tie between which one has more pros vs more cons. but don't let this one be the deciding factor.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

All great tips. For my immediate need I am looking to joint. My planer does a pretty good job at smoothing. In addition I currently use a router for edge jointing. That is kind of a pain, especially with pieces longer or significantly shorter than my straight edge. This is why I was looking for something like a #6.

In the not so distant future, it would be nice to sand a lot less, or not at all. I have a card scraper I have been playing with. Getting a consistent bur is a challenge, but I am confident I can do it with enough practice.

Don, I know vintage can be a lot cheaper, and A LOT better than some new ones, but I have to be honest with myself. I don't think it's enjoyable restoring old equipment or hunting for the perfect one. Woodworking is a hobby for me. If I don't like to do something, I won't do it.

LN is from Maine? I could sneak that pass the boss then! She is a born and raised Mainer.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Lev, by clean it up I mean get the shag off or skip dress it. I have tried hand planing my way though that and it is no fun at all. Granted I am using the Windsor Design plane (which I think equates to a #4). The mill I go to cuts really thick. The 4/4 stock skip dressed is still 1 1/16". That gives me plenty of room to joint one side flat and plane it down to 7/8 or 3/4.


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## Arminius (Dec 27, 2007)

Agree on the #7 or #8, or maybe a Bevel-Up Jointer equivalent.

One point - you are probably better served using the hand plane to prepare the bottom of the board for the planer.

paratrooper - I am Canadian, and a big fan of both companies. I don't think it really has to come down to 'buy American'. I agree that the price difference is marginal. My rule of thumb is basically bevel-up, Veritas, bevel-down, L-N. I love my Veritas LAJ, one of several Veritas I have. I actually have far more Veritas than L-N, for quality the two are at the absolute top. But for a classic rendition of a #4 or the like, Lie-Nielsen has soul. Maybe not everyone cares, but the aesthetic and the quality combine to make a tool I love to use. I don't think anyone who buys a L-N hand plane regrets it, and their grandchildren won't either.

Back when 'Made in America' meant made by companies like Lie-Nielsen, 'Made in America' meant something.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

The Veritas jointer plane is about 300$. The L-N is about 425. That isn't a huge difference. I didn't realize LN was in Warren Maine. I'm actually going to be about an hour from there right after Christmas as the in-laws live in Northern ME. I think I may stop in.


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## CL810 (Mar 21, 2010)

A great resource that will answer all of your questions is Christopher Schwarz's DVD "Handplane Basics."


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## Kreegan (Jul 10, 2012)

Have you looked at these two sets?

http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?sku=1-jts

Rich


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## OggieOglethorpe (Aug 15, 2012)

I'll toss out a bevel UP jointer. I use mine a lot.

Why? A bevel up jointer can easily be set up with a high angle iron. I often use my jointer planes to "match joint" boards that have been machine jointed. This often results in grain reversals. NOTHING works as well against the grain as a high angle cutter.

The downside is that a high angle is harder to push. Extra, lower angle, irons can be quickly installed for situations where the grain is agreeable and you're taking a full-width cut.

I have a nice, vintage, bevel down Stanley #8, upgraded with an LN iron and chipbreaker, as well as a Veritas bevel down #7. I use the #7 far more often, as it's so much easier to get perfect edges.

Bevel up plane irons wear on the back (flat) side of the iron. With my A2 irons, this has not been a problem for me. If it were, a bit of grinding would take me back to the flat section of the iron. This means I might wear out an iron in 25 years, instead of 50… ;^)


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## paratrooper34 (Apr 27, 2010)

Hey Arminius, if it makes you feel better, my heritage and family roots come from New Brunswick. But that doesn't mean I am not going to plug for supporting my country.

Sorry if you don't like reading that I say support my country. Don't ever expect me to change my tune. If you don't like that, pass over my comment and move along.

Cheer up your country, but do not tell me not to cheer up mine. Go back to woodworking and don't ever call me out again. I am not here for that BS.


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## Arminius (Dec 27, 2007)

Wow, para, I don't think you took that comment at all the way I meant it. It was not at all meant to 'call you out'. Read it as meaning you don't have to be American to respect and value the combination of traditional values and modern precision that Lie-Nielsen represents - and be willing to pay that little bit more for it.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Barry, everything you said is completely greek to me . I mostly worth with heavily figured wood or wood with interlocked grain, so do I want to consider a high angle cutter? I see veritas has a 38 and 50 degree iron, is that what you are referring to?
It looks like I have a lot more reading to do. In addition I know I wanted to stick with a new plane, but if anyone has a line on a perfectly functional user that isn't going to require much tweaking (except maybe a new iron) I would be open to that.

I really want to get one of these soon. I have a few hundred BF of hard maple and a benchcrafted kit to make myself a bench. My first task will be flattening the top


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## Kreegan (Jul 10, 2012)

For a vintage user, you should hit up DonW here on LJ or Patrick Leach. My personal suggestion would be to start with a jack plane and a smoother. You can't go wrong with the Veritas low angle jack plane by all accounts. For the smoother, check out the Lie-Nielsen #4 or #4 1/2. LN offers a high angle frog for their planes for difficult grains. If you want a jointer type, look at the Woodriver #6. I just got this plane recently and really like it. It's hefty, but not so hefty that it will wear you out fast. I was amazed at how little setup it needed out of the box. The sole was dead flat and all I did was ran the iron over a strop and it was ready to rock.

As for the tenon thing, you can go a couple of routes there. A shoulder plane is designed to clean up the shoulders on tenons. I have the LN Large Shoulder Plane and it's a real treat to use. You could also go with a rabbet plane, either the block or full sized skew. Veritas makes excellent versions of both. Then you'd also be able to plane rabbets. You can do that with a shoulder plane as well, but it requires a bit more effort.

Another plane to look into is the router plane. You could use that to clean up tenon cheeks as well, with the assistance of another piece of wood to rest the plane on. Router planes are very versatile. I went back and forth on LN versus Veritas and ultimately went with the Veritas.

Rich


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

I have two "Go-to" items:









a rehandled Stanley #5 Jack plane, and a Vancamp 1-1/2" wide slick. I also have a few "Vintage" smoothers sitting around..









and a few older block planes…









this is about half of them. Some will being going onto Ebay today. I tend to use that #5 a lot, as well as a couple #6s i have. Just something about that #5 though…









Hey, I like the older stuff, ok? Reminds me of…....me…


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

I know vintage can be a lot cheaper, and A LOT better than some new ones, but I have to be honest with myself. I don't think it's enjoyable restoring old equipment or hunting for the perfect one. Woodworking is a hobby for me. If I don't like to do something, I won't do it.

I completely understand not wanting to restore tools. Well, wait, maybe I don't understand, but you get what I mean.

With LN you get a fine quality tool and great support. If you've got the budget, you can't go wrong. Veritas is about the same quality but usually with a more modern design. I own both and highly recommend either.

That said, I still believe the savings of vintage can be substantial without sacrificing quality.

But then, had I hit the powerball, this would have been one of my first purchases, http://www.lie-nielsen.com/?pg=138


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## Kreegan (Jul 10, 2012)

Oh, that LN tool cabinet is the stuff of wet dreams isn't it? Made by a master furniture maker and filled with glorious goodies! Too bad it costs more than my first 4 cars/trucks combined…

Rich


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## OggieOglethorpe (Aug 15, 2012)

"I mostly worth with heavily figured wood or wood with interlocked grain, so do I want to consider a high angle cutter? I see veritas has a 38 and 50 degree iron, is that what you are referring to?"

Exactly… On the 12 degree bed common on bevel-up planes, they would give you a 50 and 62 degree cutting angle.

LN also sells 50 and 55 degree frogs for their bevel-down offerings that accomplish the same thing, but it's more expensive and time consuming to change the cutting angle in a bevel-down.

If you've only got a few planes, the bevel up examples are more versatile. With a good number of planes, bevel down examples can be set up for different situations, avoiding the issue of wear on the back of the iron.

Some folks also prefer bevel down due to the adjuster style of Stanley / Bailey (LN) frog mechanisms, but I've gotten used to either. Veritas, and some of the new Stanley, bevel-down planes use a Norris-style adjuster that is more similar to the typical bevel-up plane.

A Norris adjuster has what appears to be a knob at the end of a screw for blade feed, with the entire screw pivoting left and right to adjust skew. A Bailey-style adjuster has a large knob behind the frog, often adjusted with the index finger, and a separate skew lever. Folks who prefer the Bailey often use a technique of advancing the iron as the plane is pushed forward. The Norris is tougher to adjust this way, as you can inadvertently move the skew as you try to turn the knob with one finger.

Both work great, only differently. It's just something to be aware of as you shop.


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

Although I'd love the tools in it I think you'd have to be tripping to believe a red oak and maple tool cabinet is worth 9k. Couple grand sure, it looks nicely finished and involved but I'm sure built off a master plan and not too time consuming for a skilled craftsman. Just can't see a price like that being justified. Especially since it looks simple enough that there probably isn't even two full weeks worth of work in it.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

So maybe I should take a step back here and re-evaluate my needs. My main goal is to face joint rough cut lumber in prep for power planing. From what I am reading, this is likely a multi-step approach instead of simply taking a jointer plane to the wood. I had budgeted enough money for a decent 8" power jointer. I decided I really don't want another giant hunk of cast iron in my shop. I also need a proper work bench, and there really isn't enough room for both unless I get rid of some other benches, but I really like having a lot of bench space. Also flattening by hand is more work (physically), but totally doable and I won't run into the limitation of my jointer table.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

Joe, I've got some 3's, 4's, a bunch of #5's and a #7 for sale. You can take them out of the box, and use them. You can be all set up for less than 1 LN, and have the same performance. Then if you decide you want new, you can re-sell them one at a time and replace them. I've yet to have any actually replace them.

Just something to think about.


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

Joe, you will definitely need a solid bench to work stuff in the manner you're thinking. I'd like to suggest a resource: C. Schwarz' blue Workbenches book. It's a great read and lays out thought behind all things workbench, specifically working faces, ends and edges of boards. Then, as it was mentioned above, his Handplane Essentials book. You'll go into this exercise 'eyes wide open' with those two works in mind (working wood via course, medium fine; sharpening; infills and specialty planes, etc.).

Others can and will suggest other resources, but these two did it for me and I recommend each of them highly.

Good luck.

Oh, and Don's planes are absolutely top notch…


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

I'm building the benchcrafted split top roubo (with the benchcrafted kit).


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## Kreegan (Jul 10, 2012)

I think you mentioned having one of those Windsor Design planes. Stumpy Nubs has a video on turning one of those into a scrub plane. Do that and get yourself a jointer (6, 7 or 8) and you can face joint rough lumber. It's not a huge amount of effort. Open the throat a bit with a file and regrind the blade. For face jointing, you can use a scrub or jack plane to hog off most of the waste and then a jointer to flatten it up.

Rich


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## crank49 (Apr 7, 2010)

+1 & +1 on the Schwarz books. I have both his workbench books and the plan book and highly recommend them all.


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## Kreegan (Jul 10, 2012)




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## OggieOglethorpe (Aug 15, 2012)

If that's the real goal…

Beat old Stanley #5's make fine scrub planes… It doesn't matter if the mouth is filed out, the sole doesn't need to be all that flat, and stock irons work fine.

If you had a $35-40 #5, a reasonably good jointer, and a method to hold the boards face up, you'd be fine to finish up with a surface planer. A set of winding sticks would be handy as you prep the reference face, as thickness planers won't remove much wind.

Remember, the machine will remove small variations from a reference face, as you flip the faces during subsequent passes. The most difficult part will be hand planing the straight edge, square to the reference face. But! If you're edge gluing boards, you can match plane the edges, and your errors will be complementary and cancel themselves out.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

I'm going to edge joint with a router still (flush trim bit and an 8 foot MDF reference edge). I do want to experiment with match planing edges by hand as well.


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

a before match plane time









and after.

One could even use a well tuned block for this..









but I used a slightly larger plane..


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## shampeon (Jun 3, 2012)

Edge jointing with a jointer plane is so much easier (and more satisfying) than using a router. Leaves a better surface, too.

A nicely restored #4, a #7, and a scrub plane (converted smoother or jack or Harbor Freight special) will cost you less than $200 and allow you to basically do anything you want with any size stock. Getting the same Lie-Nelson planes would cost you roughly $700 for the same results, but they are so danged pretty.


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

For edge jointing I use either a 7 or a 5, don't actually own an 8. For shorter boards that the 7 is just too long for I tuned my 5 more for jointing and find that it does a great job; usually anything under 2-2.5' uses the 5 anything longer I break out the 7. It may just be the projects I've dealt with but anything short enough to use the 5 on is thin enough when the two boards are laid back to back that the blade easily covers it. A 6 would also work fine for shorter boards but I've never found I needed the extra weight; the 6 is my least used plane in my limited use.


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## Lazy_K (May 27, 2012)

Hi, lots of good advice here but I think it may be getting to be too much advice. so I'll give you my perspective ;P

I do not like veritas hand planes. nuf said. 
the first plane you should get and master is your low angle block plane. a Stanley 60 1/2 is nice, 
Next up should be a plane about the size of a Stanley #5. this 14" power house can joint short boards and smooth over joints. some people prefer the heavier #5 1/2. 
Then get an 8 or a 7 sized jointer and get used to hand jointing long boards. 
and get a really good shoulder plane. actually here the Veritas one excells.
then try a 3 or a 4 smoother.

If, as you say money is not an issue, but you want premium tools, shiny and new Check out St James Bay Tool Company. They Make excellent planes, one at a time, but the block plane will run you @ $400.00
K
My quals for throwing out this advice is 32 years before the bench.


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## OggieOglethorpe (Aug 15, 2012)

Does a $400 block plane include an assistant to hold it while not in use? ;^)


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Money is an issue to an extent, but I am not looking for bargain basement deals. I found a really good Stanley #7 that I hope to start playing with soon. I'm not going to go on a plane buying binge until I know what I am doing. I have started actually using my cheap-o HF windsor design #33. Yesterday I flattened the sole, eased the edges on the sole, and went to town on the iron. I am making a trivet now which is laminated strips of maple and walnut. These strips are long enough to send through my planer to clean up and that was my intent. Instead I busted out the hand plane. The results were good. No snipe to deal with and a perfectly smooth surface.

These were a little tough to get through. the edge grain on the walnut came off easy, but the flat grain on the maple did not. Once I figured out how to alternate pressure from the start to the end of the cut, it went well. Also I'm not going to have to sand the faces much, or at all. I am wondering why it took me this long to start looking into hand tools.


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## Kreegan (Jul 10, 2012)

I think that moment when you start figuring out how to take decent shavings with a plane and get to feel the surface it leaves behind is when you really get into hand tools. 

Rich


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

And for me at least, maple is one of the hardest woods to plane. I typically wind up using a scraper on maple unless it really clear stock.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

That's reassuring, as I was having a tough time getting a clean cut when I finally got down to the maple. I had to muscle the hell out it. Having the piece in a vice attached to a bench that racked like crazy did not help either. I ended up pushing the bench up against a wall which helped. I am hoping the 200bf of 8/4 maple I have to build a real bench will rack a lot less or not at all. I figure when assembled, the bench should be close to 300lbs.

Now I need to figure out how to plane down this butternut I have. It is REALLY shaggy. The saw marks from the mill are about 1/16" deep. The plane seems to skip across the surface instead of taking shavings. It's almost 20" wide so I can't send it though my planer.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

20" wide butternut, holy crap!! That must be beautiful.

butternut planes much better than maple.

I would use a #5 (but a #4 would work to) with a small camber to get rid of the saw marks, then smooth or flatten as needed.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

I'll have to look up what you mean by camber, but I am assuming it has to do more with the way the iron is sharpened than the plane itself

The butternut is really nice, but unfortunately is riddled with HUGE knots that go almost all the way through the board. From what I hear, that is typical of butternut. The mill owner gave it to me for free because he said it probably wouldn't make it through his planer in one piece. It's about 7 feet long and I'll be lucky if I can get a clean section that is longer than 16". Here is my progress so far. You can see the size of this knot. On the underside, the knot is about 3/4" deep (it's a 6/4 board)


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## shampeon (Jun 3, 2012)

Butternut is awesome.

Cambering the iron is when you add a radius to the corners. A scrub plane uses a fully radiused blade.

It's fine to let the plane initially skip over the valleys and just hit the peaks for a rough board. Each pass will get you closer to taking full shavings.

When dimensioning rough stock, I typically start with my scrub plane (a converted Buck Brothers #5 Home Depot mistake) to get the saw marks out and the stock roughly square, then move on to a fore plane (#6) with a wide mouth to get everything flat. Then I use the jointer plane set to take thin cuts for a few passes before moving to the smoother or scraper.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

for what your doing with the butternut, (assuming you just want to get rid of the saw marks and not resize the piece) camber about like this.


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## RSZ (Dec 3, 2012)

If you're still considering what to get - think about this:
http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?sku=62
The L-N #62 Jack plane set. It has a 25 degree blade for most work, and is long enough to act as a basic jointer. It comes with a 50 degree blade for figured wood and smoothing, and a toothed blade that is wonderful for cleaning up rough stock or working with very hard wood like maple (check out the YouTube videos with Deneb). Even maple is easy starting with the toothed blade, then finish with the 50 degree.

You will still need a block plane for other work, and the LN adjustable mouth plane 60 1/2 is nice. However I have also seen the Veritas skew block planes with adjustable mouths. 
http://www.veritastools.com/products/Page.aspx?p=515
Very nice, but likely you need to get the pair to work in both directions depending upon grain, side, etc.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

I do want to resize the piece eventually, but right now I just want to see what I have so I can plan a project out of it. I am finding a lot of hidden knots and cracks as I go along. I'll read up on adding camber to my iron, and for 6 bucks (on sale right now) I'll grab another one of those windsor design planes. If I mess it up beyond repair, I won't feel bad since it is about the same price as lunch at McDonald's.


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## OggieOglethorpe (Aug 15, 2012)

Butternut is fantastic to work with hand tools. It's very popular with carvers.

When you get back to the maple, if you're positive the iron is really sharp, try a higher cutting angle on a bevel up, or a small back bevel on a bevel down plane.

With a limited plane selection available, you can see the effects of angle on a specific wood by resharpening a block plane 5 degrees higher at a time. Block planes have small irons that sharpen quickly and are cheap to replace.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

I have a feeling this is going to get really expensive, really quickly


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Barry, the iron is super sharp. I can pare off my thumbnail with it. It is sharpened to 25 degrees with no microbevel. It is a bevel down plane *I think*. It cuts on the back of the bevel.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

I have a feeling this is going to get really expensive, really quickly 

Which is why its a good idea to go vintage.

LN x 10 = lot$


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## TimOgden (Dec 3, 2012)

Edit: I wrote this before seeing the rest of the responses. Leaving in case its helpful to someone else who starts later in the thread

Just to clarify some comments from others:

1) If you are looking to joint, then you need at least a #7. Technically you can relatively easily joint anything less than twice the length of the sole of the plane. Anything longer than that requires practice and skill.

2) The primary advantage to a bevel up plane in a jointer is that they have fewer moving parts and are therefore cheaper. The $125 difference between the LN #7 and the Veritas Bevel Up #7 is most of the way to a good shoulder plane. And even further towards a good smoother.

3) For smoothing you are best off with a #3, #4 or #4 1/2. A #3 is smaller, a #4 1/2 is slightly wider and significantly heavier-the latter of which can be helpful when smoothing difficult woods.

4) The primary advantage of a bevel up smoother plane is that you can change to a high angle (for planing difficult grain) or to a toothed blade (for very difficult grain) or to a low angle (for planing end grain) all simply by swapping out a blade. You can do similar things with a bevel down plane but it requires changing the frog-an option that only LN offers as far as I know-and is much much more expensive.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Don, you are correct and I think I am changing my tune a bit  My little windsor design plane is working out pretty well for me, I think that is roughly equivalent to a #3 sized Stanley? I picked up another and will camber the blade on it after work. Do I need to (or should I) open the mouth at all? In addition to my 2 windsors and a #7, what do you think would benefit me the most, a #4 or a #5? Keep in mind (for now) final smoothing and dimensioning will be done with power tools. My end goal for the time being is to prep (clean and joint one face) rough cut lumber for power planing.

Tim, so with a #7 at roughly 22" long, I should be safe dimensioning 4' boards. This is good because I don't generally work with pieces longer than 4'. I like to rough cut my pieces before I dimension them. My planer chokes and dies if I try to take off more than 1/64" from a full 10 to 12 footer. I can plane down two 4 1/2 foot boards in half the time I can plane one 8' board.


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## shampeon (Jun 3, 2012)

The HF Windsor plane would make an excellent scrub plane (and Stumpynubs has an episode about it). For a smoother, though, I would prefer having a depth knob and lateral adjuster. The knobs on either side of the blade of the Windsor take too much fiddling.


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## OggieOglethorpe (Aug 15, 2012)

A bevel down plane certainly does cut with the back. Adding a back bevel is your only choice for raising the cutting angle, as you don't have the option of other frogs with that plane.

I suggested using the block plane for experimenting, simply because it's easy to find the angle you need, and easy to put it back to where it was. You're only changing a microbevel.

Once you back bevel a bevel down iron, if you want to remove the back bevel, you need to grind the iron back to the flat area.


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## SegantiWoodworking (Oct 4, 2012)

"Which hand plane should I get?" is a very common question. This question is very similar to: "which eating utensil should I buy?" There are many different types of planes just like there are different types of utensils… each with a specific use. A fork, knife, and spoon all have different uses but they are all utensils; hand planes are very similar. Everyone can share their opinion on which hand planes to purchase just like anyone can share their opinion on which utensil to buy. Someone who predominantly eats soup every day may suggest that a spoon is the best utensil to buy, but this wouldn't be a good choice for someone who eats steak every day.

There is a lot of good information mentioned above and woodworking forums are a great resource for information, but sometimes a book on the subject is simply the better way to go. If you are interested in hand planes, I highly recommend Chris Schwarz's book: Handplane Essentials

The book isn't cheap, but it's worth the investment if hand planes are something you want to start using. The book is an all inclusive guide that covers essentially every aspect of hand planes including types and their uses. More importantly the book goes over how to set up your planes. I can recommend a #5 for your jack plane, but if you don't set it up like a jack plane it's essentially a smoothing plane… defeating the purpose.

Just my two cents!


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

Once you get to the #7 or #8 you can dimension any size board, the technique is just different. You can't just reference the plane.

If your using your windsor as a scrub, you could go to a #5 or straight to the #7. Personally for a 4' board I probably would use a #5 and that would be it. (assuming I'm running it through a planer).

I believe Smitty's first response still holds true, Jack, jointer and smoother: *course, medium and fine.* Pick three bench planes of your choice in this order and you'll process stuff with the best of 'em.

If your letting your planer do the medium and fine, then you've got what you need.

I still typically use my planer as well, so I use a #5 as a jack, (your windsor could work I suppose) a jointer for jointing, and a smother after the planer.

Also remember we're kind of talking in generic terms, so that's not to say the next time I don't grab the #7 for some unforeseen reason. You will tend to pick up a style and just grab for a plane.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

That book is on my Christmas list so I will have to wait. I'm running out of things that cost under $1,000 that I can recommend people get me for gifts.

I'm going to let my jointer do the medium, the planer do the "mostly fine", and the ROS do the fine.

I also made myself some winding sticks which should help. I used bloodwood and beveled the top a bit to make them more stable. I put a square maple plug on the bottom center of each for easy reference, and inlayed some maple in the top center and the outermost center edges on the back one. I know what to look for in theory (I don't want to see any maple), but I'm sure in practice it's much more difficult.


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## Alexandre (May 26, 2012)

If You only have enough space for 1 plane, This would probably be the plane
Just get a bunch of different blades for it. and you should be okay?


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

My little Rogue's Gallery of planes I use the most…


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