Plane suggestions

Re: Plane suggestions

Jack Guzman from Maine

>You know the expression,you get what you pay for? Well the #75 fits. I have found some uses for it but it's not a tool you should worry about having at hand.It's not one of Stanley's greatest ideas.

For replacing your power planer get a #5 to start with.It's a very versatile plane. It won't answer all your needs but it's a good place to start.---Jack

Re: Plane suggestions

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>I second Jack's comment on the Stanley 75 - I've managed to get mine up to mediocre, but it will always be a poor tool.

I also second his comment about the No. 5. This was traditionally the first bench plane purchased, and it's a good, flexible size.

You're taking on quite a task for a beginner, surfacing a maple benchtop as your first project. Do a lot of reading before you start, and learn to sharpen - you'll need that skill!

Re: Plane suggestions

Glenn Madsen in the SF Bay area

>For cleaning out corners, use one of your chisels, much more easily managed. The shoulder planes are better for tenon cheeks, but that's not where I would start.

A #5 for your first bench plane is a good recommendation, but it's a challenging plane to use for flattening a workbench top. A #6, #7 or #8, (choose any one) is a much better tool.

So here's my recommendation: Find a woodworker friend to show you how to use handplanes. Find someone who regularly uses more than 3 different types. Have him guide you in starting on that top. Then break out the cash for a handplane, when you have a feel for a good tool.

Folks here joke about a slippery slope. They are serious. I'm up to maybe 28 handplanes, and I use almost every one regularly. And folks consider me a power tool user, primarily.

Re: Plane suggestions

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Forget about the #75. It will cause you grief and suffering, and may even cause you to swear off hand tools forever.

If you really think you need a bullnose plane right at the get-go, instead, invest in the Lee Valley/Veritas bullnose rabbet plane. It works so much, much better than the Stanley #90 that it is almost impossible to compare them with only words.

Instead of a #5, I would suggest a Lee Valley low angle jack plane. It's a lot more versatile, there's a lot less to go wrong, and you obviate the chances that you will get a lemon. If price is not important, consider the Lie-Nielsen low angle jack instead. If you have a really long bench, the L-N low angle jointer is another viable option, but you may have a lot of difficulty using it as a smoother.

As far as I'm concerned, every #75 that was ever built, by Stanley, or by it's immitators, was a lemon. It was designed to be a lemon. It cannot be anything but a lemon. Do not go there! It is only useful for throwing at cats, because cats are smart enough to understand the insult. However, it does not have enough mass to deliver a mortal blow to a woodchuck, Marmota monax, and they are not smart enough to appreciate the editorial subtleties.

Re: Plane suggestions

Brian in SLO

>Planing a tabletop isn't my only project but rather my goal among many others. I've always jumped in with both feet and that is just another example of how I've learned over the years.

I don't plan on replacing my power planer but just want to learn yet another method that doesn't require power tools. Gotta learn somehow and sometime. No time better than the present!

Re: Plane suggestions

Patrick Gibbons, Houston, TX

>When I built my bench three years ago, I began flattening it with a #6. I spent many hours and still had much to go. It was sometime at that point I realized I had not oriented all the boards in the same direction which causes tear out when using hand planes. I resorted to the well-known router in a jig method and was greatly pleased, though quite ashamed, of my non-hand-tool solution. Are you sure your bench has all boards oriented correctly? If not, perhaps a smaller project will be better to begin using planes.

Research, research, research *LINK*

Eric Hedberg

>Brian,

To get up to speed hit the newstands and library. Fine Woodworking did a comparison of hand plane brands in the last issue which is a good introductory overview. Popular Woodworking issues feature a lot of focus on handtools courtesy of Chris Schwarz, hit their site for information. I really like Andy Rae's book "Choosing and Using Hand Tools" as an introductory primer. Check out the Book Lists and Reviews on WoodCentral for lots of other great books. Finally, don't cheap out on your tools. I like my bullnose and LA smoother from Veritas (Lee Valley) and I know my great grandchildren will too. Going with a Veritas or Lie-Nielsen will never steer you wrong. A poorly designed tool will haunt you each time you use it. Eric


Choosing and Using Hand Tools

Re: Plane suggestions

Dean J in MN

>When you say "aside from my lunchbox planer" do you mean you want to use this plane to thickness boards? Or do you want to also use the plane in place of your jointer?

If you intend to only replace the power planer, a inexpensive jack may be fine. In my shop the jack is set up quite rough, so a inexpensive flea market jack is fine. Put a decent blade in it and you're set for rough work such thicknessing. I could go on to say you probably don't need to thickness that board anyway, so the Jack may not be all that important...

I'd lean toward a longer plane set up as a try plane for an all around plane. For me, the Jack is too short to serve its much talked about "jack of all trades" role. (Unless you are only working with short boards.) You can edge joint with a longer plane, you'll want a longer plane to deal with that benchtop, and you can make a longer plane "look shorter" to an edge by skewing it.

If you leave your power jointer behind you really want a try plane to face joint. So my personal suggestion is a longer 20+" plane, with a cambered blade.

The smoother you mentioned really won't help you on your benchtop. It is too short to flatten it, and you don't want a benchtop nice and shiny smooth, a surface left behind by a smoother especially on hard maple. Not to say you wouldn't want a smoother for other things. :-)

As for cleaning up tenons and such. A nice paring chisel will serve you much better than a bullnose plane. And less expensive to boot!

My 2 cents.

-Dean

board orientation / tear-out

dave brown

>If you need to minimize tearout, just set the blade for as light a cut as possible and skew the plane at about a 30 degree angle to the grain. If you have a bevel up plane, put a nice steep secondary bevel on the blade and you'll be good to go.

I use my LV low angle jack on oak boards all the time. Regardless of the oak's reversing grain and different board orientation on my panels, the finish comes out nice and smooth. Granted, my jack's set for a very light cut so it won't cut down the material very quickly but it will leave a smooth surface that's free of any tearout.

Re: Plane suggestions

Tim of Livermore

>"I am looking to smooth a workbench top made from hard maple so me thinks a jack plane or maybe a smoothing plane?"

"smooth" a bench top? Flatten...yes. - jack or try/jointer. Clean...yes - cabinet scraper or hand scraper. My workbench tops don't see a smoother.....

"Which ones are good?"

My favorite are Steve Knight's planes. IME, they perform world's better than your typical antique metal bodied plane.

"I am also looking for a good bullnose rabbet plane for cleaning up tenons and other tight corners."

A chisel works really well. Don't sharpen with multiple bevels and you can easily use them bevel down to clean up bottoms of stopped grooves, dados, rabbets.....etc.

Tim

Re: Plane suggestions

paul womack

>I am looking to smooth a workbench top made from hard maple so me thinks a jack plane or maybe a smoothing plane? Which ones are good? Stanley, Millers Falls, or...?

If you want to go vintage any thing older than 1950 is (pretty much) guaranteed to be a good tool.

I have some advice on choosing, tuning and using

If you want something ready to go, I would unhesitatingly recommend the Veritas low angle jack. Versatile, well designed and made, and cheap(ish).

Finally, don't forget a sharpening system. A plane with a blunt blade, even if it's a Holtey, is frustrating and useless.

BugBear