#7 handplane questions...

Vintage Stanley vs LN & LV

Jim Reed @ Tallahassee


>I am lucky enough to have three or four LNs in addition to er, a *few*, vintage Stanleys. In every case my LNs are better made and perform better. The totes and knobs are tighter, the adjusters have less backlash, the planes are just more substantial. You have to pay for quality and in this case you get it. Ditto for LV planes. And don't get me started on blades. Vintage Stanleys with Stanley blades are only marginal performers on construction lumber. You need a *thicker* and *harder* blade if you want to attack hardwoods. Upgrading the blade can mean adjusting the throat. By the time you find a good vintage Stanley, replace the missing or broken parts, upgrade the blade, knock off the rust & adjust everything, you may as well have sprung for new LV or LN. That way you get out of the gate quickly. TANSTAAFL applies here. Get vintage and spend lots of time tinkering, or get new and do some woodworking. Hard to go wrong as both activities are fun. Good luck.

Re: #7 handplane questions...

VTAndy4


>I'm a beginner so I'm not really in a position to compare. However, I can relate to you that I have a vintage Stanley #7, into which I put a new LN iron and chipbreaker. I've been flattening boards and jointing edges with it, and it is capable of taking very fine shavings, certainly finer than necessary since a #7 is not used for fine work. I used it to flatten my benchtop. It's not pretty but it gets the job done!

Re: #7 handplane questions...

Edward in Vancouver


>I too am a beginer, and have on my bench a Record #6 (only 18"long) and a new LV BU Jack, they both get the job done. Kinda like the differnce between a Chevy and Rolls, alot of difference in quality (and backlash), but both of them still get you to where you need to go. The larger jointers are mainly used to true up boards, and therefore are usually set for thicker shavings. Go where your wallet tells you to go....

I agree with Jim

John Hoffman


>I have a vintage No.7 and five LN's. I have tried to flatten the soles of old planes and it really, really sucks. I will never try it again, and like Jim pointed out after the expense of a replacement blade, the time spent flattening etc, you will have more invested in it and get poorer performance then the LN. As far as the expense goes, yes they are worth the money. I toured the factory this summer and they put a lot into each tool, from the material to the finish. You can also sell the plane if you give up woodworking for almost what you paid so it is also a safe investment.

If you want to only thickness boards then you dont need to have a perfectly flat sole. I use a old wooden plane with a very large mouth to hog away material ($40). Jointing is another story and you need a flat sole.

Regards

JH

Re: #7 handplane questions... *LINK*

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)


>Hi Eric

The answer really depends on the difficulty of the wood with which you work. The more demanding the face grain, the more a high cutting angle will out plane a low cutting angle. Your needs may be entirely met with a common Stanley #7 if you are not dealing with the demanding stuff.

My choice would be either the LN or LV bevel up jointer. You really need to try them out for yourself to make up you own mind. Both will offer a wide range of cutting angles. On paper (since I have not used the LN - yet) my preference is the LV (it has an adjustable mouth while the LN does not, and the toe registration of the LV is the same as a #8), but the LN version has many supporters as well.

Below is a link to the review I wrote on the LV BUJ, in which I used a Stanley #7 (Type 11 with aftermarket blade and chipbreaker) as a contrast.

Regards from Perth

Derek


LV BUJ review

Re: #7 handplane questions...

Marc in Luxembourg


>Eric,

There are two things really important about planes. One is a sharp iron and the other is a flat sole. As far speaking jointers I'd go for a new one and not an old one. Latters are well known for not flat soles and for being that tedious to flatten.

I do thicknessing with a #6 and jointing with a #8. For jointing sometimes - depends on wood - you need a tight mouth opening. Maybe a #6 with two irons, one straight and one heavily cambered would be the choice for the first days and later you add a #7 or #8. The LN #7 1/2 is for coarse work and NOT for fine. Indeed if you decide for a LV jointer you will have to buy two irons too. You know because of the cambered and the straight edges.

Or you will buy a really cheap woodie, a fore plane and and a 22 or even 24 inch metal version for jointing. That'd be my choice if I were to buy merely one plane ;-)

Marc

Jointing wood flat is something new...

Dave Thompson


>Hi Eric, It's only been in the last 20 years or so that people have been able to joint wood flat, thanks to LN and LV. The previous several thousand years have been spent working out the details ;-)

Ok... [smart donkey mode off]... LN and LV are nice because they come pre-tuned. If you are new to hand planing, not comfortable tuning one up, and/or don't want to learn before you do some work with it, then they are a good way to go. They also give a new person a good baseline as to how good a plane is suppose to work. The precision with LN and LV is more appreciated with the smoothers. They also make more affordable, some of the more rare and economically more challenging to attain, specialty planes. Those are good buys.

If you want to save a bundle, you can buy a used jointer. Jointing is not as demanding, as say smoothing. There is much more room for slack. A stanley #7 is just fine, but so are many, many other brand names.

I probably have about a dozen jointer planes, and more LN's than I care to claim. I regularly edge joint all of my wood, and use to do alot of surface jointing. The used metal ones that I've bought needed little more than a tuned up sharp blade. The transitionals and woodies benefitted from some sole flattening....which is pretty easy on a wood body. Given your open disposition, I would say, get which ever you're partial to. Don't worry about getting a used jointer plane if that's what you want to do. Lemons are uncommon in this size. Transitionals jointers are the best value out there (~$20). Woodies are even cheaper ($10). Used #7 Stanley, Record's, Sargents, Millers Falls, Ohio's ($30~$70).

BTW, I wouldn't try thickness planing with a #7. That'll where out your gumption pretty quick. A scrub and/or jack would be a quicker way to start.

enjoy,

Dave

Re: Ummm! tamaracky...

ThomD


>That's to be sung to the sound of the Homer Simpson bear bottle opener.

Nice wood, been making some stuff out of it this summer, cuts really nicely, heavy and good grain contrast. Seems like the perfect candidate for board seats as on a windsor, though I didn't cut mine thick enough for windsors, only about 1.75 inches.

Re: #7 handplane questions...

Wendell @ Murphy, TX


>I split the difference. I bought a vintage jointer plane from a dealer (Walt Quadrato in my case) for $80 plus shipping. The plane came ready to use. Walt even sharpened the blade so I had a good reference for what "sharp" really means. The plane takes nice shaving in the woods I work, mostly North American hardwoods, with the stock blade so I haven't bothered to upgrade the blade and chip breaker.

Wendell

Re: #7 handplane questions...

Paul Kierstead


>I have a modern Record #7 as well as a L-N #8. The Record came with plastic handles that, in addition to being ugly, get kinda icky if you work hard for a bit. I replaced 'em. I also replaced the blade with a replacement LV or Hock (can't recall which...). It works like a total champ, doing an *extremely* fine job. Now the L-N is nicer, I will admit, and if I was to use a monster plane to smooth, the L-N does a very very nice job; in fact, it is one of my favorite planes, I really love this guy. But the Record is extremely good when tweaked a little. Now I have heard that not all of 'em are straight out of the box, that would be bad, but I bet if you buy a used Stanley from a contiensous seller, you will get a great plane.

As someone else said, I sure wouldn't try thicknessing with one though. Get a cheap jack plane for that and have at 'er.

THANKS GUYS!

eric from gilbert MN


>I've been lurking here for a while and as a new woodworker probably won't have much to contribute - just a long stream of newbie questions. I REALLY appreciate all the knowledgeable responses. It's also great to get the perspective of folks on other continents!

Thanks again,

eric