Hand Plane Comparison: Stanley vs. Veritas

[Mike Marlow]

Isn't it something the way these things work on us. There's absolutely nothing quantifiable in what you posted Mike. It's all subjective. But... it's the way things go. I have a Remington 870 that I use just for deer hunting. As hunting goes, I much prefer bow hunting than gun hunting, but when shotgun and rifle season comes around I find myself anxious for it, and loving it when I head out into the woods with that 870. I just love the feel of that gun in my hands. Nothing quantifiable about it. The 870 stands on its own as a first rate firearm, but I'm talking about a love affair that goes way beyond the merits of a shotgun. Where I hunt one could make a good case for having a 30-06 in the gun cabinet, but I just use that

870. It's all about the way it feels in my hands. Well, that and the number of deer that have met their fate in front of that gun. My other guns are all nothing more than utilitarian devices to me. I could sell any one of them and never really miss them. There is indeed a certain irrational aspect to this stuff.

[AAvK]

Personaly, I despise plastic.

(a rediculous interjection, I know)

Alex

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I've made a good living from it for the past 35 years. It has improved your life even if you won't admit it.

[Mike H.]

I was gonna get a #4, then I was gonna get a standard block plane. That was my original plan. But based on the amount of reading I've been doing, the low-angle/shoulder planes makes sense to buy first. But I will not have a joiner or a planer, so I was going to use hand planes to smooth all of my rough sawn wood. That's why the #4 was first on the list.

[Nate Perkins]

"Mike H." wrote in news:qYmdnSnSqaH [e-mail]:

Flattening and thicknessing rough sawn wood with hand planes isn't an easy undertaking. If you are serious about doing it by hand (the neander route) then you'll probably want a scrub plane, a jointer plane, a jack plane, and a smooth plane.

Good luck

[Patriarch]

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in news:Oj4Bd.115$ [e-mail]:

Thank you for the effort. I'd still rather have rosewood or cherry plane totes. Soft drink bottles and dialysis machines, that's another matter.

Patriarch

[Patriarch]

"Mike H." wrote in news:qYmdnSnSqaH [e-mail]:

OK, now that's a different question altogether.

The #4 is not particularly good at that. A #5 is better, and a #6 better still. And you WILL want and need a good block plane.

I have done without a power jointer so far, but it isn't as though I've been saving money - I just don't have the space to give it. Yet. But the planer cost about the same as two good handplanes, is a lot faster, and does things for you that will take a good while to learn to do with planes.

S3S lumber, a planer, a LV block plane, and a LV low angle smoother can get you a long ways towards finishing your projects. And finishing is what will make it easier to budget for more tools.

[Silvan]

Hell no it hasn't. It just about bankrupted me. :)

[Silvan]

Fortunately knobs are easy enough to turn that even a 10 year old can do it. :)

(He did, too. I need to remember to yank off the knob I turned myself and put the one he did on there. I had to clean it up a little to make it suitably smooth for my poor widdle delicate fingers, but he nailed the shape.)

[Silvan]

Having come up through this myself, due to space as the overriding consideration, with money a close second, I can say that you *can* do it all with a #4 if your projects are smallish. You spend forever re-adjusting it. A #4 and a #5 is better. Two of each, better still. The advantage is in having more planes so you can leave them set up different ways. Or perhaps an easy-to-adjust Veritas might make up for some of this. Changing the mouth on a Bailey type is tedious, and it's better to set it and leave it alone.

I don't have a jointer yet, but I do have a Sargent #6 that I hope to get in service soon (as soon as I drill a tote hole correctly :). I also caved and bought a benchtop mechanical jointer because I really suck at getting an edge *exactly* perpendicular to a face, no matter how many gadgets I employ to help me in the process. (Shop built jointer fence followed by a real LV jointer fence.) It's useful for getting stock consistently flat too. This one leaves a horrible burnished and washboarded finish on the wood, but I haven't bothered to tune it up. It saves me from the parts I can't do very well, and then I can go back in with hand planes and make the wood look puuuurty without screwing up the flatness and perpendicularity too much in the process.

Not the real Neander way, and a lame excuse for Normism too, but it gets me there. Only the results matter, right? :)

[Chris Hartman]

Silvan wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Drive by: I got my #8 on ebay in November for $42. Complete, and in good condition, although I haven't tuned it yet. 'course, shipping was another $17, but hey, others in this thread are reporting those prices for 4s and

5s! So, shop around.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Exactly. No one material can do everything all the time. I'm also a fan of using metal where is should be used, but can you imagine your printer made from cast iron housings? Ed

[Ba r r y]

An MP3 player made of walnut would be cool...

Barry

[Dave in Fairfax]

If you're starting with roughsawn wood, you need to flattten it, and square your edges. That means longer planes, not shorter ones and a shooting board or very large and flat bench. A #4 is boing to be one of the last planes that you use in the process, it finishes up wha the others have gotten "just about right". DAGS on shooting board for more info. A #6 or 7 is very useful on flattening as well as in squaring up the wood, then you'll need to go backwards yo a #5 and then a #4 or #3. Hopefully you won't need a scrub plane, but in a pinch a #4 with a highly radiused blade will work to flatten the board before you use the longer of the planes. You really need to check out

as well as info on what planes are used for what and how to care and use them. The reason that many people have suggested using the older Stanleys is that you can't do everything you need to do with just one or two planes, not realistically anyway, and that the cost start mounting pretty quickly if you are buying new planes. The old planes are likely to have been used by someone who knew how to use them, so little to no fettling may be required.

All of this assumes that you can sharpen a plade to a high degree of sherpeness, pretty darn isn't sharp enough by half. Look in the antiques stores and tag sales in your area for old planes. Depending on where you are this can range from a no-brainer to very difficult.

I hope this helps, Dave in Fairfax

[Paul Kierstead]

I struggled with this as well (). I ended up using Jeff Gorman's suggestion () . It works very well if you should want to give it a try.

Although certainly not an "old" hand at it now, I have flattened quite a lot of very rough stock by hand, typically 10" wide stuff. Sometimes I thickness small pieces by hand just for the pleasure of it too. If you are going to do this much, a scrub plane is really really really handy. You might be able to get one cheap used, or get ECE woody, or get a really crappy #4/5 (used or Home Depot junk) and put a *heavy* camber on the blade and open up the throat a mile. This will make the heavy chores surprisingly fast and easy. You really want to do this, honest. Use that crappy grinder of yours. It's a scrub plane, it doesn't have to be perfect (hell, mine currently has a pretty good nick out of the blade...)

PK

[Steve Knight]

I think the design is ok but it sure needs some updating.

but they won't be finished till then so there (G)

these are really bigass. I have not finished one far enough to weight it yet but they are going to be monsters.

[Silvan]

No time to look at the moment, but I'm sure I tried that too. :)

I have one, just as you described more or less. It's the new #4 with a broken old lever cap that has no spring, the mouth is wide open, and it has a vicious ugly ) blade in it. It does nasty things to wood, and does it fast. But it doesn't get anything flat.

[Patriarch]

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in news:58cBd.172$ [e-mail]:

In what seems like another lifetime, I used an even-then-antique letterpress, made mostly of cast iron. IIRC, it was called a Kluge. Working for a neanderprinter.

Life changes, doesn't it?

Patriarch

[Glenna Rose]

So very true. About 18 months ago, I started sewing again after a 20-year rest (the same time as my woodworking, if one can call mine woodworking). FYI, in 1983, I started my business which consumed my time and left no time for the other fun stuff as family and business had to take priority over my hobbies regardless of how much we benefited from certain hobbies. Anyway, last December I bought a state-of-the-art sewing machine that does all the fancy stuff, pre-programmed (discs) embroidery work was the catch there. Yes, I've used it, but 95-98 percent of my sewing is done on my

1973 Viking 6030 (very state-of-the-art back then). Some old friends just cannot be retired!!! Like my old Craftsman power tools, it just goes on and on and on. (Still annoyed with my ex who borrowed the mid-60s circular saw a dozen years ago and got it stolen with his van!)

The new circular saw I bought, also a Craftsman, just isn't the old one! It just doesn't feel right in my hands, and I find myself often using a much smaller and less effective one purchased at a yard sale. It's been over ten years, and it should have worked its way into my affections by now (or is that "sawn" its way?).

Any suggestions as to a way to learn to love the new one will be considered. The old and the new were/are both 7.25 inch saws, so it's not the weight, etc., or likely anything rational.

Glenna

[rcook5]

I know how that works. My wife has three Vikings, including a Rose. She uses her Number 1 (older model) for most stuff and the Rose for embroidery. Her travelling machine (when she gets it back) is a 6460 she bought new more than 30 years ago.

Sometimes the old stuff is just superior, even given equal quality.

--RC

"Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells 'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets fly with a club. -- John W. Cambell Jr.