Hand planer...

[peter.slamp]

Any advice on an affordable option in hand planes. Links would be appreciated. How many and what sizes are recommended? Thanks! Peter

[Leon]

hand makes these premium hand planes at a very reasonable price and can steer you in the correct direction as to which to buy.

[Andrew Barss]

[e-mail] wrote: : Any advice on an affordable option in hand planes. Links would be : appreciated. How many and what sizes are recommended? Thanks! Peter

For new planes, I think the best bang is Lee Valley:

high quality, good prices, interesting updates to traditional designs.

For used (and older metal-bodied planes are typically very well made), you can try Ebay, or sign up for the Oldtools list.

-- Andy Barss

[Andy]

First, if you go too cheap on a plane, you'll *almost* certainly be disappointed with its performance. Anything you find at home depot or harbor freight would fall into this category, as would many used planes if you don't spend some good time cleaning/tuning/sharpening/etc.

I'll second that. Top notch quality, work great right out of the box, no (or very little) fiddling required. A low angle block plane or a #4 smoother is a good choice for a first plane. A bevel-up plane would be more versatile if you wanted differing blade angles, as you could buy and re-grind extra blades instead of new planes. If you make a lot of mortise and tenon joints, I'd consider a "Medium Shoulder Plane," but I'd say my low-angle block gets more use. I'll also second the Steve Knight (knight-toolworks.com) recommendation for a wood plane - I have 2 of his planes, and I especially like the razee jack. If you call him up and tell him this is your first plane, he might give you a discount. You can plan on spending at *least* $100-150 for either of these, but IMO it's money well spent. Excellent customer service is part of the deal. If you want to spend just a little more, or just drool a bit, check out Lie Nielsen (lie-nielsen.com). Also top-notch quality, but they seem to be a little more expensive than LV. Unfortunately, none of the aforementioned planes are really available used (at any real discount) apparently because they're so good people tend to keep them and/or demand is very high. There were just a few Veritas (Lee Valley) planes on eBay, and they went for almost-new prices. If you really can't afford any of the above planes, I'd look for a used (pre-WWII vintage) Stanley smoother or jack plane ($10-50), and plan on replacing the blade ($25-35) and possibly the chipbreaker if necessary ($20-35). For good aftermarket blades, look for an A2 blade by Hock, Lee Valley, or Lie-Nielsen. No matter which plane you buy, you'll need some reliable means of sharpening the iron (plane-speak for blade). Google "scary sharp" for one inexpensive and very effective method, or look into a couple waterstones. Welcome to the slippery slope, Andy

[peter.slamp]

[Tyke]

Some time ago I walked into a woodworking store and asked the same question. The person could not provide an answer. It took me some time to realise why.

There is no single hand plane which is designed for all woodworking tasks. Hence you really need to be asking recommendations of hand planes for specific tasks, e.g., planing a straight edge on a long board, surfacing a wide and long board taking the rough spots off short length boards flattening the bottoms of dados or tenons making an edge to be 90degree after attempting to straighten the board

So ask yourself what do you envisage doing with a hand plane.

I started out thinking I would only need a single tool. I now have about 6 due to their specific designs and functions.

I second the recommendation to look at Lee Valley Tools. Most of my planes are from Lee Valley.

Dave Paine.

[RayV]

I'm just starting with planes, here's my experience so far.

Bought a new stanley block plane. Out of the package it was a POS. Blade wouldn't come through the mouth.. Blade was sharp enough out of the package to cut soft butter. Spent time making the blade scary sharp, opening the mouth with a file and lapping the base. Now it works pretty well.

Went to ebay and bought a Shelton. Didn't even bother doing anything with it didn't feel right at all. I would stay away from these.

Bought a Sargent on ebay and really like the feel of this tool. Took it apart for cleaning an electrolitic de-rusting (gasp). Sharpened the blade and it works well but I'm still working on the tuning of this plane.

I have an old SoJo #4, Millers Falls subsidiary, plane that works well also.

If you don't have the money to buy something new from Lee Valley check ebay but stay away from odd brands like Shelton. Be prepared to spend time cleaning, polishing and sharpening whatever you get used. The link below is a good resource for old Stanley planes.

[alexy]

tools. Patrick Leach (the author of Stanley Blood and Gore) also sends out a monthly newsletter of tools available for purchase. I have bought from him before with great results. He's the type of guy that you can just email and say "I'm looking for a #5 worker that won't require a lot of tuning up. What do you have available?" That's the way I bought my number 8, and felt I got a good deal (not a gloat, but a fair deal for both of us).

The tool list email has just changed from a detailed list to a web link. Here is the december list -- been out a week, so it might be picked over.

[Never Enough Money]

I can second Leon's endorsement of Steve Knight planes. I have the coffin smoother and a planer. Wood on wood planning has a nice feel to it. The wook right out of the box, too. The only downside it that it takes him a while to make them -- the obvious advantage, though, is that you get to pick the wood he uses.

I also have a couple from Lee Valley/Veritas and a couple from Lie-Nielsen (made in USA if that's a factor for you, so are Steve's for that matter).

All excellent choices. The Lie-Nielsen's are more likely to be heirlooms and will increase in values when the only manaufaturer left in America is Lie-Nielsen (and Steve Knight).

Le> > Any advice on an affordable option in hand planes. Links would be

[Never Enough Money]

You're going to find lots of opinions on which planes to buy first both on this newsgroup and in books and magazine. However, here's my take:

I use a 12" planer and a joiner (of the electrical kind) for the first step. The I use a smoother hand plane. I have a 4 1/2 from Lin-Nielson (LN) and a Steve Knight coffin smoother. I also have a chisel plane (LN) which I frequently use to trim out corners and such. I have a block plane which seems to come in handy a lot. The other plane I use a lot is the Lee Valley/Veritas Medium shoulder plane.

I have several other planes but they don't get used much so.

If you're a purist about hand tools, you'll need adn want more.

[e-mail] wrote:

[Patriarch]

"Tyke" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Which is why, when things get going, one can end up with several dozen planes in the tool case, and still honestly believe that there are a few he's still missing. DAMHIKT.

Patriarch

[Ken Muldrew]

Get yourself a hand *power* planer. Don't listen to these jokers with their manual push planers; you want electricity. Man, you'll be hogging down wood so fast it will make your head spin. Meanwhile the Ludds will be staring through their micron-thick-see-through shavings and wishing they could take off nothing at all! Any brand if fine, just make sure it has *power*!!!

Ken Muldrew [e-mail] (remove all letters after y in the alphabet)

[Never Enough Money]

Well, there's the scrub plane that can take a bunch of wood off fast. Maybe not as fast as your electric thing, but fast and a lot less dusty.

It's all a trade-off anyway. Hand tools are rewarding in their own way. Electric tools are in another. I could trump your "hand power planer" with an even more expensive tools. To each his own. BTW, sometimes I enjoy being a Ludd with micron thick shavings, just like sometimes I take a walk instead of driving.

yourself a hand *power* planer. Don't listen to these jokers with

[Bill]

Don't overlook flea markets or antique stores. A couple of months ago I was in Ohio Amish country and found a Stanley 4 1/2 in nearly perfect condition for just over $100. Decoded the markings/features and discovered it was made around 1921...

[Never Enough Money]

yourself a hand *power* planer. Don't listen to these jokers with

[Michael Faurot]

I recently got somewhat interested in using hand planes. I'm personally not one that would use these instead of a particular power tool, but more that I use them with my power tools. I'm not an expert with these things by any means, but I have been able to incorporate them into what I do and they are useful.

Now here comes some heresy. If you're not sure what you need or how you're going to use a hand plane--you don't need to buy a Lie-Nielsen plane or other vendor's expensive plane to start out. Buy an inexpensive #4 smooth plane from Home Depot (probably a Buck), Lowes (Stanley) or a Groz[1] from WoodCraft. These are about $30-$40. Then get a bunch of the different grits of sand paper; a hefty piece of flat glass or a granite surface plate[2] and some type of honing guide[3]. Now read up on the Scary Sharp[4] method of putting an edge on these things. When you get all this home, prepare to spend some time tuning it up before you ever have it touch any wood.

This is essentially what I did, execpt I started with a Groz #5 jack plane. I got the combo Honing Guide and Jig Set from Veritas and the granite surface plate. With the granite plate, you don't need to use any adhesives on the sand paper to get it to stay put, just get it wet and it'll stick to the granite.

Once you've got a sharp edge on the iron, put it all back together and prepare to spend some time playing with it on scrap wood. Be further prepared to have to take it back apart again, tweak the mouth opening and so-forth. This is one of the tools that it takes some time to develop a technique for how to use it. Expect to spend some time just making shavings with some scrap wood. Also try using a variety of different types of wood, if you have them available.

Don't get me wrong, if you've got the money, listen to what everyone else has said and get one of the better and more expensive planes like a Lie-Nielson. All though I don't currently own one, I certaily would like to at some point.

I've currently got two Groz bench planes (a #4 and a #5) both purchased from Wood Craft. I've also got a small Buck block plane and one of Buck's little bitty block planes, both purhased from Home Depot. After tuning and sharpening they all work great. No, they're not as good as the equivalent Lie-Nielson planes, and no their irons probably don't hold an edge as long as as the Lie-Nielsons--but they *do* work and they leave a nice smooth finish.

[1]:

[Never Enough Money]

Michael, I like your post but we should all remember the same advice you offered for hand tools also applies to power tools. If you're not sure how you're going to use them, don't go out and buy yhe best Dewalt or Bosch. Buy a used one or some cheapy thing. Maybe one that needs some work to make it work, like the cheap planes you bought.

I happened to think "quality is economy." If I buy I buy good stuff. In the long run that strategy harly ever fails me. Oh wait, my moniker is "Never Enough Money." Maybe I need to rethink this thing..... Cheers

recently got somewhat interested in using hand planes. I'm

[Patriarch]

"Michael Faurot" wrote in news:ukf154- [e-mail]:

You either got the two that worked, or Rockler got the junk. There were zero, zip, zilch, none, nada in the store's shipment that were worth cleaning the crud off of when they came in a couple of summers back. Seriously disappointing.

I didn't really believe I was _that much_ of a tool snob until then.

Patriarch, thinking that old Stanleys are the way to start, and LNs the way to blow a budget...

[Andrew Barss]

[e-mail] wrote: : Wow! I must say, this group has been an invaluable resource. Thanks all : for taking the time to help out a beginner. Peter

Happy to help. Be sure to post back when you have the first grin-inducing experience of taking a thin shaving off a board and seeing how nice a surface the plan leaves.

-- Andy Barss

[Michael Faurot]

Awhile back, I owned neither a hand plane or an electric jointer. I had reached a point where I realized I needed to be able to edge joint boards for the things I was doing. So I started investigating how to do this. I wanted to buy an electric jointer, but that was not financially feasible at that point in time, with jointers typically running $400 and up. So I looked at the hand plane option, but when I noticed some of these were nearly as much as an electric jointer, I despaired of finding an affordable way to do what I needed to do.

Awhile later, I discovered Wood Craft sold planes that were affordable (i.e., Groz). Now the hand plane option was looking to be both an interesting and affordable solution to accomplish my goal of being able to do edge jointing.

As it turns out, I've got more time than money, so gettting the Groz #5 (while not actually a jointer plane) turned out to be a cost effective way to accomplish my goal. Sure it took some time to get it tuned up, but then, I'd *never* done it before either. I learned quite a bit and when I started making some nice translucent shavings with that plane, I felt like I had accomplished something. Having done this, I feel like now I could probably tune up just about any plane and get it doing something useful. I can also now appreciate what a better plane can do.

I've since purchased another Groz (a #4) along with a Buck block plane and a Buck trim plane (very small, goes for about about $8 at Home Depot). I've been able to tune all of them up, get a nice sharp edge on all of their irons and use each of them to do useful work. All of them are what I would classify as affordable, which is what the original poster[1] of this thread wanted to know about when he asked:

Any advice on an affordable option in hand planes.

[1]: