Best plane for shooting

Aug 19, 2007 30 Replies

I need to make a new shooting board and have been wondering about what plane I should use with it. (I've been using a Veritas #5 with the old shooting board.) I was thinking that a plane with a skewed blade like the Lie Nielsen #140 might be nice because it would start the shaving more gracefully. But then I read the details and notice that they say it produces a tapered shaving, which seems like a problem. I've also read that big planes are better for shooting because of their weight.



So what is the best plane to use for shooting?



I use a LV bevel up jack plane, a LN 4 1/2, or a Stanley 5 1/2 with my shooting boards. I use the LV more than the others. The LV has the 25 degree iron in it when I use it on the shooting board. I have the 140, but I don't shoot with it. If I were doing smaller pieces I might very well use it.

I use a different plane depending on what I'm shooting... for small moldings a No 4 is fine. For shooting end grain on wider boards I use a No 5 or No 7. The No 5 is fine up to about 4" wide and the No 7 for wider. Rule of thumb for me is the wider and harder the stock the more plane mass I want and the finer the setting.

For jointing the edge of thin stock with a shooting board I use the No 5 or No 7 depending on the length of the board. Jointing is jointing...

When I'm doing a lot of shooting of different types the No 7 stays on the bench. It has the mass and length to handle pretty much any shooting need... though the heavier No 8 would have been handy a few times. ;~)

John

" snipped-for-privacy@cam.cornell.edu" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@22g2000hsm.googlegroups.com:

If you are looking for an excuse to go and buy another handplane for a project, you have our permission. ;-)

As if you really needed to ask.

Patriarch

I don't about "best" but what I've been using is a wooden plane I made in the Krenov style with a Hock 1-3/4" blade and chip breaker. With my wooden plane, I've made it with a large enough opening on the top for the wedge and blade that this becomes a nature hand hold when the plane is sitting on its side. I've also used a #5 jack plane, but it's not as easy to grasp as the wooden plane.

Probably an F-18 Hornet. (sorry, couldn't resist )

Max

Naaa.. A-10 (The most beautiful thing in the sky)

Yes, they are! Even if they do take bird strikes from the rear.

For now, we still have a detachment with the Connecticut Air National Guard.

Have you ever seen a simulated attack demonstration in person? HO-LY Crap! If it had any more low-altitude maneuverability, you'd need a helicopter license to fly it.

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The A-10 is quite a machine but just for looks I prefer the B-2. When my son was attending college in Warrensburg, MO and I would visit, I would rush outside anytime I heard a jet, to see if it was a B-2 from Whiteman AFB. (as I recall they also had A-10s there.)

Max

That's them air-disc brakes.

Yes I have. Amazing loiter time...lots of silly acrobatics. Lots of wing, gobs of engine and amazing survivability. Ever seen those pics of that one all shot-up during Gulf 1?

A real kick-ass piece of gear.

I agree. The B-2 is really elegant and graceful. The A-10 is scrappier. Apples and oranges, really. Ballet vs kick-boxing. The F-104 Starfighter has always been my favourite 'looking' aircraft. ( Severely limited in terms of reliability, safety and usefulness, it still looks 'hot'.) I always had a thing for the B-58 Hustler...that's so ugly. it's beautiful.

The B-58 isn't ugly. It's........menacing. Isn't the F-104 the "missile with a man in it"? Two of my all-time favorites are the P-51 Mustang and the Corsair. It sure was nice to see them overhead in Korea.

Max

Yeah! Ignore the yellow warnings and worry about the reds!

It is...

I know a local who flies busses for Delta for a living and A-10's on weekends. A former employee of mine was an ANG A-10 crew chief, and worked both Gulf conflicts. I signed his military leave of absence papers for Gulf 2.

What I would give for a few hours at the controls of one of THOSE!

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Ah... The Batmobile... Very cool in it's own right!

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I never thought it ugly at all, a true classic of the 50's.

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You guys just keep bringing up more and more aircraft that I can agree are 'purty!

The Mustang and the Corsair are gorgeous even for those who didn't see them overhead while the bullets flew!

The Corsair has significant history for my home state of Connecticut, as many were built here in Stratford. One of the remaining flyable Corsairs is hangered at Chester Airport, ~15 minutes from my home.

Baa, baa, baa... Pappy just got a field named after him in Washington.

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There's nasty, ugly, purty, nifty, sleek, beautiful and then there's the Mosquito. There are so many ways to like a plane. Does anything sound as cool as a Merlin at idle?... okay two on a Mosquito...or four on a Lancaster. (My neighbour across the street flew Lanc.. he has a DFC and still mows his lawn..at age 90.)

Yeah...

A Merlin at any speed.

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...may be, but the leading edge is so soft you have to try to resharpen it constantly and it still does a terrible job on end grain and not much better on long grain. I'll stick to my L-Ns for shooting and recall stall spins in

150s and 170s for kicks.

John

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