Best Jack Plane

[Brian Kent]

This goes alongside the "Best Smooth Plane Update" and "Your Best Block Plane.

This is also not a theoretical question based on reviews or what you heard.

What is the Best Jack Plane you have ever used?

When the answers have piled up I'll compile and post the list.

As always, photos are enjoyed, but not needed with your answer.

[Zach England]

Lie Nielsen 5

[Doug Shepard]

LN LA Jack

[Gary Benson]

Stanley 605 referb. I really love my LN 5 1/2, but I really use it as a large smoother.

[Mike Henderson]

Stanley Bedrock 605 with original SW blade.

Second would be a Vaughan and Bushnell 905 with modern iron.

Mike

[Added pix: V&B on the left, Bedrock on the right]

[Jim Koepke]

I am easy, one of my #5s does leave a nice surface:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=133107

The other is set up for thicker work.

The #5-1/2 is used often for shooting as is the #6.

Though, this does not make them the best, just the best in my shop.

jim

[Matt Ranum]

Easy for me too, Bailey type 9 #5. I own only 1 jack and have used only 1 jack, but in fairness its actually the most used plane I have next to my #3 anyway.

[Carl L Goff]

Ln La Jack Plane #62. I have two blades for it. I put a different angle on one blade. It works for me.

[Eric Brown]

I like my LV LA Jack because it has a slightly wider blade than the LN and when using it on a shooting board I can do a full 2" thick board. I also have high angle and toothed blades that work well when doing thougher boards.
Adjustable mouth, no chipbreaker, thick blade. Lot of features I like.
Luckly I don't need to limit myself and I also like my old Stanley 5 (qty 2) and 5 1/2 (qty 2) as jacks.

Eric

[James Taglienti]

Gotta be my round top 605 that some guy filed the numbers off of and replaced the lever cap with a blank one... yes it's true it works like a dream! I'm actually happy he did all that because it allowed me to get it at a flea market for $8 ! I didn't even know it was a bedrock until about 2 months later when i got ready to take some ebay pictures and... suddenly it wasn't for sale.

[Bob Noles]

I have to vote for my LV LAJ with the 2 extra blades

[Tri Hoang]

Stanley #5C /Hock blade/chip breaker among my other jacks including LV LA jack, LN #5-1/2, Woodriver #5, Stanley #5, and Miller Fall #14. It has a nice balance of weight/length/fit.

I use LV LA jack and LN #5-1/2 as panel smoothers...and they excel at that.

[David Gendron]

My Stanley #6 with Hock iron assembly. I think it's a type 16, bought from Brass City Records and Tools. I like the size way better than the #5 I have(LN)! If I had only one plane, it would be a #6(606 or that size anyway).

[David Christopher]

LV LA jack

[Chris Kennedy]

I can't say its the best I've used because my high school English teacher would find me and beat me senseless.

My LV low angle jack is great. It is only the second jack plane I've used-- the first was a refurbed Stanley #5, so it cannot be the best, only the better. In my plane collection, I go for my LV low angle most often.

Cheers,

Chris

[Leigh Betsch]

I guess it's a jack, although it does a darn sice job of smoothing on most stuff. It's my go to plane.

[Adam Johan Bergren]

Veritas Low Angle Jack.

[Derek Cohen]

The difficulty with choosing a jack these days is that it can mean many things. A smoother is easy to define - it provides the finsih surfacing. A jointer is easy to define - it levels and flattens to join two surfaces together. But a jack may refer to a plane that is intended to smooth a large surface, that is a panel plane. Or it may be used to take thick shavings to remove waste quickly, that is a fore plane. Or it can be used as a shooting plane on a shooting board.

One plane does all these things very well, this being the Veritas LA Jack ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/Setting%20Up%20and%20Using%20a%20Shooting%20Board4 _html_64d19892.jpg

However, while it can take very thick shavings with the right cambered blade, this is not its forte ..

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/WoodworkTechniques/TheSecretToCamberinBUPlaneBlades_html_m22d070e1.jp g

My best to date for thick savings is a mesquite jack I made with a 5/16" thick D2 blade. Of course that is all it can do ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/BuildingAJackPlane_html_m4a188386.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim R Edwards]

LVLAJ and Stanley Type 13 #5

[Brian Kent]

I'll post our list tomorrow, and I'll keep adding to it as long as you send in your Best Jack Plane.

Brian

[Brian Kent]

Home Made Wooden Jack
Home Made Wooden Jack - mesquite
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack with 2 extra blades
Lie Nielsen #5
Lie Nielsen Low Angle Jack
Lie Nielsen Low Angle Jack (#62)
Stanley #5C /Hock blade/chip breaker
Stanley #6 type 16 with Hock iron assembly
Stanley Bedrock #605
Stanley Bedrock #605 - orig. SW blade
Stanley Bedrock #605 Round Top
Stanley/Bailey #5 type 13
Stanley/Bailey #5 type 9
Stanley/Bailey #5 type 9
Vaughan and Bushnell 905 with modern iron

[Richard Niemiec]

Home Made Wooden Jack
Home Made Wooden Jack - mesquite
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack with 2 extra blades
Lie Nielsen #5
Lie Nielsen Low Angle Jack
Lie Nielsen Low Angle Jack (#62)
Stanley #5C /Hock blade/chip breaker
Stanley #6 type 16 with Hock iron assembly
Stanley Bedrock #605
Stanley Bedrock #605 - orig. SW blade
Stanley Bedrock #605 Round Top
Stanley/Bailey #5 type 13
Stanley/Bailey #5 type 9
Stanley/Bailey #5 type 9
Vaughan and Bushnell 905 with modern iron


I guess this means that pretty much any Stanley, LN or LV jack plane is the best. Really, it is all in the sharpening of the iron, as any of these planes are simply jigs to hold edge tools, n'ces pas?

[James Taglienti]

I couldn't have said it better myself Richard... though the strength, integrity, and ease of use of any jig in a shop can vary from worthless and frustrating to indispensable and rewarding.

[Paul Murphy]

I guess this means that pretty much any Stanley, LN or LV jack plane is the best. Really, it is all in the sharpening of the iron, as any of these planes are simply jigs to hold edge tools, n'ces pas?

True, but from a user standpoint I like the Veritas LAJ because it has the adjustable mouth with a stop screw. It is so quick to clear chips, and you don't have to worry about hitting the blade when closing the mouth back up. I love that feature!

[Brian Kent]

I am getting two messages from the list:

1) LV, LN and well-tuned Old Stanley are outstanding.

2) A lot of different planes can qualify as the best for an individual's use.

Well tuned and sharpened and loved.

Paul - I just added a LV Bevel Up Jack to my master list.

[Derek Cohen]

All this list says is which planes are popular. It does not say which is best.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Brian Kent]

Almost, Derek.

It says which plane each individual woodworker has found to be best, from the planes they have tried. Their original choices will indeed be made from the set of planes that are most popular, but the choice of "Your Best Jack" will be at least a little bit closer to what is best.

If I asked the question "What Jack Plane do you think is the best?" then we would have a tendency to repeat what we have heard, read, and what we wish we could someday afford.

For my own choices, I'll mix the advice of professional reviews with the experience of these 20+ Creekers and whatever I have had the privilege of trying myself.

Brian

[Brian Kent]

I'll add my own experience - Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack.

[Callan Campbell]

1920's Stanley/Bailey #5, that I bought used from a booth at the Woodworking Show a few years back. The guy was from Brooklyn NY, had lots of stuff but I was still very green with hand tools having sworn them off due to a Anant plane killing me early on in woodworking with lousy performance[it had to be the plane, couldn't of been me;)] Anyway, it was my first good plane, first used plane, and it tuned/fettled so well that I got back into hand tools as a result. Kind of my gateway plane:D

[Frank Drew]

If we're just talking about an all-around plane, 13-14" long, then one of my Japanese planes (maker unknown by me), followed by my Spiers panel plane.

The jack plane that I've used the most, though, and really like, is my Record 05 from around 1970 or so.

[Brian Kent]

The dust is settling on this thread, so I am posting the updated list of 27 planes. I'll add more if others post. Again, this is about the best Jack Plane you have personally used, and not the one you think is best based on reviews.

To determine the best plane for me, I compare:
1) This list from all of you
2) Jack Plane reviews
3) My own experience
4) My own research,
5) Cost
6) Availability
7) Amount of work (and fun) to earn money, rehab a plane, or build one.


Home Made Wooden Jack
Home Made Wooden Jack - mesquite
Japanese Plane (maker unknown)
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack with 2 extra blades
Lie Nielsen #5
Lie Nielsen Low Angle Jack
Lie Nielsen Low Angle Jack (#62)
Record 05
Speirs Panel Plane
Stanley #5C /Hock blade/chip breaker
Stanley #6 type 16 with Hock iron assembly
Stanley Bedrock #605
Stanley Bedrock #605 - orig. SW blade
Stanley Bedrock #605 Round Top
Stanley/Bailey #5 - 1920's
Stanley/Bailey #5 type 13
Stanley/Bailey #5 type 9
Stanley/Bailey #5 type 9
Vaughan and Bushnell 905 with modern iron

[Dewald van Lamp]

It is a personal choice.

My LVLA #5 is better for the way I've tuned it as a smoother, as is my vintage Stanley # 6 for its purpose as a big shaver.

Fact is, they are all good.

You decide their purpose...

:)

[Adam Cherubini]

I'm with Derek. These poll questions aren't particularly helpful. Not only is it not a comparison of different planes, the folks responding likely have very different ideas about what makes a plane "good", or what a jack plane or jointer actually is or is used for.

More frustrating is the fact that some here may only dabble with hand tools while others do quite a bit with them. Some mill their stock first, then plane, which really influences their views on planes and planing, others may attack rough boards, which correspondingly effects their views.

There is an English fellow named Paul who used to hound me about qualifying whatever I offered in a ww forum. While it seemed annoying at times to me, it's really beneficial to the larger audience. And seeing an individuals work isn't a qualifier either, in my opinion. At least I never thought so. I used to prefer not to qualify things because I didn't want what I thought to carry more or less weight than anyone else. But it is important to get a tool or technique, associated with a job and very likely a species of wood. What works for me, won't work for Derek for example, because our woods are different.

The key to finding a plane that will work for you is figuring out specifically what you are going to do, then asking folks who have done that job what tool or technique they used. A general question to a forum like this one is..I don't mean this to sound harsh,...worse than a waste of time. It suggests consensus exists where it doesn't.

Not to chastise you, Brian. You get to ask whatever you wish. I just caution anyone attempting to draw any conclusions from what was posted on these threads.

Adam

[Brian Kent]

Adam and Derek,

I appreciate both of your responses. I do not take them as chastisement in any form, but as getting more specific and carrying on the discussion. Please keep the further distinctions coming.

For me it is helpful to see the clusters of responses, the wide range of effective planes, and the individual comments.

I am also obsessive about reading every review I can find. I trust the experienced or professional reviewer to know much more then the typical woodwrker and to be able to teach us about specific usages. A classic example of this for me is Lyn Mamgimeli's excellent "High Angle Smoothing Plane Review". His review led me to try the Mujingfang High Angle Smoother, which I use on nearly every project that involves hard woods with complex grain patterns.

I do understand that there are limits to my specific question. Not only the wide variance in how we use tools - starting with a tree or with finished boards, pine or mesquite, with a shop full of professional quality tools or with the collection of a beginning hobbyist - but also in where we are on the long path of knowledge, skills and experience. Some are a decision on "What 3 planes should I buy?" - and some are on the 50th year of "How can I make this particular operation on this particular grain of this particular wood?

Thank you for bringing this discussion further along.

Brian Kent