Smoothing planes

[Rich Smith]

Hello everybody, I am new to Sawmill Creek and pretty much to woodworking. I do not have a electric planer so I am pretty much confined to buying my lumber at the local box store. I really don't want to buy a electric planer (Ok I really do, but they are to loud to run in my basement shop). I would love to buy a Lie-Nelson smoothing plane, but they are pretty pricey. Does anyone have any alternatives to Lie-Nelson, just a little cheaper?
Since I have never used a smoothing plane to smooth lumber, How hard would it be to do? Thanks for your help.


Rich

[Andrew Gibson]

Hi Rich. I hate to tell you this but it actually takes more then just a smoothing plane to get your lumber from rough to flat and smooth... I will say that it is a bit labor intensive but is not really a hard skill to learn.

Before we talk about surfacing by hand I will say this. Lots of hardwood suppliers will surface lumber for you. I would look up the lumber suppliers in your area and find one that you like that can surface the rough lumber you buy from them. You can usually buy lumber for less then what you buy it from the Big Orange Retail Giant (BORG... aka home depot or Lowe's) in fact the hardwood in these stores in most likely supplied by one of your local hardwood suppliers.

That being said you can surface wood by hand. I myself have started doing it recently on my ongoing project.

You have to start by with a scrub plane or a fore plane, these are planes with quite a bit of camber (arc in the blade) that allows you to remove wood quickly and get rid of all the rough saw marks, it also helps you level out the board and get rid of cups and high spots.

Next you need a try or jack plane. This plane has less camber then a scrub plane and more then a smoother. It lets you smooth out what the scrub plane left and get your board nice and flat and helps clean up the any tear out that the scrub may have left. it can also be used on shorter pieces to joint the edges.

3rd you will most likely want a jointer plane to get your edges nice and strait and square. I keep the iron in my jointer almost perfectly square, no camber to speak of. The jointer can also be used to flatten the surfaces of large panels or table tops...

Finally you need your smoothing plane. to get that silky smooth surface on your boards. the most important thing to know how to do with any plane is sharpen. without a shaving sharp iron no plane will work well or produce a good result. the sharper the iron the better the surface left and the less work it is for you to push.

You don't necessarily have to drop the cash on a new LN plane. Many have found antique planes perfectly adequate, and can be cleaned up and tuned up to work perfectly and for a lot less money. though that do take a bit of time and effort to tune up.

I hope that helps and I know you will get a lot more advise from others here. welcome to the creek!

[Rich Smith]

Thanks Andrew, you gave me some great advice. I guess I have my work cut out for me! LOL! It would be alot easier if I could use an electric planer, just curious, how loud is a planer compared to a router for instance? Does anyone know?

[scott spencer]

A #5 or 5-1/2 jack plane is sort of a general purpose plane that can do a lot if you don't want to buy a bunch of planes that are a bit more specialized (like a #3,#4, or #6). If I could only own two planes, they'd be a decent jack plane and a small block plane, but for taking boards from rough to flat/square, I'd definitely add at least a #7 or #8 jointer plane.

Good Quality Hand Planes On a Budget (http://lumberjocks.com/knotscott/blog/14523)

I've owned 3 planers, and they've been by far the loudest tool in my shop. A router can be loud, but a planer kicks it up another notch or three.

[Bill Houghton]

And remember that a planer is part of a team. A planer will make a face on wood that parallels the opposite face. If that face isn't flat, the planer will probably not make the planed face flat either. Lunchbox planers may be not be able to do this, but a cast iron planer will flatten out minor cup in a board while planing; the cup will assert itself again as it feeds out of the planer.

A jointer will get faces flat, but jointers wide enough to do a wide board are both mighty expensive and mighty heavy, hard to get into a basement shop.

[Matt Evans]

Routers are loud, but a planer takes first prize for noise. SOme planers Work great but are SIGNIFICANTLY louder than others. (Don't get a dewalt 734, they work great but your neighboring block will all hate you)

That being said, If you are willing to go the hand tool route, it can be a rewarding thing. a few decent handsaws, two old no. 5s and a number 7 or 8, a number 4 and a good block plane (i Use a stanley 9 1/4) a square, marking guage and a chalk line will get you where you want to be with your stock.

Sawmills are cheaper to buy from generally than the big box stores. My suggestion is look around for a small sawmill, and make a few trips out there. for Hand tool working it is a simple thing to have them surface 2 reference faces for you, which cuts a lot of work out of your projects.

depending on where you are, you might want to see if there is someone who is nearby that you can visit to get a feel for the methods. It really isn't that difficult, but can seem like a lot to take on at first.

Whichever way you go, good luck!

[Jim Koepke]

Rich,

Welcome to the Creek. You do not list your location in your profile. Some of us are willing to mentor those new to the use of hand tools.

For those who are too far away, there is a lot of good information in the thread at the top of the Neanderthal Haven conference (cave?), Neanderthal wisdom/FAQs. The first post in there has a lot of links to very useful information on many subjects including hand planes.

What you need will depend a lot on the wood you are using and the projects you are building. What you can get away with will depend on your experience, inclination, determination and how much time you can spend getting a tool into shape.

If you already have the skills and materials needed to sharpen a blade you are well on your way.

I tend to buy milled lumber most of the time. This can usually be smoothed with a few planes.

Below is my opinion and nothing more. It works for me and others, your needs may be different, ymmv.

A low angle block plane for squaring/cleaning end grain and breaking corners is essential. It will also be handy for a lot of other tasks. My favorites here are the #60-1/2, #65 & #65-1/2. There is a major change in the Stanley models that takes place around WW II that makes the earlier models much more preferable. So much so that for the #60-1/2 I eventually bit the bullet and bought one from LN. Theirs is a very fine plane. I did do a very small amount of work to make it more to my liking, but it was a lot less than done to my old Stanley models that still can not work as well. Besides the care taken in the manufacturing, the big change was the area near the mouth that the blade beds against was reduced in the later year. This gives a less solid holding of the blade and can cause some problems in use. The LN has a large area. My understanding is the LV planes are also very well built and are preferred by many users.

Even with the wood I buy being milled, it still is not perfect. For many of my small projects, it could be possible to get by with just a smoother. In my case, the size of the surface determines which plane will be used. Most people will find a #4 quite adequate. For wider smoothing tasks my #4-1/2 is preferred. If you are doing smaller projects, then a #3 may be preferred, though neither of these are as common as a #4 if you are looking at yard sales and other purveyors of things second hand.

For larger pieces my #6 is put to use in places where others might reach for their #5 (jack) or even a #7 or #8). The #6 is good for flattening large areas and also good for edge joining short boards.

I have seen decent looking #4s and #5s on ebay with "buy it now" pricing that would get the pair for about $100. If you shop around and have patience, you can do a lot better if you are willing to put in some work rust hunting and fettling.

If you are going to make large panels and glue up long boards, then you will want a "true jointer" like a #7 or #8.

To paraphrase Edward Murrow, if by now you are not totally confused, then you just do not understand the situation.

Actually, I hope this has helped. If you have any questions, ask. Also, if you want my opinion on planes you see on ebay, send me a PM and I usually can bet back to you within 24 hours. It is probably a good idea to watch a few auctions to see what is being offered before jumping into the fray. There are also many other places to buy planes and other hand tools that may give a higher level of confidence when purchasing.

jtk

[Robert Culver]

From A guy thats just getting into hand planes this is my take. I work with figured woods more than not while a power planer is great on your muscles its harder to work figured woods with it due to tear out. I had a power planer about 10 years ago and I liked it. It was loud though and messy. Last year I picked up a Lie-Nielson 5 1/2 and havent looked back. It is more work and has a learning curve but results are much nicer I can work when the wife and kids are sleeping and it helps keep me fit. Power planers are great for large amounts of surfacing but then again let the mill get it close and take it from there with hand planes. Working with hand tools requires you to pay more attention to what your doing but trust me on this when you finish your first project that you have spent time on making sure everything is up to snuff you will have a piece that you will forever cherish because you have became part of the project and your energy will remain in it.

My 5 1/2 covers almost all my needs. I can use it to joint shoot and smooth most of my pieces. After a year with it I just broke down and got a #4 smoother and will soon be picking up a #7 it takes some time to build your set unless your sitting on a pile of expendable cash but I will not look back and I know a couple others that wont either.

[Robert Rozaieski]

Hello everybody, I am new to Sawmill Creek and pretty much to woodworking. I do not have a electric planer so I am pretty much confined to buying my lumber at the local box store. I really don't want to buy a electric planer (Ok I really do, but they are to loud to run in my basement shop). I would love to buy a Lie-Nelson smoothing plane, but they are pretty pricey. Does anyone have any alternatives to Lie-Nelson, just a little cheaper?
Since I have never used a smoothing plane to smooth lumber, How hard would it be to do? Thanks for your help.
Rich

It's not hard to do, but if you want to go from rough sawn lumber to borads ready for joinery, a smooth plane is not what you want. You need a jack/fore plane and a try/jointer plane. If you get yourself a couple of old planes, you can get both planes for less than $50. Metal planes will cost you more, wooden planes will cost you less, transitionals somewhere in between. Get yourself some sandpaper and a granite tile from the big box store to sharpen on and give it a try. Here's my method of doing it.

http://www.logancabinetshoppe.com/1/post/2010/10/episode-27-flat-square.html

[Prashun Patel]

I think being 'confined to lumber at the local box store' is a good thing for those starting out. You can do a lot with poplar, red oak and pine. It's all dimensioned and RELATIVELY flat for you. I believe this lets you focus at first on designing and measuring and joining.

I did like this for the first couple years and it was fine.

If you want to get into planes, then I think a #4 used Stanley smoothing plane or a 60 1/2 block plane (check ebay) is a great place to start. They can both be used to do some beveling and jointing of edges for glue up, and they are a great intro to the world of hand tools.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Prashun/Sean has a very valid point. From my perspective too many folks entering woodworking try to run before they can walk. Producing 4 squared lumber from rough cut stock is not only a lot of work for a beginner, but it adds additional costs for tools which can be more profitably purchased some time down the road when the person knows more about how to choose a tool. It is also a series of steps which can be learned and practiced at a later date. Think back to the days when you started and think of the massive amount there was to learn about in so many areas further complicated by the need to keep everything straight in your mind. This is not to say that the surfaced stock from the lumber yard or home center isn't going to need surface planing or scraping to remove the mill marks, but that will itself be a challenge for someone not used to using a plane. I see no shame in starting with milled stock, and it certainly helps to get that first project or two completed in a reasonable time. Timely success is a reinforcer and has the additional benefit of showing the spousal unit that the funds already expended were well spent.