Plane advice needed - starting out

[Dale Murray]

I was raised in a woodworking family and always had access to power tools (they are not hand tool people) but now live in an apartment 5 hours away and aching to do some wood working. Since I do not believe my landlord would appreciate a delta table saw in my third floor walk up I have decided to pursue hand tool method, I also feel it will give me an enhanced understanding of the medium.

My intent is to get a nice collection of wood planes, a couple decent hand saws, possibly a new chisel set - my vintage buck bros set was abused before my time with it.

My greatest area of knowledge gap is in the realm of wood planes. I hope to purchase old planes and tune them, replace blades as needed. In doing so I will gain a greater understanding of planes, their functionality, and get some enjoyment during the process. I figure it will take a year to build up enough tools to actually tackle a basic project.

I would like to stick to steel planes.

I currently tuning up a Baily #5 - flatten the sole, going to replace the blade, lap the frog, etc. I do not have high hopes for it so it may end up being more utilitarian than anything.

So I will need:
- Jointer plane
- Smoothing plane
- Block planes
- Standard angle
- Low angle
- Router plane
- Rabbet plane
- Shoulder plane

I understand I may need multiple sizes of each.

What I am really looking for is advice on brands and models and a fair price found in the used market. I know I could simply go out and buy Lie-Nielson or Lee-Valley and be done with it but in doing so I could empty my entire savings account and be divorced.

I am open to good tuned used tools and did spend some time on the classifieds on this board.

I have spent the past couple months lurking on this forum and have been endlessly impressed with the quality of work and free exchange of knowledge and encouragement. I truly look forward to your responses.

Here are a couple old tools given to me by my grandfather before he passed. He was a tool collector, not really a user and these are more for looking than for using though I have used the brace a couple times.

http://www.dale-murray.com/tools/image/070403-02.jpg

http://www.dale-murray.com/web/Sheffield_Brace_sm.jpg

Other can be seen here: http://www.dale-murray.com/tools/
Thanks
Dale

[bob blakeborough]

Those are some pretty damn sweet tools your Grandfather left you! Personally, I think you are nuts not to use them... IMHO that would be one of the coolest things you could do to honour of his memory. They look like they are in really fine shape as well!

I started (or a more apt description is still starting) out doing what you are trying to avoid, which is to shock the wife with a motherload of tools from Lee Valley. For planes I picked up a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block and Scrub plane. I also picked up the set of 3 Veritas saws and a fret saw. I bought a set of the Narex Bevel Edge Chisels to start with, followed by the Narex Mortise Chisels that Lee Valley had a sick deal on last year. I figured with all the new tools, a decent sharpening system would be a must and went with DMT Plate and some Norton waterstones and the Veritas MKII guide. A few marking tools and other bits and bobs later, away I have been going... I have since added various beatiful Blue Spruce chisels (nothing's been wrong with the performance of the Narex chisels... Just weird like that when I get something in my head... lol).

I am now wishing I might have considered a Rabbet Plane and a shoulder plane or two as this is something I am seeing a need for, but that just gives me something to save for (since mt wife has reigned in my spending spree). There are quite a few other things I really want to have as well but I know I have more than enough to be able to continue down the slope without much issue... I really want to find some really good vintage tools and do some restoring, but as dumb as ot spunds, I am more worried about spending $40.00 bad on a used tool than I am $200.00 on a new tool. I need to just bite the bullet and dive in I think...

One of these days I am going to be brave enough to post up some of the small things I am working on for critique and advice, but I still have to work some things out for myself before that happens... Haha!

[Jim Koepke]

Dale,

Welcome to the Creek.

A lot of answers can be found right here:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?103805-Neanderthal-wisdom-FAQs

Have fun,

jtk

[John Sanford]

You're missing two planes. A Jack Plane (Stanley #5 or equivalent) and a Scrub Plane. "They" might tell you that a scrub plane isn't really necessary, but if you're going totally tailless, then it's one of the most important planes, unless you've decided to skip the gym membership and just workout at the bench. The scrub allows you to rapidly (in hand tool terms) remove stock. I finally used mine earlier today, and all I can say is I should be smacked upside the head for wasting time trying to do scrub work with a jack. Of course, a L-N scrub plane may not be a fair comparison to a ??Line Jack Plane (Made In USA, but maybeeee Bailey quality at best). I'd put the scrub in place of the standard block plane.


LA Block Plane
Smoother (#4)
Scrub Plane
Jack Plane
Shoulder Plane
Router Plane
JRabbet/rebate Plane
Joiner (#7 or #8)


I would suggest that you buy one good new, or vintage and fettled by someone who really knows what they're doing bench plane. Doing so will give you a better sense of how a properly setup and tuned plane should behave. It's kinda like having the one reference square/straight edge to which everything else in the shop is calibrated. Classes with folks who know what they're doing could also help impart this knowledge, and a class along with a benchmark plane would be the course.

[Mel Miller]

You have some nice collectible tools there, and I wouldn't consider using most of them. Some, like the Stanley shoe buckle or 97 can easily be damaged, which is part of why they bring good prices today.
You can take newer, or more common, tools and tune them up to do anything you want without having to worry about losing collector value.

Mel

[Dale Murray]

Thanks for the advice. I am following the links provided.

I have no plans on using the tools pictured, especially the shoe buckle; the copy I have was only made for 6 months before the blade support was changed - at least that is good ole grand dad told me.

Supposedly that one is worth $600+, though I am not selling.

[Mark Baldwin III]

+1 to what John said on scrub planes. They are great. You can make one rather easily. I did mine in the Krenov style. Being a rough work tool, the mouth doesn't have to be ultra precise...so you get a little leeway when you make it. In general, I like wooden planes, but mostly because I like using a tool I have made. That doesn't mean that I don't like or use metal ones, though. I'm still very much on the up-slope of the learning curve here.

[Mel Miller]

Thanks for the advice. I am following the links provided.

I have no plans on using the tools pictured, especially the shoe buckle; the copy I have was only made for 6 months before the blade support was changed - at least that is good ole grand dad told me.

Supposedly that one is worth $600+, though I am not selling.

Before Ebay came along, that plane might have brought close to $600. I'm afraid that in todays market that is just wishful thinking.

Mel