New wood, possible bench top, what Plane?

[dawn villaescusa]

I am still stuck about what plane to get - I have an old, small block plane that works very well for most of what I've needed (mostly edge trimming), and I've bought the sandpaper for sharpening but haven't used it on my block plane yet. I have another "Junk" bench plane that I can't seem to tune and get working no matter what I do - actually am glad I have it so I can figure things out without ruining anything good. So, to my question, I have a piece of barn wood that was given to me - 1 7/8" x 5 5/8", 8' long - with an opportunity to get more possibly. I got it to use to top off our rock fireplace mantel if we ever get funds to get it built -- but I've been staring at this piece of perfectly straight old wood wondering what it is and what's hidden inside and also thinking of the woodworking bench I don't have... Here are some pix of the wood.
288323288324288325288326
The flash kindof washed out the color a little bit - don't know what kind of wood? Would this make a good benchtop? What kind of plane would I use to get it from it's current semi-rough state to pristineness (well, as close as a klutz like me can come to pristine). Thanks! dawn v

[David Weaver]

Find yourself a stanley 5.

Build yourself a stop on the floor or make a temporary bench out of a solid core door and butt it against a wall. The learning curve will be steep at first, but less so as you go along.

[dawn villaescusa]

Find yourself a stanley 5.

There's one on Amazon for $65 (Stanley 12-905 14-Inch No.5 Contractor Grade Smooth Bottom Bench Plane), there's also a "Sweetheart" Stanley #5 on eBay for $98.


Build yourself a stop on the floor or make a temporary bench out of a solid core door and butt it against a wall. The learning curve will be steep at first, but less so as you go along.

There was a solid old MDF desk (2 1/2" thick top) at ReStore for cheap this weekend, I might go back and pick it up as an in-between - I'm guessing my workbench build will be slow...

[Judson Green]

The desk would probably work out real well. You could just tack on a thin strip at the end for a planing stop.

[Jim Koepke]

Dawn,

Unfortunately it is most of a day's drive back and forth between us. Otherwise I would be happy to help with the bench plane you have.

If you do ever come up this way get in touch if you would like to get together on that.

For cleaning up a lot of rough wood to glue up as a lamination you might like something a bit larger than a #5. A #6 is fairly versatile.

It has been a few years since I have visited the antique and second hand stores along the Oregon coast. There were a few that turned up a few good things for me.

jtk

[Brian Williamson]

I bet that wood is Douglas fir. If so, it is a little softer than what one would typically want for a bench but it should work just fine.

[Terry Beadle]

A good place in Oregon to get a good plane is Jon Zimmers. I've bought several items from him and they all were really good quality for the price.
http://jonzimmersantiquetools.com/ I'm not affiliated, just a satisfied customer.

You might look into a beam bench design to start with. These are used by Japanese wood workers. They are basically like the board you have only
they are able to be mounted in a slight incline. The incline aids in easing the amount of sweat you have to produce whilst planing.
You also dove tail cross wise near the end of the plank for a plane stop. Easy to keep flat and square. Not much help if you want to use it as an assembly
table but for making wood furniture and the like, they were used for many centuries with success.

Just an idea.

[Dave Proper]

That is definitely Doug fir you have there. Here in Oregon it was the wood of choice for most construction projects many years ago. I used to have an above ground pool with a wide deck built all the way around it. The base was Doug fir and some Port Orford cedar, the top was all old growth Redwood. After the pool was taken out the Redwood became another deck and walkway. The Doug fir was used under that deck as well as becoming the base of my work bench. Beautiful straight grained old growth wood but watch out for splinters!

Dave P

[James Conrad]

If you feel comfortable with the plane tuning you've done, I don't see a reason to spend more than $40-60 on a vintage 5 or 6. At that price point you shouldn't need more than an hour to tune it up for work. Check your local antique stores, you might get lucky.

[Clay Zimmer]

I just want to add my 2c in regards to Jon Zimmers Antique Tools since I don't recall seeing him mentioned here before. I haven't had a bad experience yet buying tools from him. I bought my first rip saw from him and he gets a lot of his saws sharpened by Mike Wenzloff. If you are looking for affordable tools and don't want to bother with yard sales he is one to keep in mind. Just a happy customer, no relation (that I know of).

[dawn villaescusa]

If you feel comfortable with the plane tuning you've done, I don't see a reason to spend more than $40-60 on a vintage 5 or 6. At that price point you shouldn't need more than an hour to tune it up for work. Check your local antique stores, you might get lucky.

Unfortunately, I'm not comfortable with it (the tuning) yet. Also, I'm never quite sure what I'm looking at when I see planes at the local antique stores. I feel like I need to start with something I'm sure is good (within budget) and needs very little initial tuning. I know that I also need to make myself practice until I get comfortable so I can maintain whatever I get.

I got confirmation that I can get more of the wood, so I'm also going to need to be practicing using the plane(s) for that type of work.

[James Conrad]

I don't have a horse in this race either... maybe Zimmers has cheaper planes other than what is listed on his site, but $90-125 for a 5 or 6 that will still need some work is high for pretty common plane sizes, maybe what he is offering has some rarity, hard to tell from the site... Perhaps look up Tom Bussey, I think he goes by Table Saw Tom, he tunes up, flat grinds and resales vintage planes for what seems like reasonable prices. I believe folks on here have discussed his work, again I don't have any relation to either.

Or, go new with something that works out of the box from Lie-Nielsen or Lee Valley. Woodriver is another option, cheapest for sure. All depends on budget, if you want to tune a plane or just get right to work.

[dawn villaescusa]

Ok, looking at new Bench Planes...

Someone on this forum (Dec 2013 beginner plane thread) recommended this #62 plane if you're only going to have one... http://www.lie-nielsen.com/low-angle-bench-planes/low-angle-jack-plane/ - it's $245

Veritas has a similar low-angle jack plane (62 1/2) for $239 http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=49708&cat=1,41182

Stanley has a new series "Sweetheart" that has gotten pretty good reviews - anyone familiar with it? Rockler has their low-angle Jack plane for $160 http://www.rockler.com/stanley-sweetheart-low-angle-jack-plane

I don't find a similar Woodriver plane... Would I be going the right direction looking at these "versatile" low-angle bench/jack planes?

Thanks!

dawn v

[Jim Koepke]

When someone else is spending your money, cost is seldom an issue.

I have the #62 and love it for shooting end grain. My old Stanley/Bailey bench planes are my preferred users for most other work.

The performance isn't going to be a whole lot different cleaning up and preparing "old barn wood" with a bevel up plane compared to a bevel down plane. It wasn't clear if this is reclaimed or just old. When working reclaimed wood I want to use my junkers just incase there is a nail or two.

jtk

[dawn villaescusa]

When someone else is spending your money, cost is seldom an issue.

I have the #62 and love it for shooting end grain. My old Stanley/Bailey bench planes are my preferred users for most other work.

The performance isn't going to be a whole lot different cleaning up and preparing "old barn wood" with a bevel up plane compared to a bevel down plane. It wasn't clear if this is reclaimed or just old. When working reclaimed wood I want to use my junkers just incase there is a nail or two.

jtk

Thanks that's a very helpful comment - I'll look at the other ones (5's and 6's) and see what I can come up with. This particular wood is "just old", but most of my other wood is reclaimed barn wood -- this wood was also from the same barn but unattached to anything. I try to remove the nails but you're right they can be hidden. I picked up a Stanley #4 for a couple of dollars yesterday, a "new" style but probably better than that other one I found - having better luck honing its blade anyway, but it didn't need nearly the work.

[David Weaver]

If you're going to chance nails, I'd stick with an old stanley or millers falls. If you have trouble honing the iron, ask someone if you can send the iron to them and have them prepare it properly, which will make honing a lot easier after that.

No brand new stanleys and no basket case stanleys. It'd be ideal if someone would sell you a plane that's actually in use. I don't have anything like that at this point, but if I did, I would.

[Pat Barry]

I am still stuck about what plane to get - I have an old, small block plane that works very well for most of what I've needed (mostly edge trimming), and I've bought the sandpaper for sharpening but haven't used it on my block plane yet. I have another "Junk" bench plane that I can't seem to tune and get working no matter what I do - actually am glad I have it so I can figure things out without ruining anything good. So, to my question, I have a piece of barn wood that was given to me - 1 7/8" x 5 5/8", 8' long - with an opportunity to get more possibly. I got it to use to top off our rock fireplace mantel if we ever get funds to get it built -- but I've been staring at this piece of perfectly straight old wood wondering what it is and what's hidden inside and also thinking of the woodworking bench I don't have... Here are some pix of the wood.
288323288324288325288326
The flash kindof washed out the color a little bit - don't know what kind of wood? Would this make a good benchtop? What kind of plane would I use to get it from it's current semi-rough state to pristineness (well, as close as a klutz like me can come to pristine). Thanks! dawn v
Yes - that material would make a fine bench top. Now, the question I would be starting with is what are you looking to do? How big a benchtop do you want? What are you going to use for a base? What are you going to do with it? How many more pieces like that one can you get? For example, to edge glue a few pieces of that thickness to make a serviceable, although a little thin workbench top you might need only another 3 or 4 boards like that one (to end up around 24 inches for example) but you would be better off with a jointer plane. I might want to rip them though and face glue them in which case you could get about 2 1/2 inch thick top but you would need two to three times as much material. Face gluing the pieces might work fine (I can't really tell how smooth the surface is) without any significant planing. Maybe that little number 4 you just got would work fine. How flat do you need the top to be? That is important to understand to choose the right planes to finish the top. If all you need is a relatively sound work platform you won't have to get fussy with finish planing. I guess what I am saying is a little more info on your goals would be helpful.

[dawn villaescusa]

Now, the question I would be starting with is what are you looking to do? How big a benchtop do you want? What are you going to use for a base? What are you going to do with it? How many more pieces like that one can you get? For example, to edge glue a few pieces of that thickness to make a serviceable, although a little thin workbench top you might need only another 3 or 4 boards like that one (to end up around 24 inches for example) but you would be better off with a jointer plane. I might want to rip them though and face glue them in which case you could get about 2 1/2 inch thick top but you would need two to three times as much material. Face gluing the pieces might work fine (I can't really tell how smooth the surface is) without any significant planing. Maybe that little number 4 you just got would work fine. How flat do you need the top to be? That is important to understand to choose the right planes to finish the top. If all you need is a relatively sound work platform you won't have to get fussy with finish planing. I guess what I am saying is a little more info on your goals would be helpful.

I'd like a bench for hand-planing and other work with hand-tools. I don't plan to do 'fine' work like the beautiful tables and cabinets I see posted on this forum - doubt I will ever be steady or patient enough. So yes, I'm looking for a "sound work platform" and I'd love to be able to build one myself. I can get 6-8 more pieces like the one in the photo. My only power tools are a circular saw and a couple of drills - at this point I don't plan to get a table saw or other big saw. The wood is pretty rough, and has the not-too-deep gouges from a very large saw blade. For the base I've looked at so many ideas - I think probably just a basic base of 4x4's, possibly with a shelf. This is all a learning process for me - but I am loving the little bit of planing, hand-sawing and joining I've done so far, the more I do the more I want to do. So I'm determined to learn whatever it takes. There's nothing tying me to using this wood for a bench-top -- perhaps I need to use it for a different project, and stick with a simpler bench to start with. Or just use that heavy old desk I hope to pick up tomorrow for awhile and focus on something else (like getting the whole hand-plane tuning/blade-honing thing figured out).