So...Who Actually Uses Their No. 6 Plane?

[Matthew Hutchinson477]

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It was one of the first planes I bought actually, just a coincidence that a #6 was what I found for the price I was willing to pay. I used it for jointing until I got a #7 and since then it's been demoted to dust-gathering duty. I got it back out today to serve as a jointer for some smaller pieces and because I feel some sympathy (yes, I did just personify a tool) for it. I just can't quite figure out what I think of this thing.

So those of you that have a #6, what do you use it for? Does anyone actually use it as a fore plane? After a thicker-cutting plane or is it your heavy-duty workhorse?

[steven c newman]

Used my Stanley #6c,T-10 jsu a few days ago....jointing parts for a panel glue up. Mainly as a jointer

But can do face planing, too....depends on the size of the boards.

[David Eisenhauer]

I mostly use it to flatten panels after glue up and also some shorter edge true up. Most of my glued up panels are small enough to not need the #7 to get where I need them.

[Jim Koepke]

My #6s get used all the time. Here it is recently being used finish planing some pieces a little wide for a #5:

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On the same pieces it can also be used as a jointer to smooth the mill and saw marks:

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My other #6 tends to get used more often since it is on a more accessible shelf. This one, if you look close you can see, doesn't have a lateral adjuster it is a type 4. The other #6 is a type 9. If my arms are really tired and a short jointer can do the job, then my 5-1/2 gets used.

On some projects the #6 is just a big jack plane. It may be the only bench plane used on some projects.

jtk

[Patrick Chase]

I use mine as a small jointer and sometimes for roughing. I use a 5 more often for roughing, though. The 6 does see use, but it would be one of the first planes I'd give up if you forced me to.

[Gary Cunningham]

My #6 gathers dust.

[Frederick Skelly]

My #6 gathers dust.

+1 Mine too.

[Jerry Olexa]

I use my LN #6 often....EAsier to handle than the #7..Just my experience

[Stanley Powers]

It is my try plane for large panels, table tops, etc. A little camber works great on it. #7 and #8 for jointing only.

[Bruce Haugen]

My #6 gets used a lot. More than #7 and a lot more than #8. I like the weight and length.

[Hilton Ralphs]

If there ever was a thread begging for Patrick Leach to join in, this is it!

[Bruce Haugen]

I remember what Mssr Leach said about a #6. I was a member of a small group that once sent him a highly customized #5.

[Jim Koepke]

The comments in Blood and Gore dismissing the usefulness of a #6 kept them more affordable.

jtk

[Stewie Simpson]

http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan1.htm


There are a lot of folks out there who believe that these longer planes - the #6 (http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan1.htm#num6), #7, and #8 (http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan1.htm#num8) - have to be perfectly flat in order for them to work. Good luck finding one that's perfectly flat, as they don't exist, all of which is proof enough that the old timers, who depended upon these tools for their livelihood, could make effective use of them in a non-perfect state.

[Bogdan Ristivojevic]

I also uze my #6c frequently.

[Simon MacGowen]

#6?

Never need one; don't own one; and won't own one.

Simon

[Stanley Covington]

Good for shooting edges.

[Phillip J Allen]

+1 For shooting! I love my #6 for shooting endgrain. It is long and heavy enough to do the job well!
Phil

[Terry Beadle]

I have a custom made #6 wooden Steve Knight plane. I use it all the time. Cocobolo body and a really great blade which I think is O1.
Super easy on the push and with a little wax, almost air lite.

I've several #5's but the Knight plane and the Swiss jack are go to planes to keep the effort requirements for rock maple or hickory type hardwoods
within my tired old bones.

Did I say they were good lookin' too? Hoot!

Enjoy the shavings!

[Rob Luter]

Other than a few test swipes after I refurbished it, I don't think I've used mine at all. The same is true with my #7. They'll likely be part of the next tool purge.

[James Pallas]

My #6 was my favorite of all. Long Jack, short jointer, and even smoother when finished nice enough. I just retired all of my Stanley planes recently. Not because I don't like them but other reasons. I had a hard time giving up the 6. I actually believe that that 6 saw more use than all of the others combined. If your work involves say 3ft or less most of the time the 6 is great IMO.
Jim

[Steven Harrison]

I have to dimension everything by hand so it usually gets some use somewhere. I use it for a little of everything, but don't use it as much as I used to since getting a LN #8. I have my #5 setup for roughing, but like to keep the 6 fettled a little more towards the finishing side since I use it for smaller pieces.

[Brandon Speaks]

I do, but that is mostly because it is what I have. It was my first rusty pawn shop find that I restored. Right now I have that and a 5.

No idea how much I will use it once I add a few more, but right now it gets a lot of use.

[lowell holmes]

I was de-rusting a #6 Bailey yesterday. I have a Veritas iron and breaker on it.
I will buy a small can of black automotive paint to cover the japanning.
It does a great job.

I don't know why, but I have seven hand planes, including three Bedrocks, a 604, 605, and a 607.

[Shawn Pixley]

Don’t have a #6. Only held one at a LN show.

[Robert Engel]

I think it is a very versatile plane. In fact, it is probably my most used plane of all.

It is my go-to for shooting board especially boards >3" wide. The extra weight is the reason.

I like it for face planing/flattening small panels.

I use 2 blade set ups:

1. Corners just rounded off and blade flat for edge planing and final face planing.

2. Very slight camber. For xgrain flattening a large panel.

[Matthew Hutchinson477]

If there ever was a thread begging for Patrick Leach to join in, this is it!

Haha, I was thinking that when I made the original post. I admit his dislike of the #6 rubbed off on me a bit when I first got into hand planes. Maybe that's why it gathered dust more than any other tools.

[Simon MacGowen]

+1 For shooting! I love my #6 for shooting endgrain. It is long and heavy enough to do the job well!
Phil

While doable, I don't shoot endgrain with any standard angle planes.

Simon

[Chuck Nickerson]

My #6 gets a fair amount of use because of how I prep the blade. It's sharpened with a 16" radius.
So when my 5-1/2 with an 8" radius is a bit aggressive, out comes #6.

[Reinis Kanders]

Use it all the time. I am a big guy so it fits me well, good workout as well. Good for flattening things after the jack plane.

[Mark R Webster]

I have had and used all the sizes over the years from #3-#8. For me the #6 is a nice weight (not too heavy and not too light) and still a reasonably long plane. For me the 7s and 8s are quite heavy. Realistically I use a jointer (machine) for initial jointing and don't really need the length of the longer planes. The 6 provides a nice finish up and handles most panels I would need to flatten.

[Bruce Haugen]

I was de-rusting a #6 Bailey yesterday. I have a Veritas iron and breaker on it.
I will buy a small can of black automotive paint to cover the japanning.
It does a great job.

I don't know why, but I have seven hand planes, including three Bedrocks, a 604, 605, and a 607.

One of the very best woodworkers I know of, a guy who has built furniture professionally for 30+ years, both flattens and smooths with a #8, in difficult woods, too. The plane isn’t the limitation.

[Matthew Hutchinson477]

My #6 gets a fair amount of use because of how I prep the blade. It's sharpened with a 16" radius.
So when my 5-1/2 with an 8" radius is a bit aggressive, out comes #6.

This is actually what I have been thinking of trying. My #5 also has an 8" radius for rough work but sometimes going from that to my #7 (set to take light shavings) is a bit of a jump and ends up requiring a lot of time with the #7. Maybe this is where the #6 will fit in.

[Patrick Chase]

One of the very best woodworkers I know of, a guy who has built furniture professionally for 30+ years, both flattens and smooths with a #8, in difficult woods, too. The plane isn’t the limitation.

Sure, and David Charlesworth likes to smooth with his 5-1/2 IIRC, and Alan Peters used #7s for just about everything (those crazy Brits...).

We have to separate what you *can* do from what is most efficient and productive, and the latter varies based on both the individual woodworker and the task.

[lowell holmes]

Actually, I favor my 5 1/2 Bailey. It has 2 1/4" wide iron and is 15" long. I use it more than my Bedrocks.

[Simon MacGowen]

Sure, and David Charlseworth likes to smooth with his 5-1/2 IIRC, and Alan Peters used #7s for just about everything (those crazy Brits...).

We have to separate what you *can* do from what is most efficient and productive, and the latter varies based on both the individual woodworker and the task.

In the same spirit, how can we leave out...PAUL SELLERS, another Brit, who uses a #4 for (almost) everything. Now and then, he picks up the #4-1/2, but he is often seen jointing with the #4, too.

Simon

[Tom M King]

I keep two with different cambers. It wasn't a plan to have two, but just happened in a round-about way. Turns out, I like having both of them. Here's a video of me using them. This was the first video I made with the camera that has a separate mic, and I forgot to turn it on. I was talking the whole time, but this was the last panel on this project, so didn't make another video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SED7B65cppM

[Don Dorn]

Not sure I've ever actually used mine with the possible exception of setting it after the initial blade sharpening.

[Jerry Olexa]

In the same spirit, how can we leave out...PAUL SELLERS, another Brit, who uses a #4 for (almost) everything. Now and then, he picks up the #4-1/2, but he is often seen jointing with the #4, too.

Simon

Paul Sellers used a #4 to flatten his bench top!!! He seems to know what he's doing and it was effective!!! A #7 might be better for us novices!!

[George Wall]

To be fair to Paul Sellers, he does recommend a #5 for edge jointing in some of his videos.

[Normand Leblanc]

In the same spirit, how can we leave out...PAUL SELLERS, another Brit, who uses a #4 for (almost) everything. Now and then, he picks up the #4-1/2, but he is often seen jointing with the #4, too.

Simon

Also, P. Sellers don't use any camber with his sharpening technique, all he does is round the corners. He can be seen doing all the work from rough to finish using a no.4 with no camber. We all have a preferred technique...

[Patrick Chase]

Actually, I favor my 5 1/2 Bailey. It has 2 1/4" wide iron and is 15" long. I use it more than my Bedrocks.

I've said this before, but as an engineer I really appreciate the Bailey-pattern design. It's an amazingly efficient design that does what it's supposed to with a relative minimum of cost and complexity.

I'm not as impressed by the Bedrock pattern. I think that it adds incremental cost/complexity to improve things that worked perfectly well in the Bailey pattern planes. While I don't think that it's worse in any respect, I don't understand why anybody but a collector should pay significantly more for for a Bedrock over an equivalent Bailey.

[Hasin Haroon]

My No. 6s don't get used much. Sometimes as a jointer/jack combo when I don't feel like bringing out (and therefore sharpening) two different planes.

[Dave Parkis]

I used to use a 6 for a shooting plane until I got the LV shooting plane. Admittedly, the 6's don't see much action anymore, but that's because I seem to spend all my time hunting and rehabbing tools rather than using them.

[Jim Koepke]

I've said this before, but as an engineer I really appreciate the Bailey-pattern design. It's an amazingly efficient design that does what it's supposed to with a relative minimum of cost and complexity.

I'm not as impressed by the Bedrock pattern.

+1 on that, all my Bedrock planes have been sold off. Using them on the same work any difference was imperceptible.

To me the round hump on the Bailey and early Bedrock lines are more appealing than the flat top on the later Bedrocks and many of the current planes.

jtk

[JohnM Martin]

Like others, I use mine as a small jointer. Sometimes, I also find it useful for cleaning up faces that have come out of a surface planer before final smoothing.

[Mike Holbrook]

I just have one classic Stanley #6. I tried updating it with a New LV blade. I have had trouble with the mouth being narrow after the upgrade. As I recall the frog was frozen in place and it took considerable work to get it free. I love mid size planes and plan to revisit getting it back in working order soon. I like #5’s for heavy stock removal which I have done with increasing frequency in the last couple years. I would love to have a #6 “try plane” with less camber to follow the #5 & # 5 1/2. I prefer a rougher texture on many surfaces.

[Jim Foster]

I picked up an inexpensive, used #6 a few years ago and have used it as my scrub plane, might be a little heavy, but it does the job!

[Ray Selinger]

Not the size but the quality of the plane sometimes governs it's use. Who likes taking a clumsy ugly girl to the dance ? My #06 Record is one of my finest planes.

[Stew Hagerty]

I use my as a "rough" smoother. I typically use it in between my 5 or 5 1/2 and my #4 on large boards and panels. It does the bulk of smoothing out the hills & valleys left by the Jacks, plus it's longer length actually ends up giving me an overall flatter surface. Then I can finish up with just a couple of passes using my trusty #4.

[Stanley Powers]

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It was one of the first planes I bought actually, just a coincidence that a #6 was what I found for the price I was willing to pay. I used it for jointing until I got a #7 and since then it's been demoted to dust-gathering duty. I got it back out today to serve as a jointer for some smaller pieces and because I feel some sympathy (yes, I did just personify a tool) for it. I just can't quite figure out what I think of this thing.

So those of you that have a #6, what do you use it for? Does anyone actually use it as a fore plane? After a thicker-cutting plane or is it your heavy-duty workhorse?


It is the largest cambered plane that I use. Rarely have case work which would need a larger cambered plane. No. 7 and 8 for jointing edges.

[Jon Barnett]

I use mine a lot for smoothing, it's my dad's old plane, and for some reason I can always get the blade razor sharp!

[Aaron Rosenthal]

I have 2. A Stanley and a wooden one made in eastern Canada double iron and now flat on the bottom, and sharp!
Use them all the time. The woodie is for edge jointing and the metal one I use for flattening.