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Mike Mercado
02-15-2018, 6:47 AM
Hello all,
I was in construction most of my life and am very familiar with power tools and home construction,I am now realizing for building furniture and truly working wood I am basically inexperienced. What planers do I need to cover the basics? I want to build a ruobo style workbench so I will need to plane boards to laminate and plane a table top. I will also be mortise and tenoning so wheat are proper marking tools? suggestions on good instructional videos wouldn't hurt either.....
Mike

Phil Mueller
02-15-2018, 8:35 AM
Hi Mike, welcome to SMC!

Many of us get along with a bench top/lunch box planer. The only piece it won’t accomodate is the full width bench top, but I did mine in two sections and then glued those together after planing. If you have room or desire a full size planer, I’m sure you could do a search on SMC and find many recommendations.

Any of a number of marking guages - wooden pin style or metal wheel - will get the job done. Tite-Mark & Veritas are a couple you could check out. May want to get a couple and/or a double wheel or double pin version for the M&T work.

Check out youtube for Paul Sellers...he has a whole bench build series you might find helpful.

Hi Mike, after reading the responses I might have misunderstood your use of "planer" as a power tool. Good hand plane input on the other posts...

Brandon Speaks
02-15-2018, 8:37 AM
I am sure others much more experienced than me will jump in and offer advice. I am a bit of a greenhorn too but have been building up a tool collection recently and using them quite a bit.

For planes a no 4, 5, and 7 all have been useful to me for work similar to that. 5 for waste removal, 7 to join the long boards, 4 to do final smoothing. If looking to save some money I would drop either the 4 or 5 and get one of them and the 7.

For making gauges I have a few wooden ones and a veritas dual marking gauge. I like the veritas one, cant say the dual feature has been used much yet, but I can see where it could be useful. I hear titemark is the best, I have never used one of those, it was out of my price range at the time.

Nicholas Lawrence
02-15-2018, 9:13 AM
You should indicate what you are looking/willing to spend. The price difference between Lie Nielsen or Lee Valley planes, and old Stanley planes is significant. Same with chisels, saws, marking gauges (Titemark versus a Veritas versus a knockoff like the Taylor tools variety, or an antique wooden one). Since you are building Roubo, I assume you are primarily looking to use western tools, but if you want to use Japanese, that is a whole different scenario. You should also probably mention what other tools you have (both power and hand).

What I would start with if I was starting over again is an old Stanley No. 5, and No 7 or 8, and a decent square. For a marking knife, you can use an ordinary utility knife (my wife gave me a nice Hock I use now). If you want a proper marking knife without spending a lot, Lee Valley sells a plastic handled one for about $10. If you stick to vintage steel, you can use oilstones to sharpen them, whereas if you go with the modern super-steels you need waterstones, which are more expensive and a lot more trouble.

You can spend as much or as little as you want with hand tools. If you get recommendations for things that cost a lot more than you want to spend, speak up, and somebody will probably have a less expensive option. A lot of guys on here really l like the Lee Valley or Lie Nielsen stuff (or handmade Japanese stuff), and if you can afford that great. If you can’t there is plenty of room to build nice stuff and have a lot of fun without spending that kind of money.

Ted Phillips
02-15-2018, 10:56 AM
I would advocate reading a bit. Good references are plentiful - here are a few of my favorites:

Christopher Schwarz: The Anarchist's Tool Chest (https://lostartpress.com/collections/books/products/the-anarchists-tool-chest)

Vic Tesolin: Minimalist Woodworker (https://www.amazon.com/Minimalist-Woodworker-Essential-Tools-Building/dp/1940611350/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1518710109&sr=1-4&keywords=paul+sellers&dpID=516%252BMybfTBL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch)

Paul Sellers: Essential Woodworking Hand Tools (https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Woodworking-Hand-Tools-Sellers/dp/0993442307/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1518710109&sr=1-3&keywords=paul+sellers&dpID=51VvESMGMkL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch)

Christopher Schwarz: Handplane Essentials (https://www.amazon.com/Handplane-Essentials-Revised-Expanded-Christopher/dp/1440349509/ref=sr_1_1_twi_har_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1518710056&sr=1-1&keywords=handplane+essentials&dpID=519u9K6sJBL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch)

Ron Hock: The Perfect Edge (https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Edge-Ultimate-Sharpening-Woodworkers/dp/1440329958/ref=la_B002IU3O08_1_1_twi_pap_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1518710018&sr=1-1) (because sharpening is the *first* woodworking skill to be mastered)

Brian Holcombe
02-15-2018, 11:15 AM
Start with a very basic set of tools and buy as you need, rather than as you want. I'd start with a #4 and #7, either old stanley's (research whats good) or new LN/LV.

Good furniture work starts with good prep, learn to joint by hand accurately and make a square corner (two sides square).

Jim Koepke
02-15-2018, 11:42 AM
Hello all,
I was in construction most of my life and am very familiar with power tools and home construction,I am now realizing for building furniture and truly working wood I am basically inexperienced. What planers do I need to cover the basics? I want to build a ruobo style workbench so I will need to plane boards to laminate and plane a table top. I will also be mortise and tenoning so wheat are proper marking tools? suggestions on good instructional videos wouldn't hurt either.....
Mike

Howdy Mike and a belated welcome to the Creek.

Usually a planer is a power tool and the hand tool version is a just a plane. Since your question uses a plural tense, my guess is you are referring to hand planes.

As Brandon says, most folks can do fine with the three bench planes #4, #5 & #7. After this a block plane is also a very useful addition. If you are any good at working with metal, you may want to purchase older planes and fix them up yourself.

There are many variations on this by personal choice. A great resource of information on this and other topics is right here on SMC:

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

At the top of the Neanderthal Haven page list of post is one labeled, "Sticky: Neanderthal Sticky Threads." that will take you to a page of links with the "Neanderthal Wisdom/FAQs" link.

Another good read to help gain an understanding of hand planes is an article by Chris Shwarz:

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/article/bench-planes-the-system-of-three

Old hand planes like a #5 are relatively common and can be had inexpensively. That is only one reason there are more than one in my shop. One can be set up as a scub plane with a curved edge on the blade for fast removal of material from rough sawn boards. Though in my case my preference is for a smaller plane for this work.

Be careful with hand plane acquisition, it can become habit forming. My habit got up to over 50 planes before giving up on counting. Of course that includes a lot of speciality planes. When the wood bodied planes are considered there are likely more than 50 of them in my shop.

jtk

Bill Houghton
02-15-2018, 12:20 PM
Do you live in a town with a library? If so, see what books and videos they offer, and check out everything that looks interesting. You've already paid for their offerings through your property taxes (or your landlord's property taxes, paid from your rent, if you're a renter); might as well use them.