Which plane to buy?

[jonathan snyder]

Hi folks,

I am new to this forum but have been reading for acouple of weeks. I am also fairly new to woodworking. I am beginning to realize the benefits and pleasures of using hand tools.

I would like to get a no 4 or 4 1/2 smoothing plane, but am unsure what to buy. Everyone says you get what you pay for when buying planes. I can not afford the top of the line planes, so I am considering a old one. I was looking at the old tool sites listed on a previous post. Anyone have any suggestions? Should I buy a cheaper new plane of an old one. What should I look for in an old plane, and what should I stay away from. My local antique shop has a couple of Stanley Handyman series. Any Thoughts?
Thanks for the input.

Jonathan

[Mike Henderson]

The Stanley #4 planes are fairly low cost on EBay but the 4 1/2 are expensive. You didn't say what you were going to use it for but I would recommend buying the #4 to start. My basic advice on old Stanley planes is to buy one with the keyhole on the lever cap instead of the kidney hole. That will insure that you get one of the older ones which tend to be reasonably good. Stay away from the handyman planes and the Stanley Defiance planes. The Bedrock planes are very good but are very expensive. Get the Stanley Bailey planes to get started - they're excellent planes and you can learn a lot while using them.

If you're just starting out, don't buy a bunch of hand tools. Normally, when you're just starting out, you will be working on "simpler" projects that don't require a lot of tools. You can do an awful lot with a very limited set of hand tools. Buy the minimum, build a few things, and then adjust (see if you need additional tools, different tools, or different quality tools).

You didn't mention chisels but you'll need a decent set of bench chisels if you're going to do hand work. The Marples blue handle (now sold as Irwin, I beleive) are an excellent starter set at a very reasonable price. The Hirsch at Lee Valley are a better set at a higher price.

You'll also need a block plane - get a low angle one to start. See an earlier thread for recommendations.

Mike

[Alan DuBoff]

Jonathan,

I'm sure you'll get a lot of different ideas in respose to your post, but if you don't want to spend a lot of $$$s, an older vintage plane is probably in your future. WaltQ at Brass City always has a good selection of user planes. I have a 4C I got from Walt, works for me.

The 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 planes will go for more $$$s, so you can get a better price on a 4 or 5. Wether you want corrigated or not (that's what the C designates) is up to you.

You can spend a lot of time fettlin' old planes, and in some ways getting new LN or LV planes will save you the grief. The LV bevel up smoother can be useful with a second blade that has a higher angle.

Hard to beat the price for a vintage Stanley plane, but I'd stay away from the Handyman series. No point in it since the higher end Stanleys are readily available. Bedrocks, the high end Stanley line go for more $$$s too. You should be able to get a non-Bedrock Stanley, either a 4 or 5 for about $40-$50 for a good solid user.

If you can afford it, the LN planes are beautiful tools. I only have a rabbet block plane from LN, but I am planning to replace the handful of planes I have with LNs or LVs.

I would reccomend a low angle block plane (60 1/2, 65) as a first plane, they're extremely useful. Good luck on your purchase!

[Bryan Hartle]

As others have said the older Stanley/Bailey planes will do a great job for you. But don't be afraid to try an older Millers Falls as they are pretty good, too and usually cheaper. Which ever way you choose to go the most important thing to remember is you will need to sharpen the iron prior to using it. I have never bought a plane ready to go. Learning to keep the iron sharp is the key to success with any plane.

[Brett Baldwin]

Firstly, welcome to the Creek. I think you'll find just about anything you want to know about woodworking here. What's already been said is what I would recommend as well. The #4 or 4C is a good choice and a block plane is extremely handy for a variety of work. I'd go so far as to say that the block plane should be your first purchase. It is just that darn handy.
As far as what to be looking for, you want to avoid planes with serious pitting, any cracks, breaks or repairs, and any missing pieces. The market for these basic planes is full of good ones at good prices so there is no reason to settle for below average. Likewise, since you are just starting out you don't want to break the bank on a starter tool. You'll be on a learning curve for a while and you might as well practice on easily replaced but solid user tool. As Bryan said, your success with hand tools will be greatly eased and improved by learning to sharpen and set them up properly. Take the time to learn this part before getting too far into the actual usage of them.
This link will give you a great reference to Stanley's older planes and a lot of useful information that can be applied to any plane.
http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan0a.html
And here is a link to an article from fellow creeker Bob Smalser that gives you a great place to start with older planes. I'd recommend doing a search of the old threads in this forum to get lots of useful information.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=5867

Hope that helps and good luck with your soon-to-be new obsession.;)

[tod evans]

welcome jonathan! planes really are kind of a personal preferance thing and from my viewpoint there are two schools of thought, high quality new or high quality antique. i chose the antique route because it`s pretty unlikely they will ever loose value and will most likely appreiciate..if you choose to go with antiques spend all the time you can reading before you spend a dime! there are bargains to be had but with the popularity of the internet they`re getting harder to find. as was suggested earlier a good block plane (i like low angle) is a good choice for your first. the handyman series isn`t worth much more than scrap weight to me, for what it`s worth? after a block it`s a toss-up between a bench or a rabbit as to your next most usefull? try to remember that good tools are an investment and if you buy antiques wisely a profitable one should you sell...02 tod

[jonathan snyder]

Thank you to everyone for the advice. I thing a vintage stanley would be a good choice for me. I breifly checked out the supertool site that Bret suggested, looks like there is a lot of good information. I also looked at the planes for sale on Walt's site. There seems to be a dizzying variety, i will have to research the ones available.

I'll let you folks know what I end up with.

Thanks to everyone who replied. I will certainly visit again, this is a great forum.

Jonathan