Hand Plane usage guidelines

[Kevin Blunt]

Hey guys,

I haven't posted in a while but have been regularly checking in. With all this discussion about different planes made for different tasks and higher angles for tougher woods etc. etc., can anyone point me towards some sort of chart that sort of gives guidelines for what plane to use in different situations. Being a newcomer to the plane world I find it quite difficult to determine which plane to reach for when one is needed. A chart for beginners ( although not the be all and end all) would be a great reference starting point. I have a great interest in handplanes and would like to further my knowledge of the purpose of a no.3 vs. no.4 or a #4 vs. #4 1/2 or a #5 vs. #6 and so on and so on. Along with this I realize that the cutting angle is a HUGE part of the equation and would like to get a better idea of what angles i should be sharpening at. Currently I sharpen mostly at 25deg because that is how they came. Is there a better angle for certain planes? I realize this is a very "each to their own" type of thing but I would greatly appreciate anyone who could direct me to some good information. I have one book now but it doesn't really get into the "what plane to use when" type of stuff. Thanks for any help.

[Roy Griggs]

I will refrain from giving a sm*rt*ss answer to this and just say it isn't quite that simple, as the same plane can be used for different tasks according to it's set-up. (Which is why you need multiples of each.) My best reccomendation is the book Working With Handplanes,Taunton Press. There are many other fine books but this one in particular I found enlightening. It is a little on the simplistic side and that may be why I liked it so well, but it provided me with some "ahhhaaa" moments.


roy

[Tom Hamilton]

Hi Kevin: My own collection consists of a #3, #5 and #7 Redrock and a 601/2. I also own the book Roy mentions and it is excellent.

I think I understand all this wisdom boils down to sharp and fettled (properly adjusted) is very important. Brand, angle, and material the plane is made of less so.

A #3 will smooth nicely and you can use it all day; a #8 will do the same job, but at 24 inches and 8-9 pounds, it will wear you out.

So, dig in to the info and enjoy the ride or should I say slide!

Tom, in Houston, happily making shavings with his Bedrocks.

[Larry Rose]

I've got some L-N bench planes and some old Stanleys. For some unknown to me reason, one will work on a piece of wood and another of the same size won't. It's not always the more expensive L-Ns that work, although most of the time they are a joy to use. I guess there are some slight differences in set up or the way I sharpened them. At least it gives me an excuse to have more planes than LOML thinks I should.

[Ruston Hughes]

As other's have mentioned, there is overlap on what planes work best for a given application and some of it comes down to preference, making a difinitive answer difficult. However, I found this to be a great read when I first started looking at planes (which wasn't too long ago). http://workshop.tjmahaffey.com/workshop/planes1.php

[Bill Houghton]

The bedding angle, adjusting mechanism, and so on are identical on the Stanley Bailey type bench planes; the Stanley Bedrock (flat top) bench planes, on which the LN planes are based, are, I believe, similarly identical to other Bedrock planes. One caveat: strictly speaking, there are some differences in different types (meaning: produced at different times in the company's history). Lots of other companies produced Bailey-type planes, too.

LN now produces a high-angle frog for its bench planes that tilts the iron up 5 extra degrees; what I say below doesn't apply to that feature.

So: unlike wooden planes, on which the mouth opening, bedding angle, etc. might vary dramatically from jack to jointer to smoother, a Bailey plane will basically be the same from one to another. The differences in length will affect what you can do, in that a long plane will knock the tops off the irregularities in the wood for quite a while before it begins to get a full shaving, while a short one will ride up and down on the irregularities, getting a full shaving and thus appearing to work more efficiently while actually doing very little in the way of generating a flat surface.

More significantly, how you set up the plane will affect what it does: whether and how much you camber (curve) the iron, how you set the frog for a tight or open mouth, etc. Thus, you can, as other posts mention, use a No. 7 (or even No. 8) plane for smoothing, by grinding the iron flat across and setting a tight mouth, but you'll work for a LONG time to get smoothness this way. Consider doing some reading. Most hand tool books discuss difference plane uses. Two good books specific to planes are "The Handplane Book" by Garrett Hack (possibly available in your local library) and "Planecraft" (probably not in your local library, unless it's really really good [note to self: donate one to my library sometime], but only about $10 from Woodcraft).