First Wooden Plane - Jointer or Jack?

[Kevin LaPean]

Thanks to the mischievious ideas that this website has planted in my head, I have begun to explore the world of quality hand tools and the fundamental skills needed to use them. This forum has been a great resource and has sparked my interest in woodworking once again, and I believe it is time for me to become involved in the discussion.

I've decided to get a wooden bench plane, but have not been able to make up my mind between a Knight razee jack and jointer . I have been considering the jointer, but am wondering if it would be too unwieldy when working on smaller pieces. Would the jack plane be sufficiently long to flatten a workbench top and joint the edges of 8 foot board?

My short term goal is to aquire a few planes which are capable of a wide range of tasks without getting anything too specialized. I currently have a LN 60 1/2 and plan to get a smoothing plan in the near future. Perhaps those of you with a limited plane collection would be able to offer your thoughts.

Thanks!

Kevin

[Steve knight]

what kind of small work do you do? you can do longer boards with a shorter plane but you jsut need to be more careful. and mark your work well for straightness.

[Tom Sontag]

A block plane (you have the best IMO), a jointer, a smoother and a jack would all be in the list of my first five choices. You would not make a mistake choosing either now if your plan of a minimal set progresses any further at all.

[Zahid Naqvi]

Kevin, I like yourself have a limited inventory of hand planes (and a very long wish list). But the three planes I feel are needed the most are; the block plane (in the 60-1/2 you have one of the best), a smooth planes, and a jack plane.

A jack plane, as the name suggests, is a jack of all trades. In skillful hands it can perform all operations from a smoother all the way to a jointer. I use my stanley #5 jack plane for edge jointing and it does a good job at it. If the table you are referring to is your work bench then a jack plane could be sufficient to flatten it, but that depends on how experienced you are with your plane. The point I am trying to make is that a jack plane is a good plane to get as the first one because it can be adapted to so many operations. I suggest you get a jack plane first followed by a smoother and then a jointer.

Personally I love wooden planes, and I have had the pleasure to fondle a couple of Knight planes, they are absolutely a joy to use. But you may also want to consider the Veritas low angle jack plane. I have used it once, but from long term users I have heard nothing but praise for it. Or if you are like me you will make your own wooden planes :D

[Kevin LaPean]

The smallest pieces that I can foresee working on are frame pieces for a bow saw and canoe seats, about a foot in length. To plane a piece shorter than that, I assume that a block plane might be sufficient.

The versitility of the jack plane may be more useful to me at this point than the longer sole length of the jointer. Perhaps jointing with the shorter jack plane would force me to focus on my technique and awareness of what I'm doing, rather than simply letting the tool do its job.

I am interested in building my own wooden planes someday, but getting a plane that has been set up correctly will allow me to learn from the plane and will provide a reference point for building and tuning a plane in the future.