Best tool for finishing after a power planer?

[Tom Jones III]

All the information in the recent newbie threads has me wondering if I am heading in the right direction. I would love to do much more "cordless" work, but time constraints lead me to using the fastest solution. I need to figure out the best way to finish a large glued up top.

I frequently need to glue up four 5" boards to make a table top (mostly oak, walnut & mahogany). The boards, individually, will be flat and power planed but need clean up from the power tool marks and fix the minor bump at glue lines and fix any minor warping/cupping after the glue up. I've been using hand held card scrapers, a Stanley #80 and sand paper.

What is the best way to accomplish this? Should I get the LN 4 1/2 smoother? What about their big scraper plane? I've also been thinking about their BU low-angle smoother since I could put in different irons with different bevel angles.

[Greg Cole]

Tom,
I have a bronze LN #4 that I use for this & just LOVE IT. The finish is WAY better than sanded... not too mention QUIETER, ya aren't cross eyed from staring at a vibrating piece of wood etc etc etc.... and it's just plain ol satisfying to make a pile of curly q's. I usually follow up with a card scraper.... a scraping plane is looking better & better the more I look at them.
I can't speak about the other LA planes, I am sure a few others can & will.

Greg

[Dave Anderson NH]

You're still going to need the card scraper to get rid of the squeeze out at the gluelines. If you use a plane on the hardened squeezeout, you will prematurely dull the blade of the plane and you run the risk of tearout along the sides of the glue line. Your major concern is making sure you align all of the boards with the grain running the same way so that you can plane "downhill" and not have to reverse direction and again risk tearout. It will require a bit more planning for the glueup and sometimes more careful stock selection

[Fred Gross]

I use a small chisel plane with a light touch to clean up glue squeeze out. I haven't had any problems with premature dulling of the plane iron. But as previously posted, you have to make sure the grain is oriented during glue up. For major corrections, I use my 4 1/2 w/HAF and for removing machine marks from large areas, I use a 112 scraper plane.

[Greg Cole]

Dave said something I learned the hard way. Uphill-downhill glue ups are something to be AVOIDED. DAMHIKT....:cool: Especially when made out of a difficult material like say... curly birch. Maybe it's just me ut the curly birch is harder to finish that the curly maple.. seems "chippier".
I do really like my LN #4, but the 4 1/2 might have been a slightly better choice with the larger footprint when working larger flat spots.
The idea of the 5 1/2 with both angle blades seems to be a very sensible one as well. I have a tendency to make up my mind and just do it, which is why I bought the #4.
Back to the post (I tend to wander, huh?). The research left me slightly confused to which plane is the "right" one for the "right" job (Tom...much like in your more recent post). Ask enough people and you'll have a different answer to the rightness of the tool for the job. Buy a good brand of any of "time tested" planes & you will not regret it! I honestly look forward to grabbing mine, especially since my first planes were BORG bought el cheapo Stanley & buck Bro's.

[Dan Forman]

If you are going to be doing any figured wood, you might consider one of the bevel up planes, allowing you to use a higher cutting angle to reduce tearout. I like the LV Bevel Up Smoother, but LN makes one too.

Dan