Shooting smoother ?

[Jez Horne]

hello,

i've decided to invest in my first plane. for the last couple of years ive mainly been using collages planes so i do know how to.

im after a LN plane since ive got a set of LN chisels and a LN dovetail saw and there both amazing.
the planes that i have in mind are the 4 1/2 and the 5 1/2. im leaning towards the 4 1/2 because im mainly after a smoother but im also after a plane that i can use on the shooting board to fit drawer sides etc..
Is it possible to shoot with a smoother, i think i remember reading somwhere that length doesn't really matter on a shooting board. and would a 5 1/2 smooth as well as a 4 1/2.

which one would you guys recommend ?
bearing in mind i cant afford both... lol

thanks alot,
Jez

[mike holden]

Jez,
If the 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 are your only choices, I would go with the 5 1/2.
I started with a record block followed by a record 5ts.
The 5 is a good all around size. David Charlesworth recommends the 5 as the bench plane for his students.

However, If it were me, I would look at a bevel up smoother.
Lee Valley makes a good one, believe that LN has one also.

For the price of a couple blades, you can have several different angles for smoothing, shooting, really gnarly woods, etc.

My personal view, if I had to do it again, would be to not get a smoother first, but a jointer, either a 7 or 8, but thats just me.

Also, if on a budget, consider old stanleys, or wooden planes. Hock has a plane kit for much less than the cost of a LN bench plane of any size.

Welcome to the slippery slope.
Mike

[Hank Knight]

Jez,

I've used my LN low angle smoother for shooting with good success. I used it exclusively until I got LN's low angle jack a year or so ago. I use the jack now for shooting, but I really can't tell that it is better for the job than the smoother. Both work well.

Hank

[Michael Schwartz]

You might want to look into the LN low angle jack. I have one and it is my go to plane, and it is really simple and fast to setup. I can use it to true up a roughsawn board, flatten it out, and finish smooth it only adjusting the iron 3 times. This a 9-1/2 block, and a Stanley #3 are my go to planes.

If you are getting a LN pretty much any plane they make is going to be good for smoothing. Same thing with an extremly well tuned Stanley. The advantage of a smaller plane for smothing is that the board does not have to be perfectly flat, but in turn if you smooth with a jack fore or jointer you will have not only a smooth but flatter surface. The only problem is that most people don't put as much work into flattening out the soles on their larger planes than their smoothers.

The LN planes are so well tuned you can use pretty much any plane they make as a smoother.

If you get a low angle jack, get it with a couple of extra Irons (30 bucks each), keep one at 25 degrees for endgrain, put a steeper secondary bevel on another one 30 degrees or so for all arround work, and put a 35-37 degree bevel to bring it up to a 50 degree angle or so for smoothing figured woods.

The low angle jack is probably the best all arround plane on the market, It is great for smothing, and because of its massive iron and bedding area, It will take a mile long 1/16" thick shaving withouht chattering one bit.

[Matt Chantry]

Don't go with the LV Bevel Up Smoother. It won't work. If you look at the picture on the website, you will see a polished steel area on the side of the plane near the toe. This stands proud of the rest of the side, which is not flat. This isn't a flaw, just a design peculiarity.

M

[John Todd]

"Names" are perhaps getting mixed up. The LV Bevel Up Smoother (BUS) or the Bevel Up Jointer won't work as a shooting plane, for the reasons noted. But both the LV Low Angle Smoother or the Low Angle Jack both make wonderful shooting planes. The circular recesses on the sides make it really easy to hold the planes in shooting mode.

Because the LV Low Angle Smoother doesn't share blade size with the the other three Low Angle/Bevel up planes, it's sometimes the forgotten stepchild. It's a really nice plane.