Hand Plane Recommendations

[Jeff Wright]

While I have a shop full of some great power tools (Mini-Max Combo, Mini-Max 20 band saw, various Festools, solid workbench with two great vises, etc.), I am becoming more and more interested in hand tools. I have a small Lie-Nielsen low angle block plane that I love. I just bought a Lie-Nielsen low angle jack plane (LN 62). I build cabinets and furniture.

Can you recommend which planes make a good "starter set?" I have a 16-inch jointer/planer, so at this point I am not likely to attempt hand planing my pieces. But if my interest in hand tools continues to grow, some help in what to buy would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Dale Osowski]

Do you have any interest in trying a Japanese plane?

Dale

[Jim Nardi]

Low angled jack plane with a few different angled blades. A medium shoulder plane and a rabbeting block plane.

[Wilbur Pan]

I have a 16-inch jointer/planer, so at this point I am not likely to attempt hand planing my pieces.

You may be surprised at how having a great jointer/planer still may not give you the best finish on a board. I was quite surprised the first time after taking a board after face planing it on a jointer, and then going over it with a really well set up smoothing plane. What I thought was smooth turned out not to be the case.

But I would suggest figuring out which task for which you are looking to change your work pattern, and then getting the appropriate plane. If you want to try a different way of making mortise and tenon joints, get a large shoulder plane. If you wish your panel glue ups were better, get a jointer plane to go over those edges one more time before gluing.

But the best thing to do is to take a class in sharpening and using hand planes first. It looks like there is a Woodcraft near your location, which would be a great place to start. Using hand planes without knowing how to sharpen well would be like using your 16" jointer/planer without knowing how to replace the blades or adjusting the table alignment.

[Mark Stutz]

Tough question to answer easily. As has been said, depends on what you want to do. I think a good place to start would be for fine tuning joinery. The LN you have is great, and a rabbetting block and shoulder plane will get you started. (Of course, once you slide down this slope a pair of side rabbets, and skewed rabbetts won't be far behind:eek: :D ) A smoothing plane for those final passes is also a great place to start. You can do it with the LN62, but a dedicated smoother will b e easier.

Mark

[Pam Niedermayer]

I think the LN (or LV, take your pick) 62 is a perfect starter plane, able to do tasks ranging from jointing to smoothing and leap tall buildings in a single bound. Use it and you'll know when and at what task you'd prefer something better, more specifically better, assume that will happen at the edges. For example, you'll probably need a longer official jointer when you're ready to give up that tailed jointer and you'll probably want a dedicated smoother; but, you don't know that yet.

Pam

[Jeff Wright]

But the best thing to do is to take a class in sharpening and using hand planes first. It looks like there is a Woodcraft near your location, which would be a great place to start. Using hand planes without knowing how to sharpen well would be like using your 16" jointer/planer without knowing how to replace the blades or adjusting the table alignment.

Wilbur, only yesterday I inquired at my local WoodCraft store about classes on handplanes. They said they'd love to hold such classes but couldn't find anyone proficient in their use. Sad, but true.

[Wilbur Pan]

That's too bad. An alternative would be DVDs and/or books. For hand planes, I highly recommend "Coarse, Medium, and Fine", by Christopher Schwarz as an overview of what hand planes can do, and David Charlesworth's DVDs. Also, David Charlesworth's books are excellent.

You can find these DVDs and books on the Lie-Nielsen site, but the David Charlesworth books are also available on Amazon.

[Jeff Wright]

That's too bad. An alternative would be DVDs and/or books. For hand planes, I highly recommend "Coarse, Medium, and Fine", by Christopher Schwarz as an overview of what hand planes can do, and David Charlesworth's DVDs. Also, David Charlesworth's books are excellent.

You can find these DVDs and books on the Lie-Nielsen site, but the David Charlesworth books are also available on Amazon.

Thanks for the recommendations. I do have two of Charlesworth's DVDs: Plane Sharpening and Hand Planing. I'll check out Schwarz's aids as well.