Smoothing Plane

[Jeff Clement]

I've lately been working with maple and I'm having a really rough time with tearout. With oak and walnut I generally could get good results with my existing planes but I just can't quite seem to get them tuned right for this stuff. I'll get great results for part of the board and then it seems like the grain reverses and I tear our big chunks. Frustrating!

I currently have a Stanley jack plane, Stanley low-angle block plane, wooden smoothing plane, and wooden try plane. Unfortunately the mouth on my wood smooth plane is a bit large. I suspect that's likely at least part of my problem.

I've been looking at purchasing with the Lee Valley Low Angle Smooth plane or Jack plane along with the higher angle blades. I gather if I'm trying to get away with purchasing as few planes as possible these planes give me the most flexibility. I've seen a number of forum posts recommending the LA planes already.

So the question. I want to use the plane for shooting and I want to use it for finishing. I'm leaning towards the jack plane because it I think the added weight might be beneficial and it seems like an ever more "general purpose" plane. Is there a good reason why I might pick one over the other?

What do you think?


Thanks,
Jeff

[Jesse Khangura]

Although I don't have a LA plane (yet) I think you have it right. You can get multiple blades that will help with different situations. It sounds like the LA jack is the most versatile.

[Brian Kent]

I just bought the Lee Valley LA Jack and I am very satisfied. I would get the A2 blade for shooting. I have the O1 blade and my heavy hardwood needs to be touched up often. This has not been true for regular planing with the grain. I will be picking up an additional A2 blade and then putting a higher microbevel on the A2.

Which is to say - Go for it.

This is one verasatile and fun to use plane.

[Lewis Moon]

I just bought the Lee Valley LA Jack and I am very satisfied. I would get the A2 blade for shooting. I have the O1 blade and my heavy hardwood needs to be touched up often. This has not been true for regular planing with the grain. I will be picking up an additional A2 blade and then putting a higher microbevel on the A2.

Which is to say - Go for it.

This is one verasatile and fun to use plane.
This is the route I'm going, only with the LV LA smoother.
That said, a well tuned Stanley #4 or #604 will smooth wonderfully, they're just not as versatile as the low angle smoothers.

[Mark Stutz]

Heaven forbid that I give you an option that doesn't involve a new plane!:D:eek:, because I would never go that route,,,BUT, a new sole on that wooden smoother would allow you to close the mouth and might just do the trick.

[Jeff Clement]

Lewis: I'm kinda looking forward to getting a plane that doesn't need to much tuning. I'm not overly enamored with trying to flatten a plane bottom and, worse, trying to square up the sides. So the well tuned Stanley #4 option is probably not quite what I'm looking for :) Why are you picking the smoother over the jack if you don't mind me asking? I'm a bit unclear as why one would pick one over the other.

Mark: I'm not sure my precision is quite there yet to replace the sole (or do an insert). That and I just want to get on with my other projects. I spend for too much time making and tweaking tools. I definitely will tackle that project sometime in the near future though.

Thanks for the input guys!

[Lewis Moon]

Lewis: Why are you picking the smoother over the jack if you don't mind me asking? I'm a bit unclear as why one would pick one over the other.

Thanks for the input guys!

Just filling a hole. I already have a 4 1/2, 5, 5 1/2, 6 and 7.
As for flatening the sole, it's actually pretty painless on anything smaller than a 5 1/2. Just give it a careful ride on a belt sander followed by a few laps on a flat piece of MDF with 100 and 150 grit sandpaper glued to it followed by a stroll on a glass/granite plate with 320 grit. Crosshatch the sole with a Sharpie between every grit.
As for getting the sides trued to a right angle with the sole, Stanley was a "bit" less careful at the factory. I've thrown a machinest's square on pristine Sweethearts only to find the sides a couple of mm out of square....and even that changed over the length of the plane...and on the same side! For the most part I just make sure the sole is square with the blade.
One of the best reasons for buying a new LN or LV is because they're square enough to use it on a shooting board.

[Jeff Clement]

Just filling a hole. I already have a 4 1/2, 5, 5 1/2, 6 and 7.
As for flatening the sole, it's actually pretty painless on anything smaller than a 5 1/2. Just give it a careful ride on a belt sander followed by a few laps on a flat piece of MDF with 100 and 150 grit sandpaper glued to it followed by a stroll on a glass/granite plate with 320 grit. Crosshatch the sole with a Sharpie between every grit.
As for getting the sides trued to a right angle with the sole, Stanley was a "bit" less careful at the factory. I've thrown a machinest's square on pristine Sweethearts only to find the sides a couple of mm out of square....and even that changed over the length of the plane...and on the same side! For the most part I just make sure the sole is square with the blade.
One of the best reasons for buying a new LN or LV is because they're square enough to use it on a shooting board.
Shooting is currently where one of my biggest gaps lie. Neither my wooden planes nor Stanley's are particularly square. The squarest plane of mine is my Stanley LA block plane but it doesn't have the mass to making shooting very enjoyable.

[Zahid Naqvi]

since the advice on plane options has already been dispensed, may I offer an "off topic" suggestion. What I have done on some boards which have changing grain is to mark the grain direction with a pencil (arrows pointing in the direction I should plane), most importantly I mark the boundaries where the grain switches. Most times you can tell how the grain will act by looking for knots and the lines of wood fibres. If that is hard to do you can use a scraper which doesn't have "the hook" formed yet (just a sharpsquare edge) and run it over the board. The texture of the resulting surface will tell you the grain direction.

[Marcus Ward]

Try a #80 cabinet scraper if you're having problems with tearout. Works great and the finish is as nice, if not nicer, than a smooth plane.

[Jeff Clement]

Try a #80 cabinet scraper if you're having problems with tearout. Works great and the finish is as nice, if not nicer, than a smooth plane.
I even have one of those :) How handy. I forgot about it sitting on the shelf. I'll give that a go. Thank you!

[Jeff Clement]

since the advice on plane options has already been dispensed, may I offer an "off topic" suggestion. What I have done on some boards which have changing grain is to mark the grain direction with a pencil (arrows pointing in the direction I should plane), most importantly I mark the boundaries where the grain switches. Most times you can tell how the grain will act by looking for knots and the lines of wood fibres. If that is hard to do you can use a scraper which doesn't have "the hook" formed yet (just a sharpsquare edge) and run it over the board. The texture of the resulting surface will tell you the grain direction.
One of my problems is that I don't think my eyes are trained to pick out the grain on this wood. On some woods I have no problem seeing it but on this maple I really have no idea.

I'll definitely give the trick with the scraper a shot.

Thanks!

[Marcus Ward]

I realize I may be telling you guys stuff you know, but spend time getting the scraper as sharp as possible before rolling the burr. Treat it like you're sharpening a plane blade. It makes a world of difference.

[Jeff Clement]

I just wanted to say thank you again for the tip with the cabinet scraper. I gave it a go on the weekend and that cleaned up my tear-out in no time.

I still would like to add another plane to my collection but the immediate need is lessened.

Thanks,
Jeff