Best Buys in Planes

[Matt Lentzner]

From reading around here I am understanding the importance of getting a quality tool even if you are a newbie. Going used and trying to refurb a plane as a beginner seems fraught with peril and frustration. So I accept the fact that I will need to lay down some $$$ to get a "starter set" that will get me planing.

From what I've read it seems like the basic plane set would consist of a block, jack (5 1/2), jointer (7 or 8), and smooth plane (4 1/2). What are considered the "best of breed" for these types?

Block: LN Low Angle?
Jack: LV Low Angle Bevel-up
Jointer: ???
Smooth: ???

Thanks in advance for your input

Matt

[Sam Yerardi]

From what I've read it seems like the basic plane set would consist of a block, jack (5 1/2), jointer (7 or 8), and smooth plane (4 1/2). What are considered the "best of breed" for these types?

IMHO, if you are going to stay with LN here would be my choices:

Block: LN Low Angle?
Good choice

Jack: LN No. 5 Jack
Or the LN Low Angle Jack for end-grain apps

Jointer: LN No. 8 Jointer
I typically see a 7 in the Stanleys used a lot but if I were going to spend this kind of money I would go for the 8. A little longer. Once you start doing a lot of edges you will want to go a bit longer on the jointer.

Smooth: LN 4 1/2 Smooth plane
Again, if I were spending the money I would go for the 4 1/2 rather than the 4 because of the width.

[Don C Peterson]

I won't argue with anybody about buying LN planes, most of mine are LN and I have no regrets. If you are asking about best buys though, the vintage Stanleys can be had for much less. I have a couple of those too and they are fine (once tuned up).

I have the LN low angle jack and I really like it, but if the main task will be board prep, I prefer the standard #5 Jack. The reason is simple, but a bit hard to explain: The low angle planes are pretty versatile, but for board prep I like to have an iron with a pretty aggressive cambered edge. The only problem with the low angle jack planes is the low angle greatly reduces the effective amount of camber, making it a bit harder to establish the camber in the first place and to maintain it thereafter. For this purpose, I definitely recommend an old Stanley.

I mostly use my LN LA Jack for shooting and even have a 90 degree iron that turns it into a scraper plane.

[Danny Thompson]

Best of Breed is a pretty tall order. I will ignore all the "boutique" infill planes and say the following are on my list:

Block: Lie-Nielsen LA Adjustable Mouth Block
Smoother: Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Jack: Veritas Low Angle (Bevel Up) Jack
Jointer: Veritas Bevel Up Jointer

The blades on the last three are interchangeable. To be honest, I would either add or trade out the Jack for the Veritas Medium Shoulder Plane.

One caveat is that these are all essentially block planes, none has a frog. So, if you want experience with that sort of configuration, then you could trade out the jointer (or Jack or Smooth) for the LN version standard angle version.

[Jim Holman]

Vintage woodies are the most bang for the buck IMO. The time spent learning to sharpen and tune, if needed, is well spent.

[Joe D'Attilio]

Great post Matt; as I am a newbie, I'm finding planes and chisels seem to be the 2 more important tools

SO far after research and consulting my empty wallet I'm pretty set on a few things to start out

Disston saws
Stanley Bailey planes
Starett combo square
Two cherries chisels or maybe even some Vintage Stanley or Marples

Just my $.02
Didn't mean to jack your thread:)

[Richard Magbanua]

Vintage Stanleys are definitely a great buy but expect to learn how to refurbish and tune them up. I purchased mine from various antique stores around town.
As good as I've gotten mine to work I was absolutely floored when I bought a Mujingfang Taiwanese-style short smoother from Lee Valley along with a plane hammer. I had read about these planes having excellent performance for the money so I thought forty bucks was wasn't much to risk. After lightly honing the blade and lapping the sole of the plane on 220 grit paper a few times it was ready to go. I was surprised that adjusting the plane with the hammer was actually very easy. In less than a five minutes I was making consistently whisper-thin shavings. The blades on these planes are reputed as high-quality and a bit harder than the usual blades so they should last a bit longer between sharpenings. I was wanting to get a nice LN or Veritas handplane someday and still may, but I figure that I could get the full compliment of these wood bodied planes for less than the price of one of the other planes. That may be the route I take for now. I'm just that impressed with how well this plane works and how easy it is to use it.
In my opinion and experience the "best buy" in hand planes are the Mujingfang planes from Lee Valley or Japanwoodworker.com. Now I can save my funds for my next purchases: a Veritas router plane and the Veritas medium shoulder plane.

[Joe D'Attilio]

HEy Rich

Can you pm a link i havent been able to find these wood planes you speak of

[Matt Lentzner]

Best of Breed is a pretty tall order. I will ignore all the "boutique" infill planes and say the following are on my list:

Block: Lie-Nielsen LA Adjustable Mouth Block
Smoother: Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Jack: Veritas Low Angle (Bevel Up) Jack
Jointer: Veritas Bevel Up Jointer

The blades on the last three are interchangeable. To be honest, I would either add or trade out the Jack for the Veritas Medium Shoulder Plane.

One caveat is that these are all essentially block planes, none has a frog. So, if you want experience with that sort of configuration, then you could trade out the jointer (or Jack or Smooth) for the LN version standard angle version.

I regret saying "Best of Breed". I really meant what I titled the post, "Best Buy". I'm looking for solid tools, not the ultimate.

I was already looking seriously at the Veritas triumverate. It seems like a good way to get a lot of flexibility with just three planes. As you point out, they all share the same blades, plus you can change the pitch by just regrinding the blade or swapping out to a steeper blade.

Is there a downside to using these oversized block planes?

Matt

[John Hain]

From reading around here I am understanding the importance of getting a quality tool even if you are a newbie. Going used and trying to refurb a plane as a beginner seems fraught with peril and frustration.

.....and lack of confidence.

I would agree with this. I started with a couple old stanleys that I fixed up and think it would have been easier for me to have started with a finely tuned, sharp, level plane. This way one knows how a nice plane should work and gets to know what a nice plane can do for you. Once you have the expectations and firsthand knowledge of the proper functioning plane, I think it's much easier to refurb older planes with that experience under your belt.

[Jim Belair]

I agree, I have a few of the muji wood planes and they are great value. The blades are very hard, thick steel. Some of the ones from Japan Woodworker have a brass inlay wear strip at the mouth.

I'm not sure if as woodies they have the long term durability of a high quality metal plane. This is less of an issue with specialty planes like high angle that may be used more infrequently than a "bread and butter" block or smoother. For those planes I like the idea of a metal sole. Maybe this is unfounded.

Jim B

[Brian Kent]

"In my opinion and experience the "best buy" in hand planes are the Mujingfang planes from Lee Valley or Japanwoodworker.com." [/QUOTE]

Richard! Thank You! I Agree totally!

I have often wondered why I hear so little about these great planes. They are effective and about the cost of a good blade.

I especially would not be without a Mujingfang High Angle smoother. Very often it works when nothing else will.

[Richard Magbanua]

Here is how you find the Muji's on Lee Valley: Lee Valley, woodworking, planes, then wooden planes. Take your pick! You can also find them at japanwoodworker.com. Look under woodworking tools, then handplanes for woodworking, then rosewood and ebony planes.
I hesitate to let everyone know about these because I want to buy them all while they're so cheap. I also want to make my own planes because Lee Valley sells replacement blades for ten bucks or less!!
As far as having a wood sole, it may have disadvantages for some. But I think it's a wonderful advantage because it took just a few minutes to get it flat on a piece of sandpaper on my table saw and wipe some wax on it without breaking a sweat. Try that with an old Stanley. Also, you can't get much more Neander than a block of wood, a wedge, and a blade. Good luck!!

[Danny Thompson]

By the way, I have seen many posts by people who feel you can get by pretty well with just a block plane and a Jack plane. The LN LA adjustable mouth plane can do a lot of fine smoothing and the Jack can work as a long smoother or short jointer. Many say the jointer is only needed to flatten very long or very wide boards.

Just a thought.

[Jameel Abraham]

I've used Lie-Nielsens for many years, but before I had those I went with old Stanley planes. I bought a #4 and a #7 from Patrick Leach when the internet was just getting rolling, and I'll never regret it. I didn't buy collectors planes, but user grade and only paid about $35 for the #4 and maybe $85 for the #7. That was over a decade ago. I recently upgraded the iron and chipbreaker on the #7 with a Lie-Nielsen iron and improved chipbreaker. I think for the money, that is a great bang-for-the-buck. You get fresh flat modern steel (A-2) and a chipbreaker that's ready to go. The only fettling you might need is to flatten the bottom a little. For years I used this plane as my only jointer before I got a powered jointer. I flattened boards, jointed edges, smoothed surfaces (even bird's-eye maple). On the other, if you can afford new L-N planes, go for it. But I disagree that you shouldn't buy a user-grade old Stanley as a beginner. I was forced into it due to lack of funds, and I wouldnt trade the experience for anything. Taking that plane apart and learning how it works and how to make it work is a skill that you'll need even with a Lie-Nielsen. And when you get those first strokes that go "sniiick", it will satisfy you and give you a confidence in your work.

[Alex Yeilding]

From reading around here I am understanding the importance of getting a quality tool even if you are a newbie. Going used and trying to refurb a plane as a beginner seems fraught with peril and frustration. So I accept the fact that I will need to lay down some $$$ to get a "starter set" that will get me planing.

From what I've read it seems like the basic plane set would consist of a block, jack (5 1/2), jointer (7 or 8), and smooth plane (4 1/2). What are considered the "best of breed" for these types?

Block: LN Low Angle?
Jack: LV Low Angle Bevel-up
Jointer: ???
Smooth: ???

Thanks in advance for your input

Matt

I just got the LV low angle jack, and really like it. But my advice for starting is old Stanleys from a reputable source. You can score some great deals on ebay if you know what you are doing. But you can pay top dollar for cr$% as well.

While my new LV may take over the crown, for the last several years, far-and-away my favorite plane has been an old Stanley #8. Hard to describe, but it just worked better than my other planes. I bought it from a very reputable source (Patrick Leach, author of Stanley Blood and Gore) who I emailed with a request that I wanted a #7 or #8 "worker", cosmetics not critical, but didn't want to have to do much rehabbing or flattening.

A friend has bought several planes from a fellow who buys off of ebay and rehabs planes. That is another good approach, but I'm sorry I don't have his name to offer.

[Gary Herrmann]

I've got the LV triumvirate. Very happy with their performance. Some don't like the totes compared to the LNs. Some will argue bevel up vs bevel down. Vintage vs new. I don't own any LNs. Yet. But I look at them every time I "need" a new plane.

I have vintage chisels and saws. Not sure why I went new with planes. Hmm. I am looking at vintage specialty planes lately...

Find someone locally that has some planes you can try, or go to a show to get your hands on them before you purchase. You'll get plenty of opinions and good advice here.

Your own opinions will change as you try more hand tools and get more comfortable with them, so don't feel like you're locked into a decision.

And watch your speed as your hurtle down the slope...

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I regret saying "Best of Breed". I really meant what I titled the post, "Best Buy". I'm looking for solid tools, not the ultimate.

I was already looking seriously at the Veritas triumverate. It seems like a good way to get a lot of flexibility with just three planes. As you point out, they all share the same blades, plus you can change the pitch by just regrinding the blade or swapping out to a steeper blade.

Is there a downside to using these oversized block planes?

Matt
Matt, I hate to even ask, as this is the non-tailed arena, but do you intend to use your planes in concert with power tools? If so, I think your list needs tweaked. If you are going all man powered, I think you are missing one too.

If you have the usual tablesaw, jointer, planer, focus your planes on surface prep and joinery. I'd get a #4 1/2, #65 low angle block, and a Record, Preston, or Lie-Nielsen shoulder plane to cover the basics. Forget the stock prep, you won't use them for that if you use the power tools.

If you don't use powered tools, you still need to add a good soulder plane, and I would strongly recommend old Stanleys for your bench planes.

Getting one of them to work right, which usually means a cleaning and a sharpening, teaches loads about planes. Don't buy something that is broken, and you'll be fine. I'll probably get beat up on for saying this, but it is extreemely rare that a plane needs lapped, or extensive tunning. I have around 200 planes, of which I've lapped exactly one. It needed it, but most of them don't. I like the idea of using a tool that very well could have been used by my great grandfather. Vintage tools add something to the woodworking expierience that is hard to explain.

Steve

[Matt Lentzner]

I do plan to use (and already own a few for my house rennovations - SCMS, Portable TS, Drills, 2.25hp Router) tailed tools. My shop space is small so I don't plan on getting a cabinet saw nor a jointer. So far it's all stuff I can wheel out into the driveway or side yard. The only exception would be a bandsaw. I do plan on getting a portable planer. Joinery wise I intend to use a dowelmax for now.

Seems to me the LV BU LA Jack could be immediately useful since I only own a small block plane at the moment. I need something to work down a non-flat board to run it through the planer.

I have Chris Schwarz's workbench book so I'm stoked to build the french bench from his book. I'll need a jointing plane for that since there's no way I could flatten that table with the power tools I have.

Also I'd much rather plane than sand so a smoother would be nice although I understand the LV Jack can make do.

Thanks for all the help and advice,

Matt

[Marcus Ward]

It's hilarious in a forum devoted to doing things manually that the general advice is to buy the ones that are already tuned because it's easier. I say buy the really messed up ones and learn to fix them so when you're using ANY hand plane you'll know how to make it work. Sure it's nice, if you have the money, to buy the very fine LV or LN planes but it's also kind of like 2 guys who own a 69 chevelle. One of them rebuilt it from a rusty heap, the other one bought it already restored. Who is going to be able to fix it when it breaks down?

As for the LV la jack make sure you get a blade with a high angle on it because that low angle blade is gonna do un-nice things to your bench top if you have reversing grain - in other words, be very careful how you lay up your boards, all grain should run the same direction. If you don't it's a pain to get it smooth without tearout. Don't ask me how I know that.

[Sam Yerardi]

Matt,

Since you revised it to 'best buy' then that changes my answer. I would love to be able to afford the LNs and the Veritas but for my money I'll stick with the Stanleys and wooden planes. One interesting point that I hear over and over is if you get the older planes you will have to learn how to refurbish them. That should be the least of the considerations. IMHO, if you are going to take the hand tool route then learn how to service and maintain them. It's really not that difficult. At the very least, at some point whether it is LN or whatever you will have to pull that iron out and sharpen it again. Of all the effort to refurbish a plane, IMHO sharpening is where I believe you will spend the most time, and rightfully so. It's like a race car driver that doesn't want to know how to work on his car. He just wants a top running machine everytime he gets behind the wheel. If he's a top NASCAR guy he'll have a crew. But none of us do (I think ;) ). And, Part of the enjoyment I get from using old tools is the refurbishing, but that's just me.

As far as wooden planes, don't discount them. Properly tuned they'll equal or out-perform the metals ones.

[Montgomery Scott]

I started out buying more hand tools a few years ago not knowing much about hand planes. I bought a new Record #4 that works, but it's not a great plane. I've since added a few Stanley #4s, one as old as 100 years, an LV LA block, a Stanley block, a corrugated Stanley #5 that I enjoy using, particularly since it was part of my granddad's collection, a Shepherd Norris A6 kit (still in box) and a newly purchased LV BU jointer plane that I bought for a couple of table jobs since the slabs are up to 27" wide and my 8" power jointer is useless for this job.

With the exception of having my grandfather's plane and the A6 I would buy all LV planes. The innovative design, quality and value is outstanding.

[peter newton]

The LV bevel up Jack is just superb, its versatial, you can flatten, smooth, shoot, joint and with both the low angle and high angle blades it fine for even difficult woods. I have an LN no4 bronze which is great but if I had to have just one plane I would go for the LV BU Jack.

[Matt Lentzner]

The LV bevel up Jack is just superb, its versatial, you can flatten, smooth, shoot, joint and with both the low angle and high angle blades it fine for even difficult woods. I have an LN no4 bronze which is great but if I had to have just one plane I would go for the LV BU Jack.

I'm going to buy it. You put me over the top.

Which additional blades did you get? 38 deg, 50 deg, or both?

Regards,

Matt

[Jesse Cloud]

Spooky!:eek: I have the exact set that Danny described, the LN 60 1/2 block, and the Veritas trio. I also have the Veritas (small) shoulder plane. The combo works for me. They all feel like old friends.

I also have a few refurbed Stanley's that I pull out every now and then, but the combo above does 98% of anything I ever do.

[Don C Peterson]

It's hilarious in a forum devoted to doing things manually that the general advice is to buy the ones that are already tuned because it's easier. I say buy the really messed up ones and learn to fix them so when you're using ANY hand plane you'll know how to make it work. Sure it's nice, if you have the money, to buy the very fine LV or LN planes but it's also kind of like 2 guys who own a 69 chevelle. One of them rebuilt it from a rusty heap, the other one bought it already restored. Who is going to be able to fix it when it breaks down?


I'm not trying to start an argument here, but to take your example and explore another aspect of it...

What do you think the chances are that a guy who bought an old junker, and had never worked or even ridden in a car, would be able to turn the old junker into a functioning car, much less a finely tuned hot rod?

Now, cars are MUCH more complicated than planes, but having the experience of a well tuned plane under your belt makes the possibility of salvaging a junker much higher. I, for one, never knew what a good plane was supposed to be like. My first experiences with planes was in a high school shop class. The planes were probably decent quality (Stanley's of an unknown vintage) but they were not tuned or sharpened well. My next experience with a plane was buying a junker and experiencing the old frustrations all over again. Then I tried to sharpen and tune the thing, and although it worked a bit better, it was far from good, but I didn't know that. Hearing people TALK about how wonderful planes are I was beginning to think that all you "plane guys" were delusional.

Finally, after much internal debate and delay, I convinced myself to spend the "outrageous" sum for a LN #4. Holy cow! Right out of the box that thing worked, the light bulb went on, and my feet lost all traction as I took my first step down the slope... Granted, my #4 works better now than it did when I pulled it out of the box, but if it hadn't been for that thing making marvelously thin shavings right out of the box, I would have written off planes (and probably most other hand tools), in favor of their noisy and dirty tailed children (not that I'm a purist Neander type).

I have since rehabbed old planes, chisels, saws, and various and sundry other old tools, all because that LN (and subsequent LN planes) opened my eyes to what they could do and how they SHOULD work.

[Marcus Ward]

Oh I just used a LV la jack at a woodworking show for 3 minutes, that gave me an idea of what to shoot for and it was free. There's plenty of us who will let you come over and use our planes to see how they're supposed to work and save you that 300$ for a good 'example'. If you can afford it great, but most can't.

FWIW, there's a LV LA jack sitting in a box on my kitchen table, just arrived, but I bought it after rehabbing 20+ old stanleys and because I needed what it provides, not my first plane.

[Mike Cutler]

Matt

You're going to like that Low Angle Jack. It's a fine plane. I have LN's, but the LV's are just as nice.

As for the different blade pitches. I might extend a word of caution. All of those blades have specific functions that they perform "better". they also have tasks, and woods that they are each individually better suited for. This means that they each will require a "tuning"( I hate that phrase. It sounds like we're getting ready to play a guitar, not use a tool) each time they are changed. Something to think about. It's very easy to tune a plane once you get used to it. IMHO. Sharpeneing and honing the blade properly is the biggest obstacle to overcome initially.

One of the reasons that folks end up with so many planes though, is that they have multiple planes of the same type with different pitch angles that don't require the blade to be swapped out prior to use. This reason alone is why Marcus' post's have a great deal of merit. Not only financially but from the economizing of time on the work flow process.

Don't give up on the used market,and don't be intimidated about rehabbing planes. It's easy. It just takes some time and attention to detail.

Congrats on your decision. It's a fine plane, and you'll use it a lot.

[James Nolan]

It's true, those LN and LV planes are sweet, as well are tuned vintage stanleys and woodies. I've been a roofer and framer from the age 14 and just recently dove into this world of fancier tools, so take whatever I say with a grain of salt. After learning through trial and error as well as by example I feel I can sharpen and tune most bench and block planes to an acceptable tolerance. I did buy a LN4 and adjustable mouth block for reference. Over a little bit of practice and time I found myself able to turn many an e-bay buys into a comparable contender. It got to the point that I would not even use the LNs for fear of hitting a nail etc.(I am forced to use antique wood). Welcome to the slippery slope. Now they just sit on a shelf in favor of my new favorite the woodies. So i guess if you expect not to rehab older models and only buy once go for the big money ones, but I suspect you, like many on this forum will try to rehab a couple, those expensive ones will cause you nothing but buyers remorse after a bit of time with the vintage guys. Its tons of fun too, just my 2 cents

[peter newton]

Matt, the blade it comes with plus the 38. Of course you can hone the origonal blade to any angle, I put on a micro bevel of of 35 which gave me an effective bevel 12+35=47 degrees; I find this deals with most woods although it is a bit harder to push than the standard bevel. You will not be disapointed. The adjustable mouth is just great and the back of the iron is lapped dead flat, dead easy to get a mirror polish.

[j.e.mike tobey]

I am new here and would like to offer a thought or two.I would go for an LN 102, or if you wanted adjustable mouth, the 60 1/2. I say this because I do believe that knowing what a good working plane feels and sounds like opens the eyes. Then tackling more vintage examples and getting them up to snuff will have direction. I have an LN LA Jack and I enjoy it. In a way, though,traditional frogged bevel down bench planes seem to be good teachers. Some of the lessons include mouth setting , breaker setting and setting the bite. Almost all of these are on bevel ups, but the down planes require some "assembly and disassembly" with the adjustments and many of the whys get answered. And, the satisfaction of "rags to riches" is immense.I have a fair number of after-market blades but have never balked at using a good sharp factory blade. If I had a hankering for woodies then off to the "guru" Terry at HNT Gordon. He has inspired me in my woodie building quest. mt

[Terry Bigelow]

I'm with Marcus on this one. As much as I read the "you need the $300 plane to know what it's SUPPOSED to do" I went the other route myself. I think there's enough quality information out there (thanks to places like this!)to be able to figure out how to properly restore or at least tune a plane up into top form. After all, are they really that complicated? More lies in your ability to sharpen (and understanding what SHARP truely means) your iron than adjusting the plane. Seems like that should be part of your existing skillset anyway right? I'm assuming we all sharpen chisels at least? Trial and error on some sacrificial lumber with a well honed iron coupled with a headful of fresh info should get you on track right? I started with an old Stanley #5 and some waterstones and haven't looked back. I'm no expert by any means, but I feel confident to fix up just about any ol' rusty beast now! Don't get me wrong, I love my LN's ( I now have 4!!!- #212,#5 1/4, #60 1/2, #62) but there is some real value in learning the nut's and bolts of how they work. Plus, tends to be little easier on the wallet!

[Mark Roderick]

That's the point I always try to make in the discussion of "which plane to buy." Buy one Lie-Nielsen and you'll know what a plane is supposed to do. After that, if you want to furnish old Stanleys, terrific. I think the Veritas planes are almost as good as Lie-Nielsen, and certainly can achieve equally-good results, but for that 5% - 10% difference in quality (my rough estimate) I would still recommend that the first plane be a Lie-Nielsen to understand how useful a plane can be.

[David Marcus Brown]

It's tempting to think that you can multi-task, gain options, etc by switching blades between three different planes. In practice, I think it's a bit more complicated than that. I'd hate to swap blades to gain versatility -- it would drive me nuts. Grabbing a different plane is nothing like switching a blade, resetting a mouth, tweaking cutting depth, etc etc etc. When I'm working I get into a rhythm and don't take breaks except to hone blades or saw some joints. When I hone I "gang hone" so I'm never breaking just to hone one blade. I'll hone a group of block planes blades or smoother blades, etc to make the process more productive.

My go-to jointer is a Lie Nielsen low angle jointer. Does it ever produce tear-out? Sometimes. Do I wish I had a higher angle blade to swap into it? Not really. My smoothers & scrapers deal w/ tear out. I've also got a Stanley no8 and an Indian (anant?) no7. My Lie Nielsen low angle jointer is the only jointer I have that can take shavings to rival my smoothers -- it's honed w/ a micro-bevel @ 32 degrees.

I've got a bunch of bevel down smoothers and two scraping planes. I've also got a Veritas low angle smoother that I use for various tasks. I do have a high angle blade for that guy in case I want to go the "high angle" bevel up smoother route. I can't tell a big difference in performance between my Lie Nielsen's w/ 45 or 50 degree frogs. If I'm getting tear-out, I can make a bigger difference by skewing, honing the blade or taking a lighter cut than I can by grabbing the 50 over the 45.

If I had to choose a team of bench planes to live with? I'd get a decent Stanley no5 w/ a replacement Lie Nielsen blade as my fore plane, the Lie Nielsen bevel up jointer and the Lie Nielsen 4.5. ;)

I tried using a bevel up jack as a fore plane but it frustrated me to no end. I prefer a traditional no5. Any variety will do. No need to spend bucks on a fore plane. Spend your money on your smoother or jointer -- that's where your precision needs to be. A bevel up jack is a good shooting plane. But, after living w/ a bevel up jack for 2 years, I prefer a bobbed no6 (that I someone on eBay passed off as a no5-1/2) to both my bevel up jointer or the bevel up jack. I'd like to try a no9 but my $20 shortened no6 has the mass needed and is easy to hold. I'll save my $350 for a while. ;)

Estimating $275 for the jointer, $280 for the 4.5 & $75 for a stanley & a replacement blade, you'd be set back about $630. If you ordered the triumverate from Lee Valley, w/ A2 blades, you'd be looking @ $725 + shipping.

http://handmadeshavings.com/images/planes/rosewood.jpg

regards,
Dave

[Steve Rozmiarek]

So Dave, what do you think of Lie-Nielsen? Looks like my calander, just arranged a little different! Nice lineup..

[David Marcus Brown]

Thanks Steve. :)

Yeah, I definitely have an affinity for Lie Nielsen. ;)