Need help using hand planes

[Andrew Pezzo]

For christmas I got a stanley block plane and anant #4 smoothing plane. From what little knowledge I have about planes these are fairly standard run-of-the-mill models and will need some tuning up before getting good results. I am new to woodworking and have never used a plane before and could use some advice.

Someone mentioned to me that this site might have a local chapter of people dedicated to hand tools. I have done some research online but to see a plane being used and how to take care of one would sink in much better. Also done some searching for a local class on hand tools/planes with no luck.

[Alex Yeilding]

Where are you located? That would help for recommending classes.

A plane can be very fun, but can be frustrating if you don't get it set up right. There are descriptions on the web about tuning planes, but the Pareto principle applied to planes is that 80% of your tuning results comes from the 20% of time you spend sharpening the iron--learn to do it well.

Before you learn better, you will almost surely take too heavy a cut, in the wrong direction, and split wood rather than cut it. Stick with it. When you find yourself taking shavings that are as thin as single-ply tissue paper, you will realize why folks like planes.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Where are you located? That would help for recommending classes.

A plane can be very fun, but can be frustrating if you don't get it set up right. There are descriptions on the web about tuning planes, but the Pareto principle applied to planes is that 80% of your tuning results comes from the 20% of time you spend sharpening the iron--learn to do it well.

Before you learn better, you will almost surely take too heavy a cut, in the wrong direction, and split wood rather than cut it. Stick with it. When you find yourself taking shavings that are as thin as single-ply tissue paper, you will realize why folks like planes.

Alex, I've never heard the Pareto principal applied to tools, very nice!

Steve

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Andrew, there are a bunch of videos out there too, if you want to try something like that. Charlesworth from Lie-Nielsen, Patrick Leach has one, and probably a thousand others. A google will fetch them for you.

Steve

[Sam Yerardi]

Andrew,

Here are some websites that can help you:

https://home.comcast.net/~stanleyplanes/
http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan0a.html
http://www.sover.net/~nichael/nlc-wood/stanref-num.html


There are a lot of other sites as well and most of them are linked to make it easy to find them. I primarily use old hand tools and as the guys have indicated here, learn how to 'tune' them as you begin using them. Each different type of plane will have different setup characteristics. And those may vary depending on the type of wood or work you're doing. That was one of the things that made learning planes so difficult for me. But I got to the realization to just focus on the tools at hand, and learn them. Go on ebay and alibris.com and look for old plane books, woodworking magazines. If you are really interested, there is a lot of reading but that's part of the fun. Eventually the details will start making sense. Keep coming here and PM me any time and I'll try to help.

[Andrew Pezzo]

I am located in Danbury, CT (southwest part of the state).

Thanks for the help so far. Whoever told me this was a good site for help on using hand planes knew what they were talking about.

Being new to woodworking I just assumed everything these days was done with power tools and the concept of hand tools, like planes, seemed outdated to me. But as I get more into this I can clearly see they still have a very important place in todays shop. I am willing to take my time getting to know the planes I have and set them up and sharpened correctly.

[Sam Yerardi]

A day of joy for you, a day of sadness for your wallet. You've been bit by the bug.

[Tim Dorcas]

It sounds like you are heading down the exact same path I was heading. You planes you have will probably work but there might be some frustration. I can honestly say the bulk of the issues will be the devices you are using. See below...

There was a recent thread where someone asked about buying used hand planes and refurbishing them to save some money. There was also some talk about buying inexpensive planes to do the same thing. I did both. First I bought some cheap Grotz planes. They were terrible. No matter what I did or how hard I worked to sharpen the blades, they would mark the wood or they would simply not feel good under hand. I had the same results when purchasing an old plane that I tried to refurbish. For the longest time, I just thought it was me and I stuck with my planer.

For my birthday last year, my wife bought me a Lee Valley Low Angle Jack Plane. Holy crap! Right out of the box it just worked. I could actually plane something without leaving gouges in the wood. All of the sudden things just made sense. Making minute adjustments was easy. I could finally make wispy shavings. Hoorah! Based solely on this experience, I went out a week later to buy the LV LA Block Plane to replace the $25 Stanley Block Plane and $20 Grotz I had purchased a year earlier. It was also an instant hit. Since then I have been lusting after the LV Smoother and LV Jointer to finish off the basic set.

YesterdayI was able to add the LV BUS to my collection. It’s my favorite plane yet. I can make even finer shavings with this plane than my BU Jack. There is just the right sense of weight—not too light, not to heavy. The controls are perfect. When my shavings were a bit too thick. I just closed the throat and they were perfect. An hour later after planing everything I could get my hands on in the shop, I was in a mini mountain of multicolored shavings. I am no stranger to power tools but there is an incredible sense of connection to the wood when you use one of these tools that satisfies in a way that is hard to describe. Listening to the plane travel along the wood’s surface; feeling the heft of the plane as it gains momentum; watching the shavings as they exit; and finally feeling the planed surface of the wood when you’re done – it really makes you feel part of the woodworking experience. The BUS does all of these things and more.

Now if only I could get that LV Jointer for finish off the basic set :)

[Don Orr]

Look up Brookfield Craft Center just north of you on Rte. 7/202. Lots of interesting classes in all kinds of fields. Also check out the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking in Manchester, CT. Great school, awesome shop, fantastic instructors. Been there a couple times and had a great time. In the same building as a Woodcraft store !:eek::D