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Wow I feel like I just stole Jim K's parking spot.
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Your location is not shown in your profile. There may be another Creeker in your area that can help you decide what may be best for your needs via a test drive.
Wow I feel like I just stole Jim K's parking spot.
Good, Better, Best never let it rest
until your Good is Better and your Better is Best
Member of M-WTCA Area D
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The 14" "jack" plane used to be the first one recommended to purchase, because it could smooth or straighten moderately well. If you're using just one plane, it's ideal if you have more than one iron for it, so you can grind one straight for smoothing and one cambered (curved) for removing major amounts of stock when a board is warped or not straight.
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I have found that after I stumbled onto my first decent old plane, I really enjoyed the learning that came along with it. I'm not a full hand tool type guy, I do like my power tools too but there is something therapeutic about peeling shavings with a finely tuned plane or scraper. I find in my shop I tend to use a #3 and the #5 the most. I found it to be easier for me to have multiple planes that are tuned differently, in other words I have 2 Bailey #5s. 1 is set for smoothing while other is set for more aggressive work.
Make sure you learn just what "sharp" is. When I started I didn't get the results I wanted and I had my irons sharp, at least I thought I did. When I finally learned to properly sharpen a blade it opened a whole other world.I now use waterstones and finish off with rouge on a piece of MDF for final honing and it comes out surgically sharp. Here are a couple pics from when I was playing around with my sharpening.
"If the women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy" -Red Green
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Nice shaving Matt. I have been wondering if there is any market for pieces of sub-thou shavings mounted on slides for biology classes or forensic scientists.Here are a couple pics from when I was playing around with my sharpening.
I had some nice ones yesterday. Guess I will need to take some pictures before gloating. The biggest embarrassment for me is it came from a modern bevel up plane.
Okay, pictures have been taken. This is a good case of a jack plane being used as a smoother.
Shaving in Micrometer.jpg
I think it is actually reading 0.0004" but the angle makes it look like it is reading at 3.
The wood is alder repurposed from the firewood pile.
In this case it is a low angle bevel up jack, LN #62, doing the work.
Shavings on LN #62.jpg
This is from my current project of making some drawers for small tool storage.
The plane was being used for shooting the end grain and the sides of the burl and started to leave a track from a small nick before the blade was honed.
jtk
Last edited by Jim Koepke; 09-08-2013 at 3:42 PM.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
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Not meaning to hijack but since we are discussing sharpness...Originally Posted by Jim Koepke
While I was playing around with the #5 I also was playing around with my #4. This is some curly Maple with an original iron in my type 9(1902 patent date) Bailey. This board was as smooth as glass and virtually no tearout. All possible from the knowledge of this forum.
My problem was that I didn't know...what it was I didn't know. Until I asked.
"If the women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy" -Red Green
Contributor
Not sure showing the results of sharpness is a hijack. After all, the greatest pleasures of hand plane usage are found with a well honed blade.Not meaning to hijack but since we are discussing sharpness...
While I was playing around with the #5 I also was playing around with my #4. This is some curly Maple with an original iron in my type 9(1902 patent date) Bailey. This board was as smooth as glass and virtually no tearout. All possible from the knowledge of this forum.
My problem was that I didn't know...what it was I didn't know. Until I asked.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
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