Router or shoulder plane?

[Osvaldo Cristo]

Although I am working as a hobbyist woodworker for around 30 years, I am mainly a "power tools" user. I have learned manual tools can have a great part of my tasks, sometimes better than a power "equivalent" tool, besides, of course, the joy to use them (it is a very important factor for me as an amateur woodworker - the total experience counts, not only the final results).

I do not have intention to go to hand tool only and I have to handle my crescent hand tool passion to strictly minimum. I am thinking on a low angle block plane as first one, followed by a low angle jack plane and an either shoulder or router plane. Just three to all jobs in my woodworking.

Some of you recently lectured me about block planes. Thank you very much. It was appreciated.

Now I have a doubt between shoulder and router planes. It looks me a router plane is more flexible than a shoulder plane but, incidentally, I have found much more references to shoulder planes than router one. In my inexperience it looks me the router plane can do virtually all tasks a shoulder plane can accomplish and more. I cannot see any reason to prefer a shoulder plane... of course I missed something very important...

I really will appreciate if you can spend sometime to figure out to me why a shoulder plane could be a better solution, if it can be, of course. Additionally if you have a reason to not replace both planes for router plane only, it would be very welcome.

Thank you in advance to share your experience and advice.

[Bruce Haugen]

A router plane can’t be used to trim the shoulders of a tenon, one of the main functions of the shoulder plane.

[Osvaldo Cristo]

A router plane can’t be used to trim the shoulders of a tenon, one of the main functions of the shoulder plane.

Why not? I saw several similar videos like that, https://youtu.be/ZpVaSz-GAiA ...it looks me very convenient...

Edited: oops, I think now I see what you mean: shoulder!

One interesting point.

[Don Dorn]

Everyone is different, but my shoulder plane essentially gathers dust while I have used my router plane quite a bit, mostly for dados.

[James Pallas]

Router plane. Use for trimming of hinge gains, dados, inlay work. Tenon cheeks for some people if they are small tenons. Shoulder planes are good for tenon shoulders but you may need more than one size. They also work for trimming rabbets but again it may take more than one size. If you are doing mostly machine work I think I would consider a good smoothing plane more useful than a router or a shoulder plane to get those machine tool marks off if your finish faces.
Jim
PS That is not ment to be a criticism of machine work. A smoother is usually the last tool used on my projects eithe hand or machine built.
Jim

[Jim Koepke]

Everyone is different, but my shoulder plane essentially gathers dust while I have used my router plane quite a bit, mostly for dados.

Same here, almost anything a shoulder plane can do is fairly easy to do with a chisel or other rabbet plane.

My shoulder plane may get more use than Don's since it is often used to clean up rabbets.

There are many things a router plane can do. A shoulder plane is rather specialized.

jtk

[Bruce Haugen]

Everyone is different, but my shoulder plane essentially gathers dust while I have used my router plane quite a bit, mostly for dados.

I’ve used my router plane maybe 4-5 times in 15 years.

[Derek Cohen]

Quite simply, a shoulder plane and a router plane are quite different tools, used for different purposes. It is not helpful to contrast them.

I tend to use a shoulder plane to make or true up rebates, very occasionally to remove a smidgeon from a tenon shoulder (mainly I use chisels to fine tune shoulders). I use a router plane to level surfaces, which could include tenon cheeks (where some might use a wide shoulder plane - I dislike the shoulder plane for this as it is ungainly). The router plane is great for stopped and through dados, sliding dovetails, hinge mortices, and nooks and crannies.

I could say router plane before shoulder plane, but I still find a use for the latter (edit to make this point).

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Mark Rainey]

I agree with Derek. Whatever you need the most on your next project buy - I used my Shouldr plane on over 40 tenon shoulders after I hand chopped over 40 mortises on this cherry king size bedA24E1B24-9B83-4F05-8675-66899AA8D043.jpg

[Noah Magnuson]

I agree with Derek. Whatever you need the most on your next project buy - I used my Shouldr plane on over 40 tenon shoulders after I hand chopped over 40 mortises on this cherry king size bedA24E1B24-9B83-4F05-8675-66899AA8D043.jpg

I have to ask about the clamp. Did you glue the whole bed together?

[Chet R Parks]

I'd go with the router plane before the shoulder plane. In addition to the many reasons already stated please add, stopped dados and creating the cutouts for bow ties to stop wood from checking.

[Mark Rainey]

Used bed bolts to join rails to head board and foot board - was using a brace and bit to drill holes but tired out and used electric hand drill to finish job. if you look closely just beneath the orange pad on the pipe clamp there is the hole for the bed bolt - I had to clamp the frame together to line things up. I stand corrected - used shoulder plane on over 50 tenons fitted into over 50 hand chopped mortises

[Phil Mueller]

That’s a tough question for me. I bought a router plane first and love using it for all the things already stated above. Sometime after, I bought a medium size shoulder plane. Frankly didn’t use it much at first. On some of my more recent projects, however, I’ve found it quite handy for a number of tasks. For example, I needed to slightly tune a drawer runner which was butted right up against a side rail and it was perfect for that. Heck, I’ve even used it to tidy up long grain edges and make a quick chamfer.

[Jason Baker IX]

I bought the router plane first, and then ended up buying the smaller version last summer. It's such a handy tool I can't imagine not owning one. I also bought a medium shoulder plane last year. I knew that this was more of a specialty plane, but it has seen use on most of my projects since then. You might not need to use it often, but when you need it you are so thankful that you own one. My vote is to buy both. Life is short. I'd get a smoother instead of the jack plane if you are using mostly machines.

[Bruce Haugen]

That’s a tough question for me. I bought a router plane first and love using it for all the things already stated above. Sometime after, I bought a medium size shoulder plane. Frankly didn’t use it much at first. On some of my more recent projects, however, I’ve found it quite handy for a number of tasks. For example, I needed to slightly tune a drawer runner which was butted right up against a side rail and it was perfect for that. Heck, I’ve even used it to tidy up long grain edges and make a quick chamfer.

I have the Veritas medium shoulder plane. It is an absolute delight. The adjustability, function, precision, and usefulness are unmatched. The longer I have it, the more I use it. It tunes rabbets better than an ordinary rabbet plane, mostly because of the precision of its adjustability. It tunes tenon shoulders better than anything else, chisels included. Since I’m a hybrid woodworker, I use an apprentice to cut tenons within .001”, so a router plane is unnecessary for that step.

The better question is whether a router plane is better than a chisel at pruning tenons than a good rasp, or better than a paring chisel at leveling out dadoes.

If you’re looking for advice on how to spend your money, you need to decide how you’re going to do your woodworking.