What joinery planes do you use the most

[Brian Biela]

I'm new to hand tools and have purchased my bench planes, pre-war no. 3 &7 and LV BU Jack. Now its time to start adding joinery planes, my budget allows me to add 1-2/month so help me prioritize.

I've built a Nicholson bench and saw bench. Next projects are storage box for sharpening equipment and then I want to tackle Schwarz's Dutch Tool Chest. Here are my thoughts on planes to add. What should be first?

LV Skew Rabbet
low angle block (possibly LN 60 1/2 rabbet to replace the skew rabbet)
LV or LN router plane
plow plane either LV small plow or Stanley no.45
medium or large shoulder plane. Let me know your thoughts on LN vs LV.

Let me know what you use the most.

Cheers!
Brian

[James Pallas]

Here’s what I use in about the order of use, LV Jack Rabbet, #45, #78, #75, large router, medium router, small router LN medium shoulder, low angle block.

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Brian and welcome to the Creek. Normally one of my suggestions is to enter your location into your profile. Then other members might invite you to come by for a test drive of the various planes you mention. The current pandemic might make folks worry about having visitors.

You do not mention your sawing, chisels and sharpening equipment.

An LV Skew Rabbet will be more useful than a Block Plane Rabbet. If you can afford doing the cost it would pay to get both the RH & LH version together.

Among my most used planes are Low Angle Block Planes.

A Router Plane will come in handy when clearing dados for the Dutch Tool Chest. My money would be on the LV due to blade selection & how the blades are held.

The Veritas Small Plow Plane is an excellent plane, here is my review > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?251419

For light plow & bead work The Veritas Small Plow Plane beats the Stanley #45. If you need to cut a 3/4" rabbet or wish to do a larger variety of work you may want to consider the Veritas Combination plane.

The Stanley #45 is a very capable plane. It is also quite a bit more difficult to get working from the start than a new plane from Lee Valley.

My shoulder plane is among my least used planes. It is handy when needed. In most cases, the work is done quicker and easier with a sharp chisel. As to LV or LN shoulder planes, both are nice and it would depend on personal taste and methods of work.

jtk

[Brian Biela]

Hi Jim,

I'm in the Chicago suburbs. I have a mix of chisels, LV, LN and a Narex. Trying different ones to see what I prefer, so far its the LN but the next one I'm thinking about is a Narex Richter. I started with Japanese saws and decided the Dozuki and a Ryoba, quickly decided I did not like the Ryoba and bought a Disston rip and crosscut. Sharpening equipment are Japanese wetstones and the LV honing jig. Thanks for your thoughts. Brian

Howdy Brian and welcome to the Creek. Normally one of my suggestions is to enter your location into your profile. Then other members might invite you to come by for a test drive of the various planes you mention. The current pandemic might make folks worry about having visitors.

You do not mention your sawing, chisels and sharpening equipment.

An LV Skew Rabbet will be more useful than a Block Plane Rabbet. If you can afford doing the cost it would pay to get both the RH & LH version together.

Among my most used planes are Low Angle Block Planes.

A Router Plane will come in handy when clearing dados for the Dutch Tool Chest. My money would be on the LV due to blade selection & how the blades are held.

The Veritas Small Plow Plane is an excellent plane, here is my review > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?251419

For light plow & bead work The Veritas Small Plow Plane beats the Stanley #45. If you need to cut a 3/4" rabbet or wish to do a larger variety of work you may want to consider the Veritas Combination plane.

The Stanley #45 is a very capable plane. It is also quite a bit more difficult to get working from the start than a new plane from Lee Valley.

My shoulder plane is among my least used planes. It is handy when needed. In most cases, the work is done quicker and easier with a sharp chisel. As to LV or LN shoulder planes, both are nice and it would depend on personal taste and methods of work.

jtk

[Ben Ellenberger]

I’ve got a router plane, which is nice for getting tenons fine-tuned and for finishing dados and rabbets. I’ve also got a plough plane which is great for grooves. I got the Veritas small plough and I like the extra blades for it which make tongue and groove joints very easy.

ill probably get a rabbet plane at some point. Right now I chop those with a chisel and finish them with the router plane. Other than that I don’t really see any great need for joinery planes. I’m happy with the results I get on tenon shoulders with a saw and chisel.

I’m sure there are some specialty joinery planes which are nice for specific situations, but you can do almost anything you want with a pretty basic set of tools.

for that tool chest, a router plane would be nice for the dadoes for the internal shelf, but it isn’t necessary.

[Jim Matthews]

Router plane does what no other plane can - verified depth of steps or grooves from a reference face.

They're not tools for the heavy handed, and may seem slow going, at first.

Trimming tenons with parallel faces at a given thickness is simple with a router plane.

Clearing long rabbets or dadoes, also.

The trick is in getting the blade sharp.

[chris carter]

My three most commonly used joinery planes are (in no particular order):
* 1-1/8” wooden straight rabbet plane
* Veritas router plane
* wooden ¼” x ¼” grooving plane

I have the Veritas combination plane, which I would recommend over the small plow plane if you can justify the expenditure because it’s much more flexible. That said, if I’m cutting a rabbet or a groove for a drawer bottom or a box, I’ll use the above mentioned woodies because they do the job easier and faster with zero setup time.

My block plane gets very limited use. I have never felt like I needed a shoulder plane. Between the Veritas and LN router planes I chose the Veritas primarily because of the plethora of available blades which makes it much more flexible.

[David Carroll]

I use a shoulder/Rabbet plane probably more than any other joinery plane. After that, a 45 or 46 depending on the job, plowing grooves or housing dadoes. But I think a router plane is a good choice. I have an Oooold Stanley 71-1/2 and I recently bought a fistful of different cutters from LV. If I didn't have that particular plane, I would probably buy the LV router.

DC

[steven c newman]

Stanley 45
Stanley/Wards #78
Auburn Tool co. 1.25" skew rebate plane, #181
Stanley No. 71-1/2
Stanley No. 39, 3/8" Dado plane

G. Roseboom 1/4" plough plane
I think that about covers it....planes wise.

[Derek Cohen]

I'm new to hand tools and have purchased my bench planes, pre-war no. 3 &7 and LV BU Jack. Now its time to start adding joinery planes, my budget allows me to add 1-2/month so help me prioritize.

I've built a Nicholson bench and saw bench. Next projects are storage box for sharpening equipment and then I want to tackle Schwarz's Dutch Tool Chest. Here are my thoughts on planes to add. What should be first?

LV Skew Rabbet
low angle block (possibly LN 60 1/2 rabbet to replace the skew rabbet)
LV or LN router plane
plow plane either LV small plow or Stanley no.45
medium or large shoulder plane. Let me know your thoughts on LN vs LV.

Let me know what you use the most.

Cheers!
Brian

Hi Brian

Consider the joinery you will make ..

The most common classic joint is the mortice and tenon. I make mortices either with a choice of 1/4” or 5/16” mortice chisels, or use a corded router. The tenon is sawn either with a tenon saw or on the bandsaw. The tenon is the part which requires tuning, and this is where the joinery tools come in: Ironically, the shoulder plane is rarely used on shoulders and never used on cheeks. I fine tune shoulders (sawn with a cross cut backsaw) with a chisel (placed in the scribed line, and pushed), and for me the cheeks are best tuned with a router plane (which ensures the faces are parallel with the stretcher). My preference of router plane is the Large Veritas over the LN. Both are great planes, but the Veritas has the larger blade selection, amongst a few other improvements.

Rebates (rabbets) are planed with a rebate plane. My preference is the Veritas Skew Rabbet plane, with the Record #778 used occasionally. Rebates are also where I find I use a shoulder plane most. They are excellent for fine tuning. I can also use a shoulder plane to create a rebate (that may be a little advanced for now). My favourite shoulder plane is the 1/2” Small Veritas. Very nimble and compact. Why does one need wider?

Grooves are part of drawer-making. There are a couple of good “vintage” plough planes, such as the Stanleu #50, and Record #044 and #043. I use the latter with the blades from the Veritas Small Plow, which is my go-to plough plane. I also have the Veritas Combination Plane, which is better overall, but both make grooves just as well as each other. One advantage of the Combo Plane is that it does a decent job of making rebates as well.

And then we get to dados. I use a saw, chisel and router plane.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Josko Catipovic]

I notice in the original post that block planes are with joinery planes, in that caae, a block plane ought to be high on the list. I have a Stanley 12-020 that I use 90% of the time, and a Veritas for 'fancy' stuff.
WRT other joinery planes, iIget a lot of use out of a medium shoulder plane.

[Phil Gaudio]

Router plane: an amazing tool.

[steven c newman]

Yes, that they are....
Router Rehab, back in the case.JPGPlane Til Drawers, curlies in the groove.JPG
Saw Til Project, clean up.JPG
Along with..
Saw Til Project, groove done.JPG
The original 7 planes in 1....or
Saw Til Project, square corner.JPG
The rebate plane....
Saw Til Project, rebate done.JPG
That even the hardest, worst knots can't slow down....YMMV....

[Michael Bulatowicz]

In my case, in order of amount of use:
1. Router plane
2. Combination plane
3. Large shoulder plane

In my case all three are Veritas—gifts from my lovely wife on different occasions. I cannot speak from experience using any other brands or models of the same basic tool, but I can say I am very happy with all three. The shoulder plane sees use mostly for tasks aside from trimming tenon shoulders; cleaning up rabbets (made using the combination plane—I don’t yet own a rabbet plane), taking a last shaving or two off a tenon cheek, and so on.

Best regards,
Michael

[Zach Dillinger]

In order of use:
my moving fillister, my Old Street Tools square rabbet, my hag's tooth router, my plow, my LN 271 mini router, everything else.