Blade selection for Combination plane

[Andrew Nemeth]

Hello,

I am soliciting advice for a good starter selection of blades for a soon to be purchased Veritas Combination plane. I’m slowly converting from electrons to human power and am finally ready to take up the task of jointery by hand. Therefore, I’m looking for a good first selection of blades to tackle most joinery applications. While I may eventually dive into decorative elements (beads, coves, reeding etc.), I will buy those blades on a as-needed basis. I mainly build casework and tables, I’ve also been known to make a jewelry box or two, and I will be tackling a bench build soon. While I wish I could afford all the blades that Veritas sells, I don’t have the funds to do so.

So far, I’m thinking of the following blades:
1/8” (for the grove portion of tongue and groove for 3/8” stock)
1/4” straight blade (for the groove portion of tongue and groove for 3/8” stock, and drawer bottoms)
1/2” straight blade (dado/groove housing for 1/2” stock)
3/4” straight blade (dado/groove housing for 3/4” stock)
Rabbet blade
1/8” tongue blade
1/4” tongue blade

Are there any other blades I am missing or ones you would leave out?

I know that this plane accepts Stanley 45/55 blades, and I’ve been looking for a set of those on eBay, but given the auction prices I have seen lately, I’m not sure if it is worth the time and risk. Thoughts? Of course, if anyone has a box of 45 blades around, that they would like to part with, please let me know.

Thanks!

[William Fretwell]

Andrew I have the combination plane. I bought shapes more than just grooves. I think you are right to buy grooves but would be very selective. The 1/4” and 3/8” may suffice for quite a while. Larger than that the plane will struggle.
I had so little luck getting it to work Lee Valley sent a senior staff member that uses tools to my workshop. He had the same problems I did. I made a new longer fence eventually that helped a little. Very finicky, the grain direction, hardness of wood, very small increments. Soft wood is slightly easier.

[Tom M King]

I don't think I've ever used a 3 /4" blade in a combination plane.

If you find some Record irons, I like them better than the Stanley ones.

[Richard Line]

I have only a small collection of blades for my 45, widest is 1/4". I've made grooves & dados as wide as 3/4". First make a 1/4" grove all the way in, then a grove at the near side of the final grove. The middle can be quickly cleaned out with a chisel and maybe a router plane. Don't try to make the grove by over lapping groves, the plane doesn't like following that path. Understand that I'm not doing production work, so the little bit of extra time is not an issue.

I've found a use for beading blades more often than a wider blade. Consider a set of tongue and grove blades.

[Michael Bulatowicz]

Andrew I have the combination plane. I bought shapes more than just grooves. I think you are right to buy grooves but would be very selective. The 1/4” and 3/8” may suffice for quite a while. Larger than that the plane will struggle.
I had so little luck getting it to work Lee Valley sent a senior staff member that uses tools to my workshop. He had the same problems I did. I made a new longer fence eventually that helped a little. Very finicky, the grain direction, hardness of wood, very small increments. Soft wood is slightly easier.

I have the Veritas combination plane as well. I have not found it finicky, but there are a few potential pitfalls to avoid.
1. The blades arrived nicely flat, but the corners where the sides meet the back were not sharp. A bit of time on the 3k waterstone sharpened them nicely (I stayed away from the depth adjuster notch). This was followed by by polishing the first inch or so of the back. This helps keep the blade tracking well and helps keep it from wedging itself into a groove; the sharp edges scrape the sidewalls as you go deeper.
2. The scoring spurs (vertical cross-grain cutters) came with a bevel too shallow for hardwood; at first, the edge would just roll. I raised the angle at the cutting edge to more like 30 degrees and polished the back and cutting edge.

I have straight blades up to 1/2 inch plus the rabbet blade (I don't own a dedicated rabbet plane yet). Any time I've needed to go wider than 1/2 inch it's been for a rabbet. I also have a tongue cutting blade.

[steven c newman]

Afraid I am not much help..
Combo Plane Case, 2 planes.JPG
The Nickel Plated one came with 28 cutters...the type 3 is borrowing a couple....

[Jim Koepke]

While I may eventually dive into decorative elements (beads, coves, reeding etc.), I will buy those blades on a as-needed basis. I mainly build casework and tables, I’ve also been known to make a jewelry box or two,

[edited]

Are there any other blades I am missing or ones you would leave out?

I know that this plane accepts Stanley 45/55 blades, and I’ve been looking for a set of those on eBay, but given the auction prices I have seen lately, I’m not sure if it is worth the time and risk. Thoughts?

A bead and cove blade can make some nice molding for casework. A bead blade can add a nice bit of detail around a jewelry box:

Case & Molding.jpg

The moldings shown here were made with a beading blade and a fluting blade.

If you find an affordable box of Stanley blades they will all likely need a bit of work. An eighth inch Stanley blade will likely set you back as much as one from Lee Valley. After the slitter blade it is the one most often missing.

jtk

[Andrew Nemeth]

Thank you all for your responses. From what I’m gathering, I may want to drop the 1/2” and 3/4” straight blades from my starter set. I was envisioning using those mostly to make dados for shelves and dividers instead of using a dado stack in a tables saw or pulling out the electron eating router. I can always cut a couple of narrower dados, as suggested by Richard, or saw the edges, and then use my router plane to clear out the waste.

I’ll also keep my eyes out for a set of Stanley or Record blades that are reasonably priced and in decent shape.

William, out of curiosity, do you have the Combination plane or the smaller Plow plane? I’ve test driven the small plow plane and although it cut well, it seamed a bit dainty for me. I’m thinking the Combination plane will be a better fit but I’m now a bit concerned about using the larger blades.

Steven, you seem to always snag the good deals a day or so before I go rust hunting up your way. I suppose you’re part of the reason I am buying a new combination plane from Veritas. At least that’s what I’m telling my wife... in all seriousness though, if you happen to stumble across a Stanley 45 in good condition, and/or a set of cutters locally, and your not going to jump on them, please send me a message and I’ll check them out.

Jim, I can appreciate a well executed bead and/or cove but I have used them very rarely in my designs. I have used beads and coves for boatbuilding, and I may eventually try to get set up to do some of the hand fitting with bead or cove blade in a plane (right now I just eyeball it with a block plane). I haven’t really wrapped my head around using a plane to bead and cove all of the strips used to build a canoe, but I suppose that’s always an option. Baby steps...

[Jim Koepke]

There is currently a set of blades for a #45 on ebay for $90 Buy it Now includes shipping.

There is no 1/8" blade.

jtk

[William Fretwell]

Andrew I do have the combination plane. Like Michael I spent some time with the scoring spurs doing the same thing, polishing the back and increasing the angle to get them to do something.

[Tom Levy]

Just checking the situation, but when you say take up joinery by hand I think saws, chisels, router plane, marking gauges. Some things the combination plane can do, but also recently having started hand joinery, I use the prior list a magnitude more often than the combination plane. Investment in a variety of combination plane blades doesn’t seem entirely useful to starting hand joinery. Small plow with 3-4 small width blades would be entirely sufficient for what I’ve done so far.

[Warren Mickley]

I have used a Stanley 45 plane for about 40 years. My most used cutters are:

3/16 for small drawers
1/4 for drawer grooves
5/16 for grooves for frame and panel
7/8 for case dados

I am having trouble remembering using the 3/4 or the 1 1/4 cutters.

Note that when making a dado, there has to be a small clearance between the spur and the cutter. A 1/2 inch cutter will make a dado slightly larger than 1/2. It will also make slightly wider dado, up to about 9/16, with 1/32 clearance on each side. It is nice to have a set by 16ths so then you can make dados of any exact width within that range.

[Andrew Nemeth]

Thanks Jim, I had not seen that set. I always skim through from “ending soonest” and work my way towards “newly listed”. Now the question becomes, spend $90 on the blades or spend twice that (plus some) on a complete 45 with a box of blades. Choices, choices.

[Andrew Nemeth]

Hi Tom, I’m all set up with saws, chisels, a router plane, and gauges. I’m really looking for something to plow dados, grooves, and rebates. Dados in case sides, grooves for drawer bottoms, tongue and groove and lap joints for paneling, grooves and rebates for inset panels, etc. In other words, something that will replace a dado stack in a table saw and an electric router. While I’m sure purpose built planes may be a little less fussy, it seams as though a combination plane, particularly a quality combination plane that is well tuned, will get me started.

[Tom M King]

Dedicated grooving molding planes, with a metal skate, work much better, all around, for running grooves than a combination plane. You are limited to one groove width, and location per plane though. You used to be able to get working ones for $15, but I guess those days are gone. It is nice to have some available, like for drawer bottoms, that you can just pick up, and use.