OK, I spent a couple of hours searching the forum on this. I learned a lot of things, saw some really neat projects, etc., but did not find the answers I am looking for. I guess I could have spent, or go ahead and spend, the time searching the web because I'm sure there are great articles out there written by experts that would give me the guidance I am looking for.
I want to start acquiring/learning/using hand planes. This has been spurred on by the fact that I have several hundred board feet of rough cherry and walnut that I would like to start using. I have a Delta 12" planer, but I understand that the planer needs one truly flat side to surface the other. Otherwise it will follow the dips and curves faithfully and I will end up with a smooth board that is anything but flat. Besides, I like the idea of making great big curly paperthin shavings. I think it comes from my fascination with the lathe.
So, the question: as a beginning woodworker, wanting to work with roughsawn air-dried lumber, intent on making boxes and drawers, and on a VERY limited budget, what should be my first choices in hand planes?
And now, I sit back and wait for the experts to chime in and fill me with years of knowledge without the expense curve of mistakes.......
Choosing Hand Planes
Moderators: HopefulSSer, admin
Choosing Hand Planes
'55 Greenie #292284 (Mar-55), '89 SS 510 #020989, Mark VII #408551 (sold 10/14/12), SS Band Saw, (SS 500 #36063 (May-79) now gone to son-in-law as of 11-11), Magna bandsaw, Magna jointer 16185 (May-54), Magna belt sander SS28712 (Dec-82), Magna jigsaw SS4397 (Dec-78), SS biscuit joiner, Zyliss (knockoff) vise, 20+ hand planes, 60s Craftsman tablesaw, CarbaTec mini-lathe, and the usual pile of tools. Hermit of the Hills Woodworks, a hillbilly in the foothills of the Ozarks, scraping by.
If I were going to buy new planes, I would get either Veritas from Lee Valley or Lie Nielsen. These are more expensive but they are beautiful planes that are well made and work great. I have recently heard good things about the Wood River planes from Woodcraft but I've not seen or used them so can't comment.
If you want to go less expensive look for older model Stanley Bailey planes on eBay. Depending on condition you can pick these up pretty cheap, but be prepared to put in a lot of work on cleaning and flattening. If you go this route I would also invest in a better blade such as a Hock.
For milling rough lumber you would need at least a #7 or #8 jointer, and a #4 Smoother. If your lumber is really rough you might also want a scrub plane to get one side close quickly.
My favorite plane is a Stanley Bailey #5 I inherited from my father. I spent some time cleaning and flattening the sole and some minor flattening on the frog. I put in a hock blade and chip breaker and now it will take shavings you can see through.
If you want to go less expensive look for older model Stanley Bailey planes on eBay. Depending on condition you can pick these up pretty cheap, but be prepared to put in a lot of work on cleaning and flattening. If you go this route I would also invest in a better blade such as a Hock.
For milling rough lumber you would need at least a #7 or #8 jointer, and a #4 Smoother. If your lumber is really rough you might also want a scrub plane to get one side close quickly.
My favorite plane is a Stanley Bailey #5 I inherited from my father. I spent some time cleaning and flattening the sole and some minor flattening on the frog. I put in a hock blade and chip breaker and now it will take shavings you can see through.
Chris Schwarz, the editor of "Popular Woodworking" is the modern guru of hand planes. He has a new book out called "Handplane Essentials". This book is a great investment for those who are interested in hand plane usage.
That said, I have a couple thousand or so board feet of white and red pine at my Upper Peninsula workshop. This is all Wood Mizer rough sawn stock. Like many others here I only have the Shopsmith 4" jointer. Power tool junkies think that they have to have an 8", 10" or 12" jointer in order to flatten the surface of a board. They are so wrong.
I take a wide board, rough cut it to project length, and clamp it down on my workbench. Using winding sticks, which are nothing more than slender cut-offs from previous projects. ( 1"x2"x30" is just about perfect) Placing the winding sticks on each end, I then sight down the board to identify twist. Using a #5 hand plane I remove just enough wood to get the winding sticks parallel. I then repeat this process a few more times moving the sticks closer together. If the board has a slight "bow" I run the #5 plane down the length a few times to correct that. For long boards I might use a #7.
Note that I don't finish plane the whole surface. I'm merely getting one surface ready for my planer. This proceedure works very well and really doesnt take a great deal of time.
I have four hand planes, most are re-furbed old Stanley/Baileys. Millions were made and they can be purchased at garage sales, antique stores, on line, ect. at modest cost. Doing the re-furb yourself is a great way to become well acquainted with the mechanics of a hand plane. I've even had good service from the original blades, some of which needed a lot of sharpening.
That said, I have a couple thousand or so board feet of white and red pine at my Upper Peninsula workshop. This is all Wood Mizer rough sawn stock. Like many others here I only have the Shopsmith 4" jointer. Power tool junkies think that they have to have an 8", 10" or 12" jointer in order to flatten the surface of a board. They are so wrong.
I take a wide board, rough cut it to project length, and clamp it down on my workbench. Using winding sticks, which are nothing more than slender cut-offs from previous projects. ( 1"x2"x30" is just about perfect) Placing the winding sticks on each end, I then sight down the board to identify twist. Using a #5 hand plane I remove just enough wood to get the winding sticks parallel. I then repeat this process a few more times moving the sticks closer together. If the board has a slight "bow" I run the #5 plane down the length a few times to correct that. For long boards I might use a #7.
Note that I don't finish plane the whole surface. I'm merely getting one surface ready for my planer. This proceedure works very well and really doesnt take a great deal of time.
I have four hand planes, most are re-furbed old Stanley/Baileys. Millions were made and they can be purchased at garage sales, antique stores, on line, ect. at modest cost. Doing the re-furb yourself is a great way to become well acquainted with the mechanics of a hand plane. I've even had good service from the original blades, some of which needed a lot of sharpening.
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horologist
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Ed in Tampa
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I got the 62 Low Angle Jack from Stanley. Honestly it's great. I did rework the tote to better fit the original design. You can get a replacement lever cap from:
http://www.stjamesbaytoolco.com/
It works great. Has a thick iron and is available at Tool Barn for $100 and change.
http://www.stjamesbaytoolco.com/
It works great. Has a thick iron and is available at Tool Barn for $100 and change.
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nsmith01tx
- Gold Member
- Posts: 37
- Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2010 12:17 am
- Location: Austin, TX
Stanley planes
Cleaning up old Stanley planes is really pretty easy. Familiarize yourself enough with them to see that the parts are all there and that the handle ("tote") is whole.
Flattening the sole is usually a pretty simple thing, none of mine were ever so warped that it took very long. The idea is to put some medium grit wet/dry sandpaper on a flat surface (like your table saw, though a longer surface would be better) and, with the blade removed, run it along the sandpaper until all parts of the sole become shiny, ie there are no high spots or hollows. Then do it again with a very fine grade paper to make it very smooth. You can glue the sandpaper down with something like 3M spray adhesive and clean it back off with mineral spirits.
There are lots of sites and books about this. Mike Dunbar's "Restoring, Tuning & Using Classic Woodworking Tools" is great if you can find a copy: http://www.amazon.com/Restoring-Tuning- ... 080696670X
Flattening the sole is usually a pretty simple thing, none of mine were ever so warped that it took very long. The idea is to put some medium grit wet/dry sandpaper on a flat surface (like your table saw, though a longer surface would be better) and, with the blade removed, run it along the sandpaper until all parts of the sole become shiny, ie there are no high spots or hollows. Then do it again with a very fine grade paper to make it very smooth. You can glue the sandpaper down with something like 3M spray adhesive and clean it back off with mineral spirits.
There are lots of sites and books about this. Mike Dunbar's "Restoring, Tuning & Using Classic Woodworking Tools" is great if you can find a copy: http://www.amazon.com/Restoring-Tuning- ... 080696670X
Here's a Where-To-Begin article from Hand Plane Central
Before we got married, I planed warped 8' red oak boards for a shaker-style canopy bed with nothing but a Stanley block plane and checked it with a carpenter's square. I wouldn't recommend it but that's all I had at the time. It worked fairly well and was very satisfying.
Why not start off with a Stanley #5? It's kind of a"Jack" of all planes, so to speak.
Before we got married, I planed warped 8' red oak boards for a shaker-style canopy bed with nothing but a Stanley block plane and checked it with a carpenter's square. I wouldn't recommend it but that's all I had at the time. It worked fairly well and was very satisfying.
Why not start off with a Stanley #5? It's kind of a"Jack" of all planes, so to speak.
Thanks for the link as I have been looking for a replacement lever cap for a HSB 4-1/2C that I would like to use, but the lever is gone off of the cap. I'm going to call them today as they list replacement parts and I think the Stanley part will fit my HSB.holsgo wrote:I got the 62 Low Angle Jack from Stanley. Honestly it's great. I did rework the tote to better fit the original design. You can get a replacement lever cap from:
http://www.stjamesbaytoolco.com/
It works great. Has a thick iron and is available at Tool Barn for $100 and change.
I have been working on a wood workshop for 2 years. I made the mistake of including it with an almost total home renovation which has gone far longer than my spousal unit would prefer... I didn't feel so bad last night after watching a show on the DIY network prior to the Cool Tool episode showcasing the Shopsmith Mark 7. This couple have an addition which was started 10 years prior...
But as I have continued to learn by reading from the masters or watching whatever I can, I learned that a proper hand plane with a razor sharp blade can leave a surface smoother than a person can do with any grit of sand paper.
So I too will be looking. I've watched Nick Engler construct a tiny finger plane on a SawDust Session. Hock makes kits. This weekend I came across a You Tube video where a room full of guys built their own wood hand planes and then had a contest for the thinest & longest shaving. That was amazing.
One of my neighbors, now in his late 90's had a wood shop which used to contain a wall full of wood chisels, wood carving tools, and hand planes. Many of the planes he told me he made himself as that was how many guys learned how to use tools, by making their own. He had a flood in his basement which I learned of after it was too late as many of the tools were simply discarded in the trash. <heavy sigh>
On a side note, I realized I wasn't all that good in sharpening a knife or blade. I've since learned some of the secrets and have invested a lot in sharpening stones and tools. This started me into metallurgy as to get a good edge you need to start with fine grain steel to get that zero radius edge.
There is much to learn with wood working and the quality of the work desired which depends on the skill of the user with using simple tools. But I only have so many years left in me, so I will be using technology, as required. But learning about it and meeting people like Nick Engler and other masters who answered my of my questions has been almost as satisfying as making saw dust. The day I met Nick, I knew nothing of the many books he's authored. Now I own them all as part of my library. Speaking of saw dust, make sure you have a proper dust collection system as those tiny particles can go everywhere, including one's lungs. I stumbled onto Bill Pentz's web site and learned how to build my own dust cyclone aka swirl tube. Bill was very helpful in providing me a revised set of drawings for the size cyclone I made.
I have almost all the tools I need except for a good set of wood chisels and a few decent hand planes. I starting buying used Shopsmiths and it seemed people heard about it. I started buying used Shopsmiths for peanuts- $50- $100 or even free. I just need to finish my house before I get a green light to start making wood chips with all these tools I have. I've saved the most expensive ones for last: a set of Japanese wood chisels and some hand planes. I might just make my own. Start small and work my way up by looking for used hand planes at yard sales and take it from there.
But remember safety. I don't foresee a Shopsmith ever being fitting with a blade stop. I saw one of those demonstrated and it scared the you know what out of me & destroyed an expensive blade. Use the safety features of your Shopsmith- especially if it has a Power Pro. 10,000 rpm is pretty fast. Although tools are supplied and even labelled with respect to safety hazards, many people have dumb attacks & believe they know so much more than a manufacturer to the point they remove the safety measures and then sue when they're hurt because of their ignorance. I wonder is a Power Pro could be modified with a reverse torque device or maybe some interlocks & sensors that would prevent it from being turned on. That would save a saw blade and perhaps shield Shopsmith from liability claims. Amateurs who think they are wood workers can do the darnedest things. I went off subject. Good luck with your hand planes.
But as I have continued to learn by reading from the masters or watching whatever I can, I learned that a proper hand plane with a razor sharp blade can leave a surface smoother than a person can do with any grit of sand paper.
So I too will be looking. I've watched Nick Engler construct a tiny finger plane on a SawDust Session. Hock makes kits. This weekend I came across a You Tube video where a room full of guys built their own wood hand planes and then had a contest for the thinest & longest shaving. That was amazing.
One of my neighbors, now in his late 90's had a wood shop which used to contain a wall full of wood chisels, wood carving tools, and hand planes. Many of the planes he told me he made himself as that was how many guys learned how to use tools, by making their own. He had a flood in his basement which I learned of after it was too late as many of the tools were simply discarded in the trash. <heavy sigh>
On a side note, I realized I wasn't all that good in sharpening a knife or blade. I've since learned some of the secrets and have invested a lot in sharpening stones and tools. This started me into metallurgy as to get a good edge you need to start with fine grain steel to get that zero radius edge.
There is much to learn with wood working and the quality of the work desired which depends on the skill of the user with using simple tools. But I only have so many years left in me, so I will be using technology, as required. But learning about it and meeting people like Nick Engler and other masters who answered my of my questions has been almost as satisfying as making saw dust. The day I met Nick, I knew nothing of the many books he's authored. Now I own them all as part of my library. Speaking of saw dust, make sure you have a proper dust collection system as those tiny particles can go everywhere, including one's lungs. I stumbled onto Bill Pentz's web site and learned how to build my own dust cyclone aka swirl tube. Bill was very helpful in providing me a revised set of drawings for the size cyclone I made.
I have almost all the tools I need except for a good set of wood chisels and a few decent hand planes. I starting buying used Shopsmiths and it seemed people heard about it. I started buying used Shopsmiths for peanuts- $50- $100 or even free. I just need to finish my house before I get a green light to start making wood chips with all these tools I have. I've saved the most expensive ones for last: a set of Japanese wood chisels and some hand planes. I might just make my own. Start small and work my way up by looking for used hand planes at yard sales and take it from there.
But remember safety. I don't foresee a Shopsmith ever being fitting with a blade stop. I saw one of those demonstrated and it scared the you know what out of me & destroyed an expensive blade. Use the safety features of your Shopsmith- especially if it has a Power Pro. 10,000 rpm is pretty fast. Although tools are supplied and even labelled with respect to safety hazards, many people have dumb attacks & believe they know so much more than a manufacturer to the point they remove the safety measures and then sue when they're hurt because of their ignorance. I wonder is a Power Pro could be modified with a reverse torque device or maybe some interlocks & sensors that would prevent it from being turned on. That would save a saw blade and perhaps shield Shopsmith from liability claims. Amateurs who think they are wood workers can do the darnedest things. I went off subject. Good luck with your hand planes.
One Greenie, Two Mark 7s,Three 510s and much more…