Help me choose a first plane?

[Chris152]

Dad's plane, treated (more or less) according to the Sellers video, along with the first trial cut!

I don't have a sharpening system sorted but got some bits of wet and dry and made a strop from an old leather jacket and a piece of compound from a local hardware shop for £2.50. So the total cost was £5, but the feeling of getting it going is pretty much priceless.

Oh, and it's a No 4 (I hadn't realised it's written on the body!), so should work well alongside the quangsheng, I hope.

I'm so delighted to get it working - thank you all for your thoughts!

Chris

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Excellent stuff!

However long you continue with woodworking (many decades, I hope!) and however many fine tools you may use or acquire, that little plane will always have a special place, because it was your Dad's. I know I find that with tools I've inherited, and others on the forum have mentioned similar sentiments, too.

Good luck with the QS and the No 4 - may they give many happy and constructive hours!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Just goes to show you don't NEED expensive gear. Nice to own, yes, but many brilliant cabinet makers managed for centuries before Veritas, Quangsheng, Wood River, Lee Valley etc. were even thought of.

 

[AndyT]

That's a good answer to your original question, probably the best answer.
Woodworking is often an exercise in practical problem solving, which is not the same as shopping.

 

[Sawyer]

Size wise, my first plane was a #5 - probably the most versatile thing I've ever owned. Despite now sharing cupboard space with about 15 other planes, it's still the most used, having had some part to play in almost everything I've ever made in 30+ years. It was nothing trendy either, a humble Footprint, which with a small amount of fettling, a sharp blade and some candle wax, works like a dream.
So, my advice to anybody is, start with a #5; preferably an old one which has been looked after.

 

[G S Haydon]

It's quite a good demo that a plane with a broken wing is actually pretty good in use.

 

[thetyreman]

I love my no 4 1/2 then got a 5 1/2 after that, both great planes, both old stanley's and full of rust when I got them, they will last me a lifetime, paid less than £40 for both.

 

[Chris152]

Well, I now have the 5 1/2 set up and working. It's great and was easy to set up (though I managed to put the edge off-square when I first sharpened it - that won't happen again!).

I've been following Peter Sefton's DVD on wood prep and making the breadboard. At first I thought to move straight to something more interesting but I'm so glad I didn't - I think my planing has got better the last couple of days as I've been trying to flatten and square a piece of kiln dried beech about 12" by 17" - it had a cup and a slight twist and saw marks.

Anyway, after two full shopping bags of shavings I had top and bottom just about there. But this morning I went into the garage to make a shooting board to square the sides and, lo and behold - the board had cupped again over night! All my efforts completely undone!

The past week it's gone from pretty hot and dry to quite a bit of rain in the last 24 hours - would that be the reason? And is this normal - how do you control this?

edit - the garage has a regular up-and-over door so damp air readily gets in. Do I need to change the door?!

 

[Beau]

When leaving a prepped board best to leave it so that any change of humidity will affect both side equally. Easiest way to do this is to leave it on edge.

Missed this thread before but IMO a 5 1/2 is a great choice and that and a block plane are now the only two planes I ever use.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

An old chippie I used to work with always maintained that 4s and 5s were for site work, being lighter, and 4 1/2s and 5 1/2s were bench planes. I think there's an element of sense in that.

 

[Chris152]

When leaving a prepped board best to leave it so that any change of humidity will affect both side equally. Easiest way to do this is to leave it on edge.

Ok, I'll remember that in future. Is a board that has just been planed more vulnerable to such shifts?

I really like the way the 5 1/2 works to level a board - it simply refuses to cut where there are dips and lowers what's around til it's level. At first I thought I was doing something wrong when it wasn't planing but realised it's the plane doing its job.

Thanks both.

ps Would you expect it to flatten again if I leave it on edge now, or do I need to start planing again? I could end up with a sheet of paper at this rate!

 

[Beau]

ps Would you expect it to flatten again if I leave it on edge now, or do I need to start planing again? I could end up with a sheet of paper at this rate!

Hi Chris.

I would leave it before starting planing again. It might straighten out when the moisture in the wood evens out (it might get worse) either way best to wait and see then plane it flat.

 

[essexalan]

Bring the wood in to the kitchen and leave it on edge just turn it round now and again just to see what it does. Piece of beech that wide will probably keep on moving depending how thick it is but it will give you good planing practice. Consider making your board by laminating strips together, that's how they make butcher's blocks.

 

[Chris152]

Board currently stood on edge in the kitchen - it'll be interesting to see if it corrects itself.

And I might try one on the butcher's block principle another time - though this time it was really an exercise in trying to get a board square and flat. Am I right thinking quarter cut would be less inclined to do this?

Thanks all.

 

[custard]

I understand a 5 1/2 is a good all-round plane. I went into Axminster and handled a few, their own and the very expensive ones. They seem a bit big but I guess that's because I've never handled one except a 4 or 4 1/2 which is my dad's old broken one. And my research (this forum and elsewhere, including Peter Sefton's DVDs) says 5 1/2 is the way to go, so I think that's what I'll do.

I like the idea of buying a cheap old one and fettling, but as I don't know what I'm doing can see me making it worse rather than better. Give that, and that I'm trying to not spend a penny more than I have to, should I buy this:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ri ... e-ax976870

or this:

https://www.workshopheaven.com/quangshe ... plane.html

My understanding is the quangsheng should be almost fine straight out of the box, and the rider may well need some fettling and stuff which I could mess up. There's about £40 difference. Can I expect the quangsheng to be ready to go or is that too much to ask?!

Thanks.

The Quangsheng and the Rider are both nice planes, but have you thought about how you'd actually sharpen those very thick blades?

With the thinner blades on Stanley or Record planes you can get by either without grinding at all (just maintain the final cutting angle across the full thickness of the blade), or at a pinch you can regrind by hand on a very coarse stone or very coarse abrasive paper.

The thicker blades really need grinding after about five to seven sharpenings, otherwise you're having to remove so much metal that sharpening becomes an extremely laborious task. And to quantify the situation further, it's rare that I'll hand plane hardwoods for more than about ten straight minutes without sharpening, so that works out very roughly at grinding once for every hour of plane use. Now I know some people claim to have reground even very thick A2 steel plane irons entirely by hand, I'm sure they have, but I'm equally sure they don't look forward to repeating the exercise!

So the bottom line is this, unless you're prepared to get a power grinder, learn to use it, replace the standard wheel and the tool rest, and also have the space to permanently install it, then you're probably better off getting a Record or Stanley where the thin blades make it reasonably practical to keep them sharp and operational entirely by hand.

Good luck!

 

[Chris152]

Thanks for the heads up - I'll be ready for a forearm and shoulder workout...