Which ONE plane?

[NickWelford]

I really don't know very much about planes and their use.

If you could have just one plane, which make/model would it be?
Would it be useful for me to purchase one of those as a beginner, or if not, which one is recommended?

I was browsing the Lie-Nielsen site, as you do, and was taken with the low angle jack plane ..........

 

[tnimble]

LV or LN low angle jack or LN no 5.5

 

[Pete W]

The usual answer will be a question: what kind of work do you do?

If you're making small-scale stuff (like boxes) a jack might be a bit large, and a good block plane might be a better choice. If you do larger work (especially tabletops and the like) the jack would be the one.

The advantage of the low-angle jack is the flexibility. You can swap out extra blades for high- and low-angle bevels, which will allow you to tackle a variety of jobs from end-grain to reversing grain. A blade with a radius grind would let you do fairly heavy hogging-off of wood, while a straight blade lets you do edge jointing and shooting.

If you went for the Veritas block plane, you can get a knob and tote package that converts it into a small smoother - again, useful if you're doing small-scale stuff.

Or you could get an out-and-out smoother (something between a 4 and a 5-1/2), which might be a good choice if you use machinery for stock prep and just want something to take tool marks off your stock. A smoother might also work if you buy mostly planed wood rather than rough-sawn, waney-edged stock.

Unfortunately, it's one of those questions where there's no single correct choice. Let us know what you do, and how you work, and you'll get better advice .

 

[custard]

The advantage of the low-angle jack is the flexibility. You can swap out extra blades for high- and low-angle bevels, which will allow you to tackle a variety of jobs from end-grain to reversing grain. A blade with a radius grind would let you do fairly heavy hogging-off of wood, while a straight blade lets you do edge jointing and shooting.

Pete, I too am a fan of the low-angle jack, but I disagree with your comment about the radius grind. IMO the single biggest shortfall of low angle planes is that they don't take a radius grind nearly as well as traditional bench planes. At a 90 degree blade angle to the sole a radius is a radius, but as the angle of the plane blade reduces so the radius progressively becomes an elipse, and at very low angles any practical radius is virtually flat. Consequently it's very difficult to grind and maintain a meaningful and consistently accurate radius on the blade of a low-angle jack.

I'm of the old school when it comes to edge jointing, in that I prefer a very shallow curve to a flat plane blade, and even though there's both a 5 1/2 jack and a low-angle jack sitting on my bench all the time, I invariably use the traditional jack for edge jointing timber up to about 30-36" long (longer than that and I use a 7 jointer).

 

[NickWelford]

Hmmm - interesting so far. I should have thought in advance about the use I would make of the plane. I would ask that same question if someone asked me about a new lathe or turning tool.

I'm too lazy to do huge amounts of planing - so it's strictly small stuff - boxes etc spring to mind, so end grain, certainly, probably difficult burrs and wavy grain, elm..... general smoothing of small sides and edges.

 

[Paul Chapman]

probably difficult burrs and wavy grain, elm.....

In that case, you'll probably need one of these as well

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[wizer]

You planing needs are the same as mine. I never want to plane a board rough to ready and I don't want to hand plane mouldings. So, you want to start with a smoothing plane. The above recommendations are good ones: 5, 5.5 or LAJ. Then you might want to look into scraping, like Paul suggests. A Good block plane in very useful around the shop. I didn't realise that til I got one. For me hand planes are finishers and tweakers.

 

[bugbear]

Hmmm - interesting so far. I should have thought in advance about the use I would make of the plane. I would ask that same question if someone asked me about a new lathe or turning tool.

I'm too lazy to do huge amounts of planing - so it's strictly small stuff - boxes etc spring to mind, so end grain, certainly, probably difficult burrs and wavy grain, elm..... general smoothing of small sides and edges.

In that case the LV LA jack is a no brainer IMHO.

BugBear

 

[newt]

Agree with bugbear

 

[Pete W]

IMO the single biggest shortfall of low angle planes is that they don't take a radius grind nearly as well as traditional bench planes.

Fair point, but as Derek Cohen of this parish has demonstrated, there are ways to achieve the bevel up radius.

I must confess I haven't done it myself (haven't yet invested in a spare blade) but it does add another string to the bevel-up bow.

On edge jointing, I have been convinced by David Charlesworth's arguments in favour of a slightly cambered blade, but again in the absence of a spare blade I keep mine straight since the Veritas BU Jack is my preferred shooting plane.

In these kinds of discussions, I'm always reminded of the Kipling quote, "There are nine-and-sixty ways of constructing tribal lays, and every single one of them is right."

 

[custard]

Pete, thanks for a great link! I really enjoyed that, and I'm going to have a go at primary bevel honing on my low angle jack using the jig and method he recommends. Thanks again.

 

[bobscarle]

I would definitely go for my Clifton Number 4.The LN LAJ is a lovely, well made plane, but I can't get on with mine (might even sell it).

Bob

 

[Escudo]

I think the Veritas Low Angle Jack plane is widely regarded as a good first plane. Very versatile and easy to set-up/use.

Looking to the future you can then add the Bevel up smoother as both share the same blade.

Hope this adds to the ideas.

Cheers, Tony.

 

[woodbloke]

I agree with many of the previous comments, re the LV BU jack. Definitely in my book an excellent first plane as it will do almost all the standard planing jobs needed at the bench - Rob

 

[bugbear]

IMO the single biggest shortfall of low angle planes is that they don't take a radius grind nearly as well as traditional bench planes.

Fair point, but as Derek Cohen of this parish has demonstrated, there are ways to achieve the bevel up radius.

Derek's maths on the camber needed is excellent, but the "generating template" in his method is not needed, and indeed I believe I can prove it doesn't work as he thinks.

This being hyper text, I won't repeat the arguments (on both sides), merely link to them:

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... sc&start=0

(one might conclude that an LA BU scrub is NOT a good idea)

BugBear

 

[MikeG.]

Oh goodness.......woodworking forums and plane questions.......why are they always such a big deal?

If you are asking the question, then you are a novice (you say as much yourself). If you are a novice, then you need something very basic to learn with. Learner drivers don't get to try out a formula 1 car......they start in a Vauxhall Nova.

I would suggest an unbranded Jack plane for the bigger stuff, and an unbranded block plane for little stuff. A £50 or £80 budget should cover the pair, and in years to come when you have mastered those two, then have a think about Veritas or Lie Nielson or somesuch Ferrari.

Remember that almost all of our great history of furniture making and architectural joinery involved craftsmen using planes they probably made themselves. We kid ourselves that cabinet making is engineering in wood..........it isn't, and we kid ourselves that these expensive wonder-planes will turn us into experts overnight.....they won't.

The quality of the work you turn out will be limited by your skills , and not by the quality of your planes, so long as you can properly sharpen and adjust. You will make just as big a hash of planing using a £400 plane as you will with a £40 plane in your early years.

I have been furniture making for nearly 30 years, semi-professionally at times, and own just 2 planes. They are an unbranded jack plane and a brazed-up Stanley 220 block plane. I prepared all my stock by hand until I bought a planer thicknesser 2 years ago. A bigger, longer plane would have helped a bit, but it was no big deal really not having one. You just learn a few more skills, and sweat a bit more.

To me, working with wood isn't a tool-collecting exercise. A few (but only a few) reasonably decent tools are important.........but what really is important is the stuff you make. Pride in your product, not pride in your possessions.

Mike

PS This isn't meant as a criticism of people who have chosen an alternative approach. It is simply to say that these enormously expensive planes aren't the only way to successfully skim a shaving off a piece of wood.

 

[Pete W]

This being hyper text, I won't repeat the arguments (on both sides), merely link to them

That thread made my head hurt the first time around; time hasn't improved it any (or, at least, I haven't grown any smarter :?). I'm also stunned that it was very nearly a year ago :shock:

 

[Pete W]

The quality of the work you turn out will be limited by your skills , and not by the quality of your planes, so long as you can properly sharpen and adjust.

Aye, there's the rub! The reason so many of us turn to Veritas and Lee Valley (and Clifton) is not the desire for a Ferrari, but the desire for a plane that can be adjusted, out of the box, by those of us without the experience or skills to deal with a modern 'low-cost' plane that is so badly cast and assembled that the frog won't seat properly in the body, the blade won't seat properly on the frog, and the blade adjustment jams every half-turn.

My first plane - a new Stanley No 5 - had all of those problems, and I wasted hours trying to figure out why I couldn't plane a piece of softwood. Then I bought a Veritas 5-1/4 and got on with the business of planing wood and not fighting the tool.

At the same time as the Stanley, I got a Faithfull block plane that did work straight out of the box and is the equal of my Veritas low-angle block plane. But that's why - in my view - buying new low-cost planes is a lottery.

 

[tnimble]

slab of text

Yes, craftsmen build their own planes, and if handed a modern cheap plane through a timemachine (not the kind used with herbs) would be able to use if for certain jobs after spending a few hours with it to fix its defects and short comings. Why? because this gentleman has spend years in training, dedicated training to not only use tools but also to create, convert and maintain them.

Sure the quality of your work is depended on your skill, but how can you aquire this skill if using 'broken' kit not up for the job? Like with your car analogy. How can the student learn to drive with a car that the motor stalls when using the indicators, the seats move freely about in the car and the accelerator pedal bends if you press it?

 

[MikeG.]

Oh come on!! Don't you think that may be just a little exaggerated?

I picked mine off the shelf in a DIY shop for peanuts, and with no knowledge of fettling have used it successfully for 30 years. Don't tell me you have to spend £400 to scrape a layer off a piece of wood!!!!!

Mike