Wood Planing Problem

[Phil Pascoe]

Can you not do the smoothing with the no5

Yes, you can. For many years the only plane I owned was a number 5.

For many years I owned a 3, 4, 4 1/2, 5 1/2, 6, 7 and 8. I only owned a 5 when someone gave me one.
Be careful of going down a rabbit hole, you can ask twenty experienced people which planes you should own and get different answers, but it is generally accepted that a 5 or a 5 1/2 is the best general purpose plane. I would say a 5 1/2 (my first and only plane for several years) but it's only my opinion.
You can do just about anything you wish with any of them - one well known furniture maker used only a 7 - it's just that they are individually suited to certain jobs. Planing long material dead flat is miles easier with a long plane : smoothing, especially where absolute flatness isn't so important is easier with a shorter one as is chamfering edges and other small jobs. This Sellers vid is worth watching even if you don't go down the second hand route - at least you'll know what actually does what. I await someone's finding flaws in it, but there aren't many (any?) that are better.
Play from the beginning - I have no idea why the link keeps starting at various places in the middle. :?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYyV6IUpsYk&t=2134s

 

[JXJ_Woodwork]

Thank you for that. Yeah I had actually been watching that video a few days ago. I managed to buy a planer from eBay (see pictures attached) any good!?

 

[MikeG.]

.......... I am stating facts, not opinion. .......

:roll: :roll:

Ever wondered why you run into such hostility with your posts, Tom?

 

[transatlantic]

It's a bit of a catch 22.

You're advised to work with pine (or similar) because it's cheap and easily accessable, but it also really quite hard to work with, both in terms of working it, and also finishing it (hello blotchy my old friend).

Pine is the Rich Tea biscuit of the woodworking world.

 

[Ttrees]

Looks clean and ready to use, a rather thin casting by the looks of the pictures
but that won't make any difference in use.
My comment was more to do with If it had rust and that inaccurate procedure with lapping was copied.
That's not a method in which it can be done like that.

The work you have in store will dictate the use you have for that no.5 plane as said in other words.

If you still want to be able to plane that timber you have without scraping, as it may be your only timber you have on hand
you might need another iron, iron and cap iron( a double iron)
or another cheap no.4 plane for 20 quid so you don't have to do swapping or adjusting since
it may not be all to practical to dimension what you have with the one iron profile.
A jack plane will generally have more camber, although not all folks have the same sort of camber.

I believe Alan Peters had about 10 iron's for his no.7 (s)?
Something to do with the Japanese principal that it is preposterous to be sharpening your tools on the clients expense.

Tom

 

[Blackswanwood]

Thank you for that. Yeah I had actually been watching that video a few days ago. I managed to buy a planer from eBay (see pictures attached) any good!?

Looks like a decent plane (as mentioned earlier not a planer!) - I suspect someone has tidied it up to sell it.

Paul Sellers has a video on YouTube about restoring hand planes which gives some useful pointers as to how to get it working well.

Cheers

 

[Ttrees]

.......... I am stating facts, not opinion. .......

:roll: :roll:

Ever wondered why you run into such hostility with your posts, Tom?

TBH In fairness to Ben, I thought he meant my opinion by the comment, and not himself (hammer)
It's still the case though, and needed to be cleared up.

Tight mouths really are the first obstacle of misinformation out there, that very often will lead down to useless rabbit holes of expense that end up exactly they start.
Thankfully I came out of that malarkey before I got lost in there.

Tom

 

[MikeG.]

....... I managed to buy a planer from eBay.......

That's a plane, not a planer. A planer is a machine, or a person who is planing. And yeah, that looks a lovely plane. The key skill with planing is getting it properly sharp. Everything else is secondary. So even as you practise planing with your new piece of kit, practise sharpening.

 

[Trevanion]

Thank you for that. Yeah I had actually been watching that video a few days ago. I managed to buy a planer from eBay (see pictures attached) any good!?

Nothing wrong with a Record at all, and those crucible cast blades are considered very desirable. The Stay-Set (SS) cap irons are a bit contentious in that some people think they were a gimmick and others think they were the best thing since sliced bread.

 

[thetyreman]

looks like a nice plane there JXJ

 

[Yojevol]

It's got a nice shiny toat. That's my latest word find. Came across it yesterday doing a crossword. The answer to the clue was stoat. Anybody heard of it before?
Brian

 

[JXJ_Woodwork]

Thank you, I looked through the listings and that looked like the one in best nick. When it arrives I’ll dismantle it and sharpen it up and let you know how I get on with my slightly messed up table top! PLANE-PLANE-PLANE GOD DAMNIT!

 

[JXJ_Woodwork]

I got the plane for £50... is that reasonable would you say? Or the going rate?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Very good, I'd think.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It's got a nice shiny toat. That's my latest word find. Came across it yesterday doing a crossword. The answer to the clue was stoat. Anybody heard of it before?
Brian

No. Ye gods - I've spent years getting used to people calling it a tote not a handle, now I suppose I'll have to get used to people spelling it toat.

 

[MikeG.]

I got the plane for £50... is that reasonable would you say? Or the going rate?

Decent price for one done up like this. You can get them for around £30 but be faced with an hour of de-rusting, cleaning up, flattening, sharpening and so on. Fine if you know what you're doing, but you've probably made the right decision in going for something that's already in reasonable nick.

 

[AndyT]

Just to save us from wandering too far off topic, anyone wanting quite a lot of chat about totes and toats can find it here

cleaning-old-planes-t66480.html

which swerved off into etymology even quicker.

 

[Nigel Burden]

I have a Record 5 1/2 and a very good plane it is too. Your first plane is what is called a Block Plane and is used for planing end grain or taking the sharp edge of a board.

My advice would be first and foremost learn to sharpen. Without being able to sharpen efficiently your plane will always perform poorly.

Practice planing scraps of wood, noticing how the plane responds when planing with the grain and against the grain where the plane will most likely dig in and tear out chunks. Don't rush, it takes time. If you find the plane hard to push and it's sharp, back off the blade taking a thinner shaving. A squiggle of candle wax on the sole makes thing a lot easier as well. Another point. Most novice woodworkers fail to sharpen their planes soon enough, waiting until planing becomes difficult. How soon will depend on the hardness of the wood.

Paul Sellers has many videos which explain techniques which are worth watching. Richard Maguire, The English Woodworker is also worth watching.

Tight mouths were mentioned earlier. IIAC, back in the 18c when planes were wooden with a single iron, a smoothing plane started life with its mouth tight to control the thickness of the shaving as a thick shaving is not desirable when smoothing. As the plane sole wore the mouth became wider as the sole was flattened by the owner., the plane then took on a different purpose like hogging off thicker shavings when reducing the thickness of aboard quickly. They became known as roughing or scrub planes.

Nigel.

 

[JXJ_Woodwork]

Really great info thank you. I actually found what I think is a great sharpening video - tell me if I’m wrong below;

I definitely understand the importance of sharpening the plane now and getting everything prepped before. I had no idea it was a technical as it is - I love that though.

Link below if anybody is interested- I thought it was great (and easy to follow/digest for somebody new to it)

https://youtu.be/okLIEoz00v0

 

[Ttrees]

Have a look on this thread from the hand tools section for a good guide on the subject,
and be sure to be seated before you look up the price of those hones Rob Cosman's using.

your-cheapest-honing-setup-buying-new-only-t102548.html

Tom