Hand Plane Advice

Chestnut

By Chestnut
in Hand Tools

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Plane Choice  

9 members have voted

  1. 1. Which should i get

    • Shoulder Plane
      1
    • Router Plane
      6
    • Rabbeting Block Plane
      2
    • Let the power tools do that work and buy spokeshaves instead
      0

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Chestnut Master Poster

Chestnut

Posted
Posted

I know there are a ton of threads asking advice on which hand plane to buy. They all have great advice but none of them answered my questions. Brand is irrelevant to me because it's going to be LN or LV, unless someone convinces me that an antique Stanley is worthwhile to buy off ebay.

I currently have a pre-1920 Stanley #5 with a Hock blade and that plane is great. I also have a Stanley SW 60 1/5 LABP, works great haven't used it as much since i got the #5 though. I also have a set of 4 Stanley SW 750 socket chisels & a set of 3 Irwin Marples chisels.

In the future i see myself working a lot with rabbets more as well as mortise and tenon. Work will be done with a dado stack and or a spinney router. If i had to decide between a shoulder plane, a router plane, or a rabbeting block plane, which would be my best bet? I'm also going to start a big project building cabinets so i can't rule out dado either. Or should i abandon all this and buy the full veritas set of spokeshaves (I'd like to build with more curves) and leave the power tools for rabbet, dado, & M&T work?

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Guest

Guest

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Ultimately I think you want both a shoulder plane and rabbeting block plane.  I am machine guy but use those two all the time for tweaking M&T joints.  I guess the rabbeting block plane is a little more versatile so go ahead and get that one first but like I said you really want both.  

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Eric. Master Poster

Eric.

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Why buy one when you can buy all three for thrice the price?

Three tools that do three different jobs, with a little bit of crossover among them.  It's not an either/or proposition.  I can tell you I use my large shoulder plane more than the other two you listed...but that's ME...it means nothing in YOUR shop.

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Eric. Master Poster

Eric.

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Yes you can but you have to be careful about keeping the tenon a consistent thickness from shoulder to end since the shoulder plane is not able to plane the entire cheek in one swipe except for on the tiniest of tenons.  The rabbet block is a better tool for cheeks, and frankly that's about the only time I use my rabbet block.  I usually prefer to use my shoulder plane to clean up rabbets, as backwards as that sounds.  I find I have more control with it since there's not so much steel hanging off the side of the rabbet.

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estesbubba Master Poster

estesbubba

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13 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

Can you use a Shoulder plane to clean up tenon cheeks? I realize it's not the right tool for the job but can it be done? Is there a benefit to owning 2 block planes?

I should have never bought a regular block plane and this wouldn't be a problem.

Using a router plane from both sides will keep the tenon cheeks centered. I did that on my Roubo end cap tenon, and if it works for that monster tenon, it will work for any tenon!

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shaneymack Master Poster

shaneymack

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Can you use a Shoulder plane to clean up tenon cheeks? I realize it's not the right tool for the job but can it be done? Is there a benefit to owning 2 block planes?

I should have never bought a regular block plane and this wouldn't be a problem.

The large shoulder plane has 1 1/4" width so it could work well on tenons cheeks of that length. Another option for fine adjusting cheeks is a file or float .

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk

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Al Capwn Journeyman Poster

Al Capwn

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Ahh yes, I struggled with this decision as well. I opted for router plane since it appears to be pretty versatile. I am shooting for the shoulder plane next. When I first started, I initially thought of purchasing a Rabbeting Block plane...but then I thought about it more. A rabbeting block plane won't be as useful on tenon shoulders, and won't be able to gar-un-tee precision like a router plane on cheeks. So it doesn't really give me many advantages in M&T, other than sneaking up into corners, with a block plane format.

My advice would be try making some practice joinery and then determine what areas you would like to improve or finesse, and let that guide your purchase. If you can make perfect M&T with the power tools, leave the planes behind for now and scoop up the spokeshaves. If your tenon shoulders are out of whack, then get a shoulder plane. If your tenon cheeks are too fat, or your dados are inconsistent, get a router plane.

The tools wont make perfect joinery, only you can do that. They only aid in helping accomplish that goal. My vote is all of the above, with the RBP being last in priority.

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RichardA Master Poster

RichardA

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Posted
5 hours ago, Eric. said:

Why buy one when you can buy all three for thrice the price?

Three tools that do three different jobs, with a little bit of crossover among them.  It's not an either/or proposition.  I can tell you I use my large shoulder plane more than the other two you listed...but that's ME...it means nothing in YOUR shop.

Classy choice of avatar.......

I use a Stanley #71, and a Stanley #92, but my most used planes are a Stanley #120 and the Stanley #130.  Ebay is loaded with them, I noticed it the other day when I was looking for a 5 1/2.  That I ultimately got. It's a Bluegrass, size and weight are equal to the Stanley, and I like it!

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Chestnut Master Poster

Chestnut

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Does any one else wish that the wood database got better pictures for their wood? Some of the stuff they get to show as an example is just plain boring compared to what is out there.

Did research last night and i think it's going to be a LV router plane. The LN looks nice but didn't change anything over the Stanley No. 71. LV looks like they really stepped up in redesigning the router plane.

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Eric. Master Poster

Eric.

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, RichardA said:

Classy choice of avatar.......

I use a Stanley #71, and a Stanley #92, but my most used planes are a Stanley #120 and the Stanley #130.  Ebay is loaded with them, I noticed it the other day when I was looking for a 5 1/2.  That I ultimately got. It's a Bluegrass, size and weight are equal to the Stanley, and I like it!

 

10 hours ago, Llama said:

Wow Eric. That's one hell of an Avatar. Oh well... 

 

10 hours ago, K Cooper said:

Cute but just too damn many weirdos out there to be taking that chance.

 

9 hours ago, Tony Wilkins said:

Not sure about the cute part but yeah, what he said.

 

Seriously?  You guys really think so?  I just think it's funny.  Either I'm way naive or y'all are way too...something.  Paranoid?  Uptight?  Politically correct?  Not sure exactly.

But if it's really "inappropriate" I'll take it down.  I just didn't think it was.

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Guest

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

Does any one else wish that the wood database got better pictures for their wood? Some of the stuff they get to show as an example is just plain boring compared to what is out there.

Did research last night and i think it's going to be a LV router plane. The LN looks nice but didn't change anything over the Stanley No. 71. LV looks like they really stepped up in redesigning the router plane.

I think they try to show pictures that are typical of a species rather than exceptional. 

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Llama Master Poster

Llama

Posted
Posted
29 minutes ago, Eric. said:

Seriously?  You guys really think so?  I just think it's funny.  Either I'm way naive or y'all are way too...something.  Paranoid?  Uptight?  Politically correct?  Not sure exactly.

But if it's really "inappropriate" I'll take it down.  I just didn't think it was.

Nothing like that. Just caught me by surprise. To be honest, it's the best thing I've seen on the forum in a long time. 

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Chestnut Master Poster

Chestnut

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2 minutes ago, Gixxerjoe04 said:

I laughed at the pic with a wtf at the same time haha.  As for the router plane, I've been thinking about getting one, was going to get the LN but after looking online everyone seems to think the LV is better, so I'll probably get that one once I decided to pull the trigger.

I really like that the LV router plane seems a bit more flexible than the LN one. It's also nice that it can be used with a wider variety of blades. It is a hair more expensive but i feel like you get a bit more for your money.

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