Getting organized

[singlespeed68]

After seeing Marc's video yesterday it got motivated and stated to clean things up and organize.

[PaulMarcel]

Nice start; ...and a fine choice in saw (pull!)

[Rutabagared]

Looks good and you still have some room to add more tools!

Joe

[jasonjarrard]

Nice start; ...and a fine choice in saw (pull!)

Paul and horse hair, the three planes, what size do you think they are.

I want to purchase two or three. To join edge of boards and for smoothing face, I have a block plane, but would like to get others. What is a good size and food value. I hear so about certain ones having to worked on after purchase? What gives? And does anyone good resources on planes how to use and maintain?

[PaulMarcel]

Hammerhead,

Well, I don't know which sizes those are in the picture. I'll guess a #4, #5, and #7.

The #5 is called a Jack plane and most believe the name "Jack" comes from "Jack of all Trades" since you can use it like a smoother, like a longer plane for flattening, like a jointer on shorter stock, great for shooting, etc. That's the most versatile after the block. A good block, like you said you have, is infinitely useful for small touchups.

I prefer bevel-up planes, but that's a personal preference. In my case my most used plane is the low-angle bevel-up Jack from Veritas. I have a bevel-up smoother from them, too (like a #4). I have a #7, but don't use it that often at all unless I'm flattening a big panel. Even so, if the parts of the panel started flat, I could use the Jack and often do.

So, those are my personal opinions. Get a Jack (#5) first then go for a smoother (#4). Some will say to flip those two, and there's nothing wrong with that, too. Jointers are pricey. Maybe wait on that and make do with the others especially since it sounds like you want to use them with power-tools to clean-up/finesse vs going all hand-tool.

Some people here buy used planes and rebuild them (JWatson and MuddlerMike). They say the process is pretty simple. In my case, I bought new, which definitely costs more. My thinking was that I wanted a new plane to start with so I had something good and working. From there, i could consider used planes and know what is wrong with it and learn to fix it. I didn't think jumping into a used plane first with no experience made sense... a little like repairing a TV when you've never watched one (or not )

Veritas and Lie-Nielsen are great brands for planes that work out of the box, but you pay for that premium tool.

Stanley has that sweetheart line and Woodcraft has its own Woodriver line both of which were supposed to be really good for cheaper, but people have bagged on them a lot with problems. I'm pretty sure MuddlerMike buys inexpensive new planes and tunes them up. Really, there's no lack of resources on this forum for rebuilding or tuning a plane (though since I bought new, I could only offer opinions on sharpening )

[singlespeed68]

Hammerhead, they are 4,5,&7.

The #4 I bought at a fleamarket, it needed a lot of work, I had to take it to work and regrind everything on it. The #5 is a new Lie Neilson and the #7 I recently purchased from eBay and is in pretty decent shape.

The dovetail saw I bought at the same time as the #5 plane at the Chicago Lise Neilson event.