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terrydowning wrote:I second Paul's point of view and that was the way I was trained by my Dad and his dad before him. I will stand by Paul Sellers level of craftsmanship any day and when it comes to wood working advice, any man with his experience and resume has my attention.

If your damaging the edge of a plane from sitting it down on a wood bench top, then you either haven't sharpened it properly or just being careless. It's wood which is always softer than metal.

To me the question is not ruining the plane iron it is ruining the bench top. Each time you lay a SHARP plane blade down on the top you make a cut into the top. Do that over and over and the top will become so rough it will be useless. If you use a top that MDF, hardboard you will damage the plane blade.
Also I often do metal work on my bench top (sharpening my chisels and plane irons) if I then lay my plane down onto the metal filings it dull the blade.

Why not lay it aside in a safe place on it side?

Keep a detail in mind. That detail is the 'tool trough'**. Tools not in hand, belong in the trough. Since there are other 'hard' tools there, a plane is safer with the blade setting on the wooden trough bottom. Scarring of the trough bottom by the plane blade is likely not discernible since many tools are also placed there doing their own damage. Since it is not a 'work' surface, any damage to the bottom is meaningless.

Now for those of us without a trough, do as Ed just suggested. However, do not limit that to only your plane(s).

** I reckon it is more 'properly' referred to as a well.

Well I missed the point about a 'stick' in the 'well' so as to not set the plane on the blade. So scarring not an issue anyway.

If you are worried about the condition of your bench top you might want to spend some time looking at well worn examples of bench tops, try the Benchcrafted.com blog. I seriously doubt that setting your plane down on the sole is going to hurt the bench or plane. As a subscriber to Paul Sellers "Woodworking Masterclass" online series I consider with great respect much of what I have enjoyed and learned over the last several month. The plane set upon it's sole is ready for the hand and presenting to the the wood. Happy shavings, Hand planes rock.

tenbears wrote:If you are worried about the condition of your bench top you might want to spend some time looking at well worn examples of bench tops, try the Benchcrafted.com blog. I seriously doubt that setting your plane down on the sole is going to hurt the bench or plane. As a subscriber to Paul Sellers "Woodworking Masterclass" online series I consider with great respect much of what I have enjoyed and learned over the last several month. The plane set upon it's sole is ready for the hand and presenting to the the wood. Happy shavings, Hand planes rock.

Oh come on "ready for the hand." Setting up or lying down is nothing more of a twist of the wrist. And yes I have seen some of those benches and what is prevent a nail, metal scrap, broken bit to fall unnoticed into those cuts to ruin the next plane blade set down on it?
If setting your plane blade down on your bench doesn't mar your bench you need to sharpen the blade.

Paul may be the worlds greatest planes man but I will still lay my plane on the side.

[quote="JPG40504"]Keep a detail in mind. That detail is the 'tool trough'**. Tools not in hand, belong in the trough. Since there are other 'hard' tools there, a plane is safer with the blade setting on the wooden trough bottom. Scarring of the trough bottom by the plane blade is likely not discernible since many tools are also placed there doing their own damage. Since it is not a 'work' surface, any damage to the bottom is meaningless.

Now for those of us without a trough, do as Ed just suggested. However, do not limit that to only your plane(s).]

JPG
My bench has a tool well/trough and it usually used for everything but my tools. If the project has hinges, catches and uses screws or things they are in the well. Along with bench dogs and hold downs. I also put small pieces of the project that I don't want knocked to the floor and lost in there.

I usually have a couple of shallow metal containers sitting in there to hold small parts, trim and such. That way I can control where small parts go, I don't enjoy crawling around on the floor looking for 1/4x1/4 inch pieces cut to fit.

I never put cutting tools in there for two reasons if they get covered up I may forget their are there, then brush something aside and lay my hand open on the sharp cutting edge.

Secondly I don't want my cutting edges touching anything other than air or wood. Places in the well/trough they can get shoved into each other and edges nicked.

All my chisels have flats filed in the handles so they don't roll, as does my scribing knife and awl. My normal chisel plane storage is within arms reach of my bench and when setting them down I am always aware of where I setting them so as not to damage a project piece, bench top or my self.

Nothing more painful than sliding parts around on the benchtop and jamming you hand into a chisel that is wedged against a bench dog and with a project piece over it so you didn't see it.

And yes you can shave with my chisels and plane irons.

Work in your shop the way that works best for you. Thanks to the OP for presenting a useful idea.

terrydowning wrote:Work in your shop the way that works best for you. Thanks to the OP for presenting a useful idea.

Amen!;)

Hey I always like these posts where it turns out you should do as you want and will anyway. No evidence here to convince me of changing my ways and I doubt there ever will be.

I was taught to lay and STORE planes on their sides. That was farther drilled in to me in high school where our instructor who was raised and trained in Sweden where he was taught the same tough love. Now many years later I've never had issues with getting cut on a plane iron that was sitting on its side, I've never hit the blade with any other metal objects or any of the other reasons why not to keep doing what works for me.

I have however had an experience where one of my kids did not follow my advice and rusted the bottom of the plane and bad very badly. In my un-heated/un-cooled shop and living where I do moisture can condense very quickly. Trap some moisture in the wood set the plane on it and give it a while. Yes that could have happened to the side but then that is no where the issue of having the bottom rusted.

I almost saved the plane to use as an example but then I needed it so....

I'm not much of a hand tool person anymore, too much wear and tear on the body over time takes it tole on enjoying that much any more. However going back to the late 60's and most of the 70's I was very much into hand tools. Part of that was HS shop class teaching, part of it was influences of fellow woodworkers and even in the magazines/books I chose to purchase.

If you come to my shop expect the planes to be on their sides, and for the most part stored, well except for a few that I keep handy to use as required.

BTW my workbench has a back "well" but then that was built back when that was the thing to do. Now you don't see much of that. Well, you don't seem much of mine for the layer and layers of stuff piled on it anyway.

Ed

Ok, I'll jump in on this. Summer has been calling with gardening and yard work so I haven't been on-line much in recent days.

I use lots of planes in my shop and my BIGGEST crime (IMHOP) is setting my planes upright on my bench (which is Maple) AND not putting them in the well. I say "crime" because in a clumsy moment I have knocked planes off the bench amidst the clutter of tools that can accumulate. FORTUNATELY, the times this has happened are rare and they have landed on my foot cushioning mat along the front of my bench. Still, to drop a plane on concrete, or even on the floor mat, is a terrible moment in life. I broke one of the side handles on my Stanley 55 in a clumsy moment and I hated myself for a month. I did find another handle, but it cost me!

I try to cultivate the habit of placing them upright in the well. I don't worry about the blade because it's setting on wood.

So my vote is upright in the well, and don't worry about the blade until it needs to be honed.

dusty wrote:This is going to be an interesting thread as it already reflects our individual opinions and up bringing in the shop.

I lay my hand planes on their side because I was taught to do that in high school wood shop. It is 2nd nature to me. I even have a shelf under my work bench where all of my hand planes are stored "on their sides".

I don't recall having ever damaged a blade while in storage. Next week....maybe:eek:.

Taught to do that. hmm.

Coincidentally I recently watched a commentary on the subject by Peter Sellers of WWMasterClasses. Puts his planes down- upright- on the bench. Points out that the bench (assuming wood, not necessarily soft-) will not harm the blade (which, btw, is used to shave thousandths off the end grain of the hardest workpieces).
And points out that the layng down on the side thing comes directly from shop classes over milennnia where the instructors who were the keepers of the cutting edges, so to speak, didn't want to spend most of their "free" time repairing blades that were dinged by students plopping the planes down on the workbench which was also covered by a random assortment of steel tools and other destructive paraphernalia that shouldn't be there.

(I got the impression that Peter has little sympathy for people who keep potentially damaging litter on their workbench tops.)

I' sorta in-between. Not too bad on the litter thing, but not so confident that there isn't a stray screw or something that could nail me. So I just push my planed shavings into a pile nearby and put the plane down on that. Done.