Shopsmith Forums

As I think about embarking on a hand tool journey, I needed some real education on planes, specifically the antique Stanley/Bailey options that can be found at much more reasonable price than today's "middle of the road" brands like Wood River. I'm not sure how the two compare from a fit/finish and effectiveness perspective though.

The website below has helped me greatly, and I just thought I would share it. Looks like I'm in the market for a #4, 5 and 7 to get started :-)

http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan1.htm

Would be interested to hear the take of some of our forum members here and which plane you like to use, I know many of you are very skilled with hand tools. Pictures would be great !!

As a user of hand planes (Mostly Antique and Vintage). I find the most important thing is to ensure the plane is tuned properly and the blades sharpened.

Tons of articles on the web on how to do that. Both tuning and sharpening.

IMO Paul Sellers offers the most practical techniques and viewpoint on the matter.

To be honest, vintage Stanley Baileys aren't cheap any more. A No. 4 will often sell for more than $50. Those planes were excellent overall fits to North American woodworking, and remain so.

When you get into the Woodriver, Lie-Nielsen, and Veritas grades, there is a substantive increase to rigidity in both the plane-body and the plane-blade. That can be a thrill when you try it! But 90% of the time you can get by without that performance increase, and use a cheaper vintage plane.

Everybody finds their own sweet spot. I have 3-4 vintage planes and 1-2 modern "super" planes. And I horse-trade every so often.

Chris

I use my hand plains more often nowadays and these are the two I reach for most.
Wards Master # 5 & a Stanly # 118.
Both yard sale finds I revived.
I've got a few others I've fixed up but don't use so much.

Just stay away from the "Deals" from HF. Got one for a Christmas gift one year and out of the box nothing could save it.

I use number 4's the most. I also have a 3's, a 5, and a 6.

I had used hand planes back in high school (60's), I had a #4 that I inherited from my father in-law and an #6 that I had picked up at a flea market back in the 80's cause it looked neat but didn't use. Then in 2012 I ran across a Youtube series by Paul Sellers on how to build a wood working bench with hand tools, and in 2013 I built one.
http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/begin ... 12550.html

(He is currently making a new series on making the smaller 5'x2' bench, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiCnhVg ... eO2Y90CvD9 )


It was a great experience, and in the process I learned how to restore and sharpen hand planes and hand saws. Getting them sharp makes a world of difference.

Note, after the Bailey patent ran out many other companies made them as well, so don't limit your search to just Stanley's.
Unless you are going to be planing long pieces of rough sawn stock the #7 will see very limited use, get a #4 and or #5 first.

I got most of mine at the local Habitat for Humanity Restore, also check at antique stores/malls

And, a Youtube channel featuring hand tool restoration and projects made with hand tools that I like is Wood by Wright. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbMtJO ... CHg/videos

rpd wrote:I use number 4's the most. I also have a 3's, a 5, and a 6.
...
Unless you are going to be planing long pieces of rough sawn stock the #7 will see very limited use, get a #4 and or #5 first.
...

Ron -- thanks for ALL the details, I did come across references to Paul Sellers in my research, I will check out his videos.

I went with 2 basic new planes, a #4 Buck Bros bench plane from HD and a Stanley 12-920 block plane. Both are my first planes. They both cut ok out of the box but clearly needed serious tuning.

The block plane wouldn't cut evenly and the bench plane chip breaker was always clogging up. The block needed significant filing to level the thoat opening. The bench plane chip breaker needed sanded to sit flush to the blade surface. Both plane bodies needed light sanding to clean up the machining.

I spent 2 nights on each and completely disassembled both. I adjusted, sanded, sharpened, and filed them. Watched a lot of YouTube. Each took several iterations of disassembly, adjustment, and reassembly. They now consistently cut well without any fuss. I use them both regularly and am happy with both.

So the pro of this is I learned the ins and outs of the 2 planes, how to set them up, tune them etc for about $70 all in. The negative is that they're not very good out of the box and take some time to set up. If you're not into tool setup and fidgeting, then a higher end or vintage plane might be a better fit.

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I know from experience if your clamping system has any wobble to it ,,fix it , it can foul the work of any good plane .

The art of using and making custom hand tools like planes and shapers is a lost art.

Hobbyman2 wrote:The art of using and making custom hand tools like planes and shapers is a lost art.

Yes I agree with you on this, as is true with so many other areas of life that have been overcome by convenience over skill!

I do think that the current "maker" revolution is a good step back in the right direction though, and with all of the information available - those of us who want to develop skill in say using a hand plane, even if we don't know anyone with that skill, we have no further to look than our phones or computers to get started. All it takes is a little initiative on our part!

They should teach these things in shop class again,,even if it just reading about it . JMO