The low bed angle and adjustable mouth makes this block plane excel at trimming end grain. Precise features that may be desirable on a smoothing plane or a jointer plane, like a tight mouth for example, are usually not desirable on a jack plane. I could easily put together a good set of antique wooden bench planes for under $100. These things really have a mind of their own but theres nothing like that smooth wood finish. Dont expect any tool maker to deliver a handplane that is perfectly sharpened and honed to an acceptable level. Bed Rock handplanes were a superior line of bench planes manufactured by Stanley, based on patents from some other ingenious people. Video on Building the Historic Howarth Bow Saw with Bill Anderson But you can look for relatively inexpensive user-grade planes, which arent in mint condition, and are priced to be used in your workshop rather than being stored in a case or a vault. This is essential for when you need to glue up boards for a table top. 5 G12-005 plane I own is from 1919 1924. Now that weve gotten the handplane classification out of the way, lets move onto advice about buying specific bench planes: jack planes, jointer planes, smoothing planes, and block planes: As I mentioned earlier, a Jack Plane or a fore plane or a scrub plane is the first handplane to touch your rough-sawn board. 5 jack plane (left) or a No. By Joshua Farnsworth | Updated Feb 28, 2022. A molding plane (or moulding plane) is a wood plane that is used for cutting decorative profiles on a board.

Bench planes are hand planes that are used so often that theyre often sitting on your workbench. They are top of the line. I also picked up a couple of wood Jack planes including a No. And while their smoothing planes have a bit more attention to manufacturing detail, in my side-by-side test of a brand new Lie-Nielsen smoothing plane with a brand new WoodRiver smoothing plane I didnt find the Lie-Nielsen smoothing plane to give superior results on the wood. You can find links to both of these smoothing planes below. 6 or No. This is how it can work: When you buy a metal number 5 jack plane, also buy a second iron. 62 Low Angle Jack Plane at WoodCraft, View new wooden planes from Old Street Tool, purchase the digital video or DVD in my online store, View vintage Stanley No. 4 smoothing planes on Ebay, View antique Stanley No. With only basic woodworking skills, a tablesaw, and a few simple tools, you can make custom cabinets for your home or shop. blade) thats held tightly in place with a wooden wedge. You can purchase it here for about $349. This very long handplane is ideal for precision flattening of a board (after the jack plane rough-flattened it), and it gives a nearly finished surface. Other than that, I loved every minute. As I said, transitional planes work fantastic as a jack plane, because Jack planes dont need to be highly tuned. But Post-War infill planes are also high quality. The Bed Rock planes get their name from the solid and smooth machined casting that the frog sits on, which leads to less chance of vibration while handplaning a board. 65 low angle block plane. Thanks for your opinion MikeI value input on here! 4-1/2 plane will cost you about $360 (including tax & shipping). That is my chisel guide. 6 Fore plane (find them here). And sometimes its a bit hard to find them, especially the Stanley No. 62 Stanley low angle jack plane; the plane that the above planes were modeled after, because the handle is very small, there are some weak parts that tended to break, and the price is higher than buying a new reproduction plane. The price tag is high, but not a lot higher than vintage Bed Rock planes. Several manufactures of the past made good versions of these planes in the late 1800s and early 1900s, especially Stanley. If youve gone too far, then you can loosen the iron by smacking the heel of the plane with a mallet, by whacking the strike button, or by smacking the top of the handplane. 60-1/2 low angle block plane with adjustable mouth, View vintage Stanley 60-1/2 low angle block planes on Ebay, View vintage Stanley 65 low angle block planes on Ebay, View new Lie-Nielsen low-angle Rabbet Block Plane, View new Lie-Nielsen 60-1/2 low angle block plane, View used Lie-Nielsen low-angle block planes on Ebay, View vintage Stanley No. Just read through my handplane guide. You can either read straight through or use this table of contents to skip to a particular section: New woodworkers might be wondering what a hand plane is. They are usually just referred to as Pre-War. I also love the vintage Stanley No.

Here are the 6 most common styles of bench planes: Wooden planes are the oldest style of hand plane. Love your videos too.Read more . Why is the No. Stumpy Nubs Woodworking Journal- Issue #2.

4-1/2 planes, but they cost $750 (plus tax and shipping). It appears they never stopped making them and you dont mention specific versions or how to identify them. After that, I would say a router and possibly moving fillister/rabbit but I think the rest could be moved down to the Semi-urgent or even Non-urgent list. Veritas (new) and Clifton (new and vintage) also apparently make good bench planes, but I just havent used their bench planes much. Im sure your help is needed in a lot of Rehab work. They appear to be an inexpensive way to get top of the line quality, but reviews seem to be scarce. 4 comes with a steel body. Many furniture parts are under this length, so a jack plane is quite flexible as a jointer plane. But I feel like the low angle versions are much more useful because they excel at cutting end grain. But to be honest, Ive found that a Bailey-style smoothing plane works very well, without chatter if its highly-tuned and oiled or waxed. The last plane to touch the wood is a shorter hand plane called a smoothing plane. The next hand plane to touch the wood is a jointer plane (or a Try plane). And if you combine them with a good wooden smoothing plane and a good wooden jointer plane, you can keep your bench plane budget under a hundred dollars.

It wont likely give you gossamer shavings, but for making ugly wood chips fly, they work just as well as any expensive jack plane. If your budget allows for buying three separate bench planes (jack plane, jointer plane, and smoothing plane), then just buy an affordable vintage transitional jack plane or a wooden jack plane, and spend more money on a nice smoothing plane and jointer plane. If your hands are a bit smaller, then a number 3 works great (pictured below). If you find that a low angle block plane is outside of your budget, then a normal angle (general purpose) block plane (like the one pictured below) will work somewhat well for you. Its also used for jointing the edge of a board, or creating a precise 90 degree edge to the flattened face. British infill smoothing planes), which I talked about earlier. In choosing a third must-have hand plane, we agreed to disagree. The traditional woodworking hand plane (often called a hand planer by new woodworkers) seem to be the most popular tools in traditional hand tool woodworking. Blessed with an eye for potential, David Willett looked at his dark, unfinished 112-car garage built in 1956 and saw the bones of a workshop. These toothed irons are especially designed for flattening difficult, figured wood. And like the No. Stanley originally sold a couple jack plane sizes (62 & 64) and a smoothing plane size (164). Because its used for rough work, I typically dont tune these planes up as much as I do with the other bench planes. 60-1/2 low angle block plane with adjustable mouth. I pulled out a box of my fathers old tools and I found a treasure of tools including Stanley No. 507 block planes on Ebay, Products for Wood Finishing, Sanding & Scraping, How to Choose Wood Lumber for Woodworking | 7 Easy Steps, How to Square, Flatten, and Dimension Rough Boards with Hand Tools, Privacy Policy, Rules, Terms & Conditions. These incredibly well-made metal planes were usually made to very high tolerances. I like rehabbing handplanes, because its fun bringing these handplanes back to their glory days. The traditional choice for scrubbing was a Fore plane, a Jack plane, or a smaller wooden scrub plane. It also doesnt use a chip breaker like bevel down planes use. Some I have tried to clean up and sharpen with mixed results. After being sharpened they both work exceptionally well, although the vintage version requires flattening of the sole and some other tune-up work before its ready to use. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. 57 Page Moravian Workbench Plans Now for Sale, How to Make a Mortise and Tenon Joint with Woodworking Hand Tools, 8 Steps to Cutting Dovetails with Woodworking Hand Tools, How to Choose the Best Hand Saws for Woodworking. Not bad considering some new metal bench planes cost over $400 for one plane! This is called scrubbing. Now well jump into metal handplanes by talking about the most common style youll encouter: the Bailey patent style. Stanley was the largest producers of metal bench planes, and this was their most common size. Hand planes come in many different shapes, sizes, and materials. Its not a huge deal; just a small inconvenience. 4-1/2 cheaper than the No. It actually makes jointing the edge of a board more difficult for me, because the ridges often make the planes sole tip. The narrow metal scrub planes were apparently manufactured for house carpenters who needed a fast method for narrowing the width of a board (or door) when there wasnt enough wood to be removed to require the use of a hand saw. Another fantastic candidate for scrubbing are vintage transitional jack planes (pictured above), which I mentioned earlier. And if that isnt enough you can lastly buy a toothed iron dedicated for scrubbing. I did try out a students Veritas jointer plane, and though it worked nicely, I had one concern: the design would have prevented the jointer plane from being used on a shooting board. But lets look at some other options for Jack planes: What if you want a metal bench plane, but can only afford one to start with? ebay.com and Amazon.com) those affiliate links may lead to referral compensation to us. 7 Jointer Planes, View used Lie-Nielsen No. If you prefer a heavier smoothing plane to give more power to your planing, then a number 4-1/2 size smoothing plane is ideal (pictured below). The plane quickly evens out jointer scallops on edge grain and even makes short work of shallow chamfers. 607 jointer plane for about $100 $300, depending on the condition. One of my favorite recommendation for a really tight budget is a coffin smoother (pictured below). Check out my Stanley hand plane age identification tool (, View vintage Stanley low-angle block planes, View all new Lie-Nielsen low-angle block plane models, 3 Different Types of Hand Planes (Bench Planes, Joinery Planes, and Molding Planes), Buying Jack Planes / Fore Planes / Scrub Planes, my video & article on squaring up boards with hand tools, visit my type study page to see how old your Stanley Bailey handplane is, Click here to see similar wooden jack planes on Ebay, View Stanley No. If you want to eventually acquire a set of metal bench planes, but can only afford one to start with, then Id recommend buying a metal number 5 jack plane. When you switch from the smoother or jointer setup to a scrubbing setup, you would just switch out the blade and adjust the frog mechanism to open the mouth to allow the big wood shavings to exit. You may think that they were the evolutionary link between wooden bench planes and metal bench planes, but they were actually released after the initial metal bench planes. Just curious, how do you know they are top of the line quality if you havent been able to read reviews? Check them out here. I think your list of Urgent planes could be shortened a bit, you shouldnt need all of those right away. The Bailey style number 7 jointer plane is the most popular option, especially the Stanley Bailey No. A type 11 (1910 patent date) Stanley Bailey jointer plane (or somewhere close to that patent date) is my favorite type of Bailey bench plane. Add that to the 12 degree milled bed, for an effective low angle of 37 degrees. They havent caught up yet, but some of their modern tools arent too bad. The low-angle block (left) and shoulder (right) planes make great first planes for the power-tool woodworker, cleaning up marks that motorized tools leave behind.

So I tend to prefer the modern versions from a couple different plane makers. Depending on the condition, these block planes run anywhere from $40 to over $150 (much more if theyre mint and in a box).

Lee Valley also sells their Veritas Low-Angle Jack Plane, but I have not used it or heard anything about it, so I cant share an opinion on it. It skips along the high spots and gradually brings them all down together. You can find them here. 60-1/2 it also came with an adjustable mouth (1905 and onward model years). Copyright 2022 Meredith Corporation. If users make purchases in those stores (e.g. NOTE: Scroll to the bottom of this page to watch a video version of this tutorial and to find links to things mentioned in the video. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. Which 20 Woodworking Hand Tools Should You Buy First? Neither brand gave great results right out of the box, but after I honed the two planes irons at the same time, I did a side-by-side comparison and found them to both cut nice shavings and leave a very smooth surface. These handplanes are the most common type of metal bench plane, and relatively affordable. I am just getting into woodworking and am starting to piece together my tool set and I thought I saw a list of vintage hand plane manufacturers and models with how desirable they are on this site somewhere.

Here are some links to the planes Ive talked about: A simple little metal block plane is used for a lot of woodworking tasks, like truing up end grain on board ends, creating chamfers on board edges, trimming wood joints like tenons and dovetails, and much more. On the other hand, you may find the shorter-bodied No. Heres how. But buying two extra blades can get expensive. 8 plane. Later wooden bench plane models introduced a chip breaker onto the iron, to reduce throat clogging. Lie-Nielsen also sells exceptional smoothing planes, also in the No. I also find that this type of handplane works great with a shooting board. 2020 Stumpy Nubs Woodworking Journal Copyright. And you dont have to refurbish them. Itll wear you out. The Stanley No. Would love your thoughts, please comment. Your first purchases should be a low-angle block plane and a shoulder plane, above. Here are links to some of my favorite block planes: I recently decided to get back into woodworking after 50 year break from my brief intro into woodworking in Jr. High School. But you can still find some good deals.

Here are some quick links for jack planes for sale that you can look at: * How do you know the age of a Stanley handplane? Its job is mainly for finishing the surface of the wood. However, these little planes werent traditionally used for flattening boards, and werent even manufactured until after power thickness planers & jointers started to emerge.

If you had to recommend three, which hand planes should I start with?Robert Risher, Abilene, Texas. If this will be your only handplane at first, then youll need to spend extra time tuning it up to the level of a smoothing plane, because youre going to use it for all three jobs: rough-scrubbing, flattening & jointing, and smoothing. In my opinion this is the most important feature of the plane. 4 smoother (right). In fact, I created a video with handplane expert Bill Anderson on making a lovely 18th century jointer plane. Nah. Ill talk more about finding a good, affordable wooden smoothing plane and jointer plane in the next sections. I personally like using these scrub planes on the edges of thinner boards, but I find them too narrow for quickly flattening board faces or using on the edge of wider boards. A less common vintage bench plane design that originated from Stanley, is the low angle bevel up handplanes. So my recommendation would be to not purchase a metal scrub plane, likethe Stanley No. Block planes havent been around as long as the other bench planes, but theyre certainly useful for a lot of smaller detail work, especially for trimming the end grain of boards. This is great for general purpose handplaning. I have had my Dads tools for years and had only a rudimentary understanding of how to really use them this site has expanded my knowledge and use of these tools. WoodRiver made a replica of the Stanley No.

Opinions vary, but most people feel that the quality peaked between type 11 and 13, and that the quality sharply declined during and after World War 2. I enjoyed all of the buying guide articles and videos. For example, with a few strokes, a finely tuned low-angle block plane shaves burn marks or fuzz off end grain that saw blades leave behind. Hand planes make the most exciting changes to your wooden work piece. Since both of these Bed Rock style smoothing planes make incredible shavings, I feel like these WoodRiver smoothing planes are a much better value. For example, the Bed Rock version of a Bailey number 4 plane would be 604. Yes, but I like the Veritas blades & chip breakers better. I own the WoodRiver low angle block plane and the vintage Stanley No. 4 1/2 smoothing planes on Ebay, View antique Stanley No. 4 smoothing plane will cost you about $380 (including tax & shipping) and the Lie-Nielsen No. And I consider it a family heirloom to be passed down to my kids and grand kids. I have a Baker jack plane that I think was made before or soon after WWII. The first choice of most budget-conscious woodworkers is a Bailey style smoothing plane. The vintage bevel up planes have some design flaws, and are also so rare that the prices are way too high. 7, its also a Bed Rock style plane. Both help you put a refining touch on the less-than-perfect cuts produced by your power tools. 62 Low Angle Jack Plane (see it here). Consider one of these three other clear finishes for your next project. However, due to the high demand and low availability of these lovely hand planes, they are typically priced pretty high (especially those made by modern tool makers). And as I mentioned earlier I prefer purchasing Stanley or Record planes that were manufactured before World War II. Its also a reproduction of the Stanley No. Ive got a few vintage block plane models that I love, and a couple modern block plane models that I love. Some people really prefer the thumb adjustment wheel, but you can also save some money by forgoing this option. Both of these planes work great. Ive got one of them, and the quality just isnt as great as vintage Record No. I hope that this Guide and your other guides will get me back into woodworking. Ive listed the names and models of these planes that I recommend later on in this article. The Lie-Nielsen planes seem to have a smoother depth adjuster wheel. And a lot of those block planes are bad. We can make a good case for the No. Stanley has also made a reproduction Stanley Sweetheart No.

It runs about $465 (including tax & shipping). Heres a preview of the video: And just like with wooden smoothing planes and jack planes, wooden jointer planes require a bit more work to adjust, and can be a bit puzzling when refurbishing. I would avoid buying a number 8 jointer plane, unless youre pretty strong. You advance and laterally adjust the iron with some taps on the top and side of the iron, and you set the iron in place by tapping the wedge. I touched on this earlier. 26 Transitional jack planes, View Stanley No. Transitional handplanes are a lot more affordable than all-metal handplanesusually under $25 if you shop at the right places. Click here to see similar wooden jack planes on Ebay. Theyre also both really comfortable on my hands. Lie-Nielsen and Veritas also make some nice block planes. The same advice that I shared about buying metal smoothing planes applies here with buying metal jointer planes. 27 Transitional jack planes, View Stanley No. 7 Jointer Planes on Ebay, these WoodRiver smoothing planes are a much better value, find some good deals on infill planes here, View antique Stanley No. Have people told you about them? The iron comes sharpened from the factory at a 25 degree angle. 3418 Transitional jack planes, View vintage Stanley No. Supercharge your SMALL SHOP dust collection! Block planes come in both low angle and higher angle configurations. And they work wonderfully as a jack plane, because Jack planes are used for rough work, and dont need to be highly tuned. And opening the mouth works great for more rough work. You'll be glad you did. My wifes calls me Rust hunter always hitting flea markets looking for hand tools . I have seen a few Worth planes for a good price and wanted to know if they are any good. Hand plane bodies can be made of all wood (wood plane), all metal (like Stanley planes), or a hybrid of both (Transitional Planes). Big? And in my opinion they arent as time consuming to rehab as metal planes; although I do occasionally run into puzzling problems that I need to solve with them. Wooden smoothing planes and jointer planes can be finicky to get rehabbed & tuned up just right, but the planes arent expensive, so its worth the experiment. The 4-1/2 is more rare, and thus more expensive than a number 4. But I only do that once with a plane. Some modern manufacturers make planes in this Bailey style, though I havent tried any that Ive found to be as good as the vintage planes. Stanleys quality suffered for many years (after WWII), but theyre trying to get back into the hand tool game. One reader sent me a message notifying me that he discovered that resinous pitch pine is easier to plane with a corrugated sole, since there is not as much gum to drag the plane. Because of the relative ease of manufacturing block planes, a lot of companies make them. A transitional jack plane in good condition shouldnt cost you more than $25 and is perfectly suitable for rough stock removal. A couple manufactures do a great job with the Bed Rock style planes, and they also feature thicker irons and chip breakers, which vintage Bed Rock planes and Bailey planes dont have. It works exceptionally well, and its about $100 cheaper than the Lie-Nielsen No.

4 size (pictured above) and the No. Yup, sounds like youve got the tool diseasecareful because its incurable! 40 scrub plane. These handplanes excel at getting the twist out of the board, and getting it more-or-less flat. T-shirt with the Wood and Shop logo in dark chocolate. Weve got it restored if you want to read it now. 9-1/2 block planes on Ebay, View vintage Sargent No. So I know it can be really confusing to understand which handplanes you need. Here are some good Jack planes to search for on Ebay: If you want to go the route of a single bench plane, but dont feel confident with rehabbing a handplane, then Ive got another option for you to consider, though its quite a bit more expensive than the previous options. Transitional hand planes are a cross between a wooden handplane and a metal handplane. I have been making different type of tables and need more of the clamps for doing larger tops. 62 has a bit more attention to detail, but is about $25 more expensive than the WoodRiver version. 65 low angle block plane. 33. If you plane resinous wood, then I guess you should get a hand plane with a corrugated sole! Every year or so Lie-Nielsen will run a batch of bronze No. jointer plane. Below Ill start off by briefly introducing you to the three main hand plane categories: Bench Planes, Joinery Planes, and Molding Planes. Examples include rabbet planes, plow planes, shoulder planes, tongue & groove planes, router planes, etc. This plane cost me around $15. Its almost as long as a No. The first four are essential. You can find some good deals on infill planes here. But Ill discuss that in the next section, which is on jack planes.

Each issue contains a selection of articles and videos about woodworking techniques (hand and power tools), jigs and shop improvements, unique projects, skill building tutorials, tool reviews and quick tips. Check out my Stanley hand plane age identification tool (here). Most of the finest furniture in history was made with wooden handplanes. These handplanes are typically used across the grain for rough wood removal, or scrubbing with a highly cambered (i.e. https://www.woodcraft.com/categories/planes, https://www.facebook.com/Stumpy-Nubs-Woodworking-Journal-305639859477973/. The major vintage handplane manufacturer would be Stanley, and they are easy to find. Ive used Veritas block planes a couple times, and the experience was good. Any product claim about a service or product should be verified with the manufacturer. Last I checked they were running over $200 for a plane that needs a good amount of rehab work. I prefer a larger Jack plane or an even larger Fore plane over a dedicated scrub plane. The mouths on these planes are easily adjusted so you can open and close it for different planing purposes: a tight mouth for smoothing and a wide mouth for scrubbing. And they have a great historical look! Also the description of bevel ups is a copy of the description of transitionals. 607 Jointer Planes on Ebay, View new Lie-Nielsen No. However, it doesnt have an adjustable mouth. After refurbishing, it would be an ideal jointer plane for the novice or expert. Thanks for you time and effort in putting this information together, it has helped me greatly. I have not tried it out, so I cant give my opinion on it. However, a Bailey style plane will work great for you. But usually adjusting the shape of the wedge and inlaying a tighter mouth is the most common improvement that people make on these hand planes. A highly-tuned smoothing plane with a tight mouth can give a sheared surface thats superior to what sanding can do. This style of plane has gotten some traction in recent years as several modern plane makers have tried to resurrect the style. Because the No. Wooden planes are also usually the most affordable bench planes. The secrets pros use to make picture frames and mouldings. It could also have been a way for tool companies to offer a more affordable line of bench planes. 7 jointer planes. 62 Low Angle Jack plane, View new WoodRiver No. Let Mother Nature be your co-designer as you build dazzling projects with wavy edges, bristly burrs, bark inclusions, and other flaws that give wood a look of unrefined beauty. Joshua, I love your tool guides. I own the WoodRiver No. Shorter than a jointer plane and longer than a smoother, the jack plane tackles edge and face flattening well, making it a good introduction to the world of hand-powered stock prep. So strange, the page went missing. By the early 1900s Stanley was casting the Bailey name into the body of the planes. This is not to be confused with the brand. This style of plane also features an easier mechanism for opening and closing the mouth; using adjustment screws on the rear of the frog, without having to unscrew the frog, like you do on the Bailey style planes. An informal poll of the (admittedly power-tool-centric) guys on the WOOD staff showed much agreement on the top two contenders, Robert. 7 jointer plane (pictured above). In fact, some of my favorite jack planes are the most affordable planes on the market. And their handplanes are only sold on their website, so you wont find any user reviews online. When shopping for vintage Stanley Bailey planes youll notice a type number. I made one (pictured above), and love the way it works. This is a Stanley No. It has some nice flexibility because, depending on how you sharpen the iron, it can be used as a low angle plane for cutting end grain, as a normal bench plane for standard handplaning, or as a high angle plane for planing difficult figured wood grain. 4-1/2 smoothing plane, and it works exceptionally well once its sharpened.