Thank you Conny. That was helpful and informative. Okay, I know what a plane is now - of course I do. My Dad had a manual one. I thought it would be a one size fits all. But telling me number 4 would be good for a smoothing plane was good too. I'll buy a manual one for starters and hopefully everyone I know will have a quirky chopping board for Christmas.......now onto the carved wooden spoons.........