Wood Planes

[morpheus83uk]

Hello,

Thank you for that. I am just trying to get an idea for some good planes which I can get some good use out of which wont fall apart within 2 minutes of me using them. As I haven't used hand planes before I was thinking something which is goo but not too expensive. Hence the Faithful ones look alright and have been recommended. Would these be good as a first hand plane set and cover my needs?

I presume for jointing long board the electric would be better? Or would I need a longer one for this purpose?

Thanks

James

 

[Deleted member 174758]

.....I was thinking something which is goo but not too expensive. Hence the Faithful ones look alright and have been recommended. Would these be good as a first hand plane set and cover my needs?

Good, but cheap? Hmm. A Faithful will require quite a bit of fettling to make it useable, it will always have a sloppy adjuster and the blade isn't very good quality, so it won't really hold an edge that well or for that long. Believe me, I've fettled a few of these for apprentices and I wasn't impressed. They are far nicer if you throw away the recyled bean can plane iron and drop in a decent aftermarket replacement blade (such as Ray Iles, Veritase, etc) - tbut that will double to price you pay, and you'll still have needed to spend a couple of hours fettling your plane, after which a Quangsheng (useable out of the box with just a quick hone) equivalent look more attractive. Yes, I'm critical, but my hand planes are there to earn me a living and stuff that only just about works simply isn't good enough for me

I presume for jointing long board the electric would be better? Or would I need a longer one for this purpose?

Electric planers are really only for fast planing-in when installing joinery work (e.g. planing-in oversize PVCu windows, fast roughing in of doors when hanging new ones - fine tuning still requires a hand plane) and really don't have much of a place on the bench. You'd be better off with a portable saw, a straight edge and a smoother or jack plane (to take the last pass or two off) if you want to joint timber. Otherwise the real tool for the task is a static machine called an overhand planer or jointer

 

[morpheus83uk]

Thank You. What would you recommend in the good but cheapish category? As you say doubling the cost to changing the blade which is not feasible cost wise.

Thanks

James

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I think that out of the box there's good, and there's cheap - but never the twain shall meet in my experience. If you want to learn how to plane properly and how to get decent results you need a properly set-up plane with a decent-ish blade. You can take almost any cheapish plane and fettle it so that it performs passably well - do stuff like lapping the sole flat, filing the mouth square and making sure that the frog is properly aligned - but the things you can't do so much about are things like deal with sloppy, inadequate blade adjusters and improve a poor quality blade. I've long sourced secondhand stuff for the apprentices, but without already knowing what makes a plane a "good 'un" it's just as likely you'd end up with a lemon as one worth keeping (and in any case, even old planes aren't necessarily good ones because quality started to slide in the early 1960s and went over a cliff in the 1980s). All of which is why I suggested a Quangsheng block plane as a starter - reasonably affordable (£60), requires minimal work to get going (just a light hone of the blade) and works well.

Once you've had one plane which works properly it sets the standard you will aspire to should you buy a cheapie or second hander as your next plane. There is tremendous satisfaction in being able to take a thin semi-transparent shaving off a piece of wood leaving a silky smooth surface - there's potentially great frustration at attempting to use a poorly made, inaccurate, badly sharpened plane with a blade which won't hold an edge for more than a couple of strokes. This mzy be why so many people shy away from using hand planes

Remember: buy cheap - buy twice!

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Veritas...
Or Lie nielsen..
Are already here.
American and Canadian.

But nary a mention of Clifton - they're British....

 

[opps]

I do have an electric plane which was given to me but its a little too aggressive and not very good for small pieces of work.

What about a belt sander?

*ducks for cover*

 

[opps]

But nary a mention of Clifton - they're British....

And the site you linked to sells musical saws as well.

https://www.flinn-garlick-saws.co.uk/acatalog/MUSICAL-SAWS.html