Comments on: Understanding Bench Planes

By: ronin4711

ronin4711 — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:38:30 +0000

I wish I saw and red this article when it came out, I could have save myself a bundle and buy the “real” necessary hand planes and maybe that way I could have bought myself some LN planes instead of a lot of “other” planes. I own some “cheap” imitations of LN like WoodRiver #4,5 and 6 which are not bad tools all together and a LA Veritas Jack plane, which I consider my Cadillac of planes. I got a 38 degree blade extra for hard woods and the finished wood from shavings of this plane are smooth as glass. Now that I learned how to sharpen these blades, “all” my planes whisper when they shave wood. Here is something interesting: last year I bought a book Working Wood 1 & 2: the Artisan Course with Paul Sellers and read it, also he has a lot of interesting videos on You Tube which are by all means, phenomenal, in his opinion, he’s using only “ONE” plane a #4 Stanley vintage, I saw him this year at a woodworkers show in NJ, with “ONE” plane (he has a lot of them, but swears by that #4).
I don’t want to take away Chris’s thunder from this article which I found most interesting, thanks.

By: Dapper

Dapper — Sat, 04 May 2013 16:12:26 +0000

Nicely done.

This is a terrific guide for anyone wanting to get an idea of what they need and why (or why not), especially for anyone starting out. I had read a multitude of articles before I got started with handplanes and if I had had seen this one first, all the others would have made a lot more sense.
I also learned that my #6 isn’t as mysterious as I thought it was (and now, to find a scraper insert for it!). I too, use it for jointing.

Again, nicely done.

By: Dave_Mohler

Dave_Mohler — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:48:30 +0000

Wonderful article on Bench Planes. However I find I reach for my Block Planes much oftener Easing edges, bevel, radius. I would to see an article on them.

By: bgi

bgi — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 00:50:06 +0000

Given that this was posted over four years ago, I’m really surprised that no comments have been posted yet.

This is a very helpful blog with lots of good well-thought-out information.

Nicely done.

Christopher, no, I don’t have a #6, and probably will not buy one.

The only plane I’ve had is a Record 5-1/2 purchased new many years ago. It has met all of my needs so far. Getting back into wood working, I’ve ordered a LN 102 and am shopping ebay for a #4 and #7, probably Stanley, given the number of them on the market.

thanks for the blogs.