These things are ADDICTIVE! I have a 3, a 4, a 4 1/2, a 5, a 5 1/2, a 7, a 78, a 45, a couple block planes and a scrub. I still intend to add to the 'collection' (quotes because I work them, not stare at them), so I DO have a problem :) Thanks James for countless great videos. You have affected me a lot, as numerous other woodworking enthusiasts, I'm sure! All the best to you and your loved ones
I totally agree with the statement, “once you get the smoothing plane done right, every other plane in the shop suddenly makes sense.” So true. I’ve only been woodworking seriously for a few months and ive been in serious constant pursuit of a true smoother. I finally hit the jackpot this weekend. It took a very good and solid plane to start with and a fair amount or tweaking and machining on top of that. Now my perspective shifted. It has been a journey getting a dialed in smoothing plane in my shop. Long journey with many disappointments along the way but it finally happened.
Wood By Wright, thanks! Great job on the channel but the way! I have really enjoyed watching the videos and learning. It’s been helpful getting set up to start furniture making as my new hobby. Thanks for making helpful videos!
I definitely lean towards the No. 3 as my smoother. I don't man handle it like my No. 4, so it allows me to be gentle with the smoothing. It also has such a small iron that lets work that area of tear out or just touch up an area smaller than a playing card.
O ya , my beloved stanly n 3 😍 smoothing like silk on wood . Sometimes I use my scrub plane on wood just to see n 3 😍 in action , last time I mentioned that I own n 3 , 4 , 6 and finally now bought n 5 🎉🎉💪 and I can't sleep until own n 7 . Thanks mr James for such wonderful teaching videos .
Mr. James Wright, thanks for this excellent video. I have a three and a four and generally use the four. I do have one thought. I see a lot of planes that get set, then they are run across the edge of a board. I'm not sure how much of a difference it would make, but I'd love to seen these newly fettled planes run across the full face grain of a board. Thanks again for your video. You inspire me to keep using the old hand tools!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge of this topic. I've always used a block plane, but have left my very old Stanley No 4 rusting in the garage for years. I suppose I just had such a hard time with understanding how to set it up and use it correctly. Your simple tutorial has made it much more accessible, and I'll be out there tomorrow having a go at cleaning it up and getting some skinny shavings.
I’m new to hand tools and love your enthusiasm and enjoy seeing you spread your knowledge of woodworking. I would like to see you attack the grain of vertical grain Zebrawood. Thanks James!
A great explanation on the subject. As you say, it is a combination of the design of the planes and how they are set up that makes them more/less suitable for individual tasks. So if you have a plane that is not well suited for smoothing due to design issues you can probably tune it for other tasks.. I was also glad to see the discussion on "transition" planes and would like to see you expand on them some. I find them to be excellent tools that often get little attention from woodworkers. That helps to keep the price down on them since they are so overlooked and that opens some opportunities for woodworkers on tight budgets. Keep up the good work.
Great tutorial, always great to here your take on all things hand tool. Hope that wonderful family you've been blessed with are doing well!!! Thanks, Joe
I think you missed a very important part of the iron setup. A slight camber off the straight line of the blade, where each corner is just slightly honed "upwards" to eliminate the edge line that will occur on smoothing a large surface. Paul Sellers, who has been setting these up for more years than you've been alive, has a very nice tutorial that covers setting up a plane. He goes into a bit more detail on the exterior of the plane as well. You make excellent points and your chipbreaker points are spot on.
Thanks. A lot of people like to do that. I find that for fine cuts it is not needed. I use to do that, but not any more. that is what makes the sport great. so many ways to do it and there is no one right way to do it.
I would love to see a detailed setup video on an eBay find, a proper restoration job, especially jury-rigging a way to get a dead-flat sole when one doesn't own a surface plate or other reliably flat surfaces like table saws and such! ALSO some day I wanna see a series where you go through setting up a Japanese kanna and doing a side-by-side with your custom Veritas--I think the world is ready for that! Let the factions assemble!
I have several videos on that if you want to see them. here is the series where I go through restoration and flattening on several different conditions. ruclips.net/video/R_QKpSrKuuo/видео.html ruclips.net/video/N7vyUMgr_G0/видео.html ruclips.net/video/sT8bHbiO5mE/видео.html
alos, do not worry about perfection on being "flat" people go WAY overboard on that topic and it does not make that much difference it the plane is a few thousands out on most of the plane as long as the mouth, tip and heel are all coplaner. most planes out there do not need it. I even have several that I use regulary that I bought used and have never checked the flattness of the sole.
I have a no.3 Clifton (UK), a no.4 Dictum (Germany) and a no.62 from Axminster. These are all quality planes. I also have an older no.4 Stanley that does all the rough work. Works for me. I won't buy chinese tools.
I'm scratching my head to try to understand why you don't have 10 times more subscribers because your videos are always great. Maybe wearing a cool signature hat would help.
You said "the chipbreaker is actually a really important piece" - could you make a short video about this topic? (Or do you already have one?) How is it works in details, what is important to care about?
surprisingly the chip breaker does actually break the chip kinda. In particular it actually compresses the chip rather than just breaking the chip. The act of compressing the chip allows the iron to then cut the next strand without leaving tear out. This is actually its predominant use. If you ever get a chance to watch a video close up of the chipbreaker in action you will see it does not actually support the tip of the iron the tip of the iron will vibrate against it if it is not supported by the bed of the plane. However the chip breaker will compress the chip and stop tear out from occurring. I'm trying to get the setup right now to make a video to show that but it is a bit difficult to get that close. hopefully sometime this year that video will be coming out.
I found that planetuning.infillplane.com website gives much useful infomation about chipbreakers, cutting angles and shaving formation mechanisms. I my humble experience the chipbreaker (cap iron) do the most job for preventing tearout, even much more, than a tight mouth.
As always James a wonderful video. Two brief comments. First it felt as if you were a bit rushed. Not sure how much you practice your speaking, but I find that about 3 aloud "read-throughs" (preferably taped when possible) help me to dramatically reduce that feeling for my audience. Usually, I am also able to refine my speaking to be both clearer and more concise. Of course I also realize that much of your tempo comes from your strong and contagious enthusiasm, and I would never want you to lose an ounce of that. My second comment is a small clarification about plane parts. The "chip breaker" is not actually a separate part, but a special section of a part. The part itself is known as the Cap Iron. So called because it is placed on top of the Iron (blade) in a traditional bevel down western plane. The chip breaker is the region of the Cap Iron that is closest to the cutting edge of the Iron AND which bends the freshly cut fibers causing them to break and therefore curl. Stanley traditionally uses a small humped region. Other manufacturers eliminate the hump but include a bevel which serves the same purpose. While this action does effectively reduce taring, it was initially introduced to simply push the shavings out of the way of the users hands. The Cap Iron was introduced so that thinner irons could be used. A thinner iron was both less expensive to produce and much faster to sharpen and maintain than the thick irons of older wooden block and wedge style planes. Adding the use of steal instead of iron meant that thinner irons (blades) could also be made many times sharper. However all of this came at a cost. The thinner iron would often vibrate/chatter in use. So a second piece of thin spring steal - the Cap Iron - was added to provide the rigidity needed at the cutting edge. The first ones were actually flat. The hump was later added to improve the reinforcement of the cutting edge and had the advantage of causing the curling which both cleared the shavings and further reduced tare out. It should be noted that traditional eastern planes do not make curls and do not use cap irons, so they also lack chip breakers.
Thanks for the feedback. I always like hearing what others think. I purposefully try to talk quickly as I find most channels talk too slowly for me. but to each their own. Thanks Michael.
that is a video I would like to make. and yes there are a couple ways to close the mouth on a plane. eather putting in a small patch or putting a whole new sole.
Thank you for asserting that a low angle bevel up plane is not the "cat's meow" for smoothing. For smoothing and really for anything besides end grain work, the low angle bevel up plane has two thing going against it, it is low angle (that could be fixed by changing the bevel angle on the iron) and the big one is that it doesn't have a chip breaker. There is a reason that the standard bevel down bench plane IS the standard for most work and low angle bevel up planes are really specialty planes. Yes, you can use them for other things but in the end they aren't made for general purpose work and especially not for smoothing. A really sharp blade goes a long ways but for anything beyond a super fine cut, it is just asking for trouble.
@@driesvanoosten4417 I mentioned that you can change the bevel angle of the iron but that doesn't make up for not having a chip breaker which is the primary feature that helps with tear out. Low angle bevel up planes are just giant block planes made for end grain (like butcher blocks) so they didn't need a chip breaker. Any plane can avoid tear out if they have a really sharp blade and if they are taking a very fine cut/shaving. The real issue comes when you want to remove a reasonable amount of material when you are flattening a board (think any step between scrub and smoothing) and you don't want to take an enormous number of super fine shavings to get it done. A chipbreaker/double iron has been the standard for general work since the late 1700's. Adjustable mouths were experimented with on bevel down metal planes by a number of makers (I have one from the 1860's) long before the no 62 (started in 1905) and it was never really considered important enough to bother with (partly because you can adjust the frog ).
Thanks, I needed this. I just came from a video where a dude was comparing a Veritas, a Stanley, and a Harbour Freight plane. Which is fine, but he was comparing how good the planes were by how large a shaving they could take, and several times, with the blade protruding _much_ too far, he proceeds to slam the blade right into the end of the piece of wood. I mean he really horsed the poor plane into it. You could hear the _THUNK_ as the blade just slams into about 1/4" of end grain. It was literally painful to watch. I needed to watch something smoothing after that..
can small rust pitting on the sole of the plane result in a lower surface finish? or is it most likely to be an issue related to the blade (vintage one, so probably rusted and unrusted) ? I have some kind of lines, or tracks, can't really feel it with my finger, but I can see the lines/tracks... Also, my iron is cambered.. , if it's due to the pitting, I can basically throw away the plane - it's too deep, not large holes tho. I tried some kind of epoxy filler on them, worked on the big one ( only a few mm large) but didn't stay on the small holes after flattening it again.
pitting wont cause a problem at all as long as it is flat. you don't want anything hanging down. if it is a quick run of some sand paper on a flat surface can fix it. if there ate tracks that is most often from micro chips in the blade.
I talk about that a good bit in this video. ruclips.net/video/1QYDC72yAsg/видео.html that is a hard thing to suggest with out knowing what kind of work you want to do.
When you strop your soothing blade so often, what is your procedure for verifying your setup once the blade is returned to the plane? Isn't there a great of variability, having removed the blade and made some MINOR adjustments? Thanks for your help.
Yes. Every time I sharpen it I have to readjust it. Unless it is one of the new custom planes by veritas. Those are really good setting them back exactly where they were. My normal method is to back the Aaron off so it's not taking any shaving. Then slowly advance it until it just touches the wood. Then use the lateral adjuster to make sure it's taking an even shaving across the blade. Then I'll set the depth to whatever particular I'm looking for. Usually all told it's 5 or 6 passes and 30 seconds.
@@WoodByWright thanks. So do you use a different board to set it back up and then return to your project board, or are you setting it up on your project board?
Another GREAT video! I'm officially a fan. :) I am also new to all this, so another question: Are you saying that a plane can make sandpaper redundant?
yes. the plane will most always make a surface as smooth as your finest stone or strop so it would be like sanding with 12,000 grit. sand paper will fill the poors of the wood allowing the finish to pinitrate a bit deeper, but not enough to make a difference.
no the iron does not touch the sole, but on most planes it never does as that small pece of sole is where the bevel of the iron is. so for most planes the only thing the bed of the iron touches is the frog.
I've set up my smoothing plane as you have suggested. I have also backed off the corners of the blade, yet I still get small ridges on my wood after using it. Any idea why?
It may be because there is a scratch in the sole of the plane or a corner of the mouth is sticking down when pressure is applied from the iron. But most of the time when there is a plane track it's because the iron is sticking down too far, or the corners of the iron aren't rounded up, or one side of the iron is sticking down farther than the other side.
I enjoyed your video. I was just wondering if you have an opinion on smoothing plane frog angles. Is there really an advantage to a 50 or 55 degree frog? Thanks
Some people like to hit the corner of the iron 4-5 times to round it off. I do not do that though. If the shaving is thin enough there are no tracks you can feel. So I don't mess with it.
That is mostly personal preference. Generally anything between 20 and 40° will work. The higher the angle the more durable the edge. But the harder it is to push the plane. Generally I sharpen mine in about 35°. But you ask five woodworkers and you'll get six different degrees.
There is no best angle. If you go up to a high angle like a 55 it might be a little better for difficult grain but also makes it harder to push. Most of mine I keep it 45 but I have one way up at 55 for that really really hard grain.
@@WoodByWright Thanks. Can I use a #7 with a 55 degree frog as a smoothing plane? I am having trouble getting the thin wispy shavings with a 45 degree frog.
Generally a smoothing plane is a short plane. A #7 is for jointing and does not need to take wispy shavings. But if it has a problem with that then it would not be a problem with the frog angle. Send me an email I would be glad to help out.
Yes it is a plane by Veritas called the custom. They allow you to pick the type of tote, knob, blade steel, bed angle. Etc. That way you can have a plane that fits you.
I’m afraid I’ve been a barbarian and have resorted to using sandpaper instead of my smoothing plane, Stanley no: 4. Whenever I move the chip breaker as close as possible to the iron’s edge, the shavings just keep jamming in between both elements even if it seems that there is no perceived gap! 😐😭
It sounds like you have a bullnose on the front of your chipbreaker. it should be sharpened to a sharp point so that the curl slides over it as opposed to impacting it or trying to go under it. I have an entire video showing how to set up a chip breaker so that it doesn't clog.
Thanks James. Only problem now is I have to go set up my 3,4 and maybe4.5 now. I love the 3 as a smoother, but the handle is tight. I suspect I can't use a 2. Oh well at least I've got the rest of the series
@@WoodByWright thank you sir. I live in Kentucky. Over the weekend I snagged a number 3 corrugated bottom, a number 5 smooth bottom, another corrugated bottom that I believe is also a stanley but I can’t find any stamping on it anywhere and then another small plane that doesn’t have a depth adjustment or lateral lever. Just a lever cap and an iron. The Stanley’s are all original with original stamped irons and everything. I picked all 4 up for 80 bucks. Their in beautiful shape.
Check out Doucette and Wolfe Furniture Makers for those of you wanting to see incredibly high level smoothing plane work in builds. Even Mr. Wright here is a fan :)
There are no good planes sold at big box stores. The cheapest one I've seen new that some people say is okay is by grizzly. but it's still a fairly cheap plane and I haven't had a chance to test it out. The next cheapest that is new are the Stanley sweetheart planes or Wood River planes. for most people the cheapest option is to get an old hand plane and restore it. Often if you know where to look you can find them for 5 to 10 bucks a piece. Handtoolfinder.com is a page I have setup to help people find antique tools.
James great video disappointed that you poo poo bevel up planes for smoothing I use Veritas bevel up planes exclusively I keep a few different angled blades and get very good results even in Western Australian hardwoods which are notoriously difficult. For general application I use 40 degrees for smoothing I go to 50 degrees. For softer woods I use 30 degrees The 40 degrees is sold as a 38 and the 30 is sold as 25 degrees. I use a Robert sorby pro edge and drilled extra hole to acomodate 40 & 50 degress. I also have a veritas scraper plane which is fantastic. Updated after watching this and some other videos. Then playing with throat gap set at 1/32 then trying on bad piece of tuart. Great results👍 I do like the look of the veritas custom plane though. I can see a number 4 being addded to my collection.
The quality is really good. My only complaint is that its fairly heavy. This is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your approach. I prefer wooden planes over metal planes but I do use a Stanley No 4 daily for a lot of general smoothing. My dedicated smoother is a high angle German Horned Smoother. Look into getting an ECE smooth plane...its only $105 from highland woodworking and it is SUCH A GOOD plane for the money.
While I enjoy your videos, I feel I must disagree with you over bevel-up planes. I have a Lie Nielsen 62 1/2, and use a blade honed at a 40 degree secondary bevel. I rarely have any problem with tearout. I also have three other blades for it at various angles.
that is what makes the sport fun there are a thousand right ways to do it and we all have to find the best way for the way we work. I do a lot with figures and curly white oak. and even with a 50 degree iron and a laser tight mouth I still get tear out.
I'm curious why you compared the low angle plane having a 25 degree bevel (37 degrees total), rather than a larger bevel angle, against the #4 bailey design plane?
thanks. there is no chip breaker on the Bevel up plane. so the only tear out protection is making the mouth smaller or putting in a higher angle iron which defeats the purpose of a low angle plane. and it still does not have a chip breaker.
no the chip breaker compresses the chip. you need a second angle behind the cutting edge to do that. so even if the bevel of the iron were 70 degrees it would stole just slide past rather then being compressed.
You can joint with a number 4 when doing it on smaller boards. It is just easier to get longer sections to joint when using a long jointer plane. A number 4 is perfect for making wood square for joints. You could easily make up drawers with a number 4 or even use it to make cabinets. If you are trying to do a table top so that you can joint the runs you are going to need a larger plane so that you do not do too much work.
YES! Stropping often. When I'm using my chisels, I'll strop them from time to time. I strop plane blades also, but not as often.
The best video about the best-set best smoothing plane by one of the best hand-tool woodworking channels on RUclips.
(Paul Sellers & James Wright)
LOL thanks man!
These things are ADDICTIVE!
I have a 3, a 4, a 4 1/2, a 5, a 5 1/2, a 7, a 78, a 45, a couple block planes and a scrub. I still intend to add to the 'collection' (quotes because I work them, not stare at them), so I DO have a problem :)
Thanks James for countless great videos. You have affected me a lot, as numerous other woodworking enthusiasts, I'm sure!
All the best to you and your loved ones
So true. one is never enough!
I have an electric planner. Then the ''Masterscrap'' (can. tire) cheap model to smooth it out.
I totally agree with the statement, “once you get the smoothing plane done right, every other plane in the shop suddenly makes sense.” So true. I’ve only been woodworking seriously for a few months and ive been in serious constant pursuit of a true smoother. I finally hit the jackpot this weekend. It took a very good and solid plane to start with and a fair amount or tweaking and machining on top of that. Now my perspective shifted. It has been a journey getting a dialed in smoothing plane in my shop. Long journey with many disappointments along the way but it finally happened.
right on. I so know that feeling, but those first perfect shavings are so amazing. nice work man!
Wood By Wright, thanks! Great job on the channel but the way! I have really enjoyed watching the videos and learning. It’s been helpful getting set up to start furniture making as my new hobby. Thanks for making helpful videos!
I definitely lean towards the No. 3 as my smoother. I don't man handle it like my No. 4, so it allows me to be gentle with the smoothing. It also has such a small iron that lets work that area of tear out or just touch up an area smaller than a playing card.
there are few things as fun as a #3 tat is setup well.
Really appreciate your videos, they've been super helpful setting up my first handplanes!
O ya , my beloved stanly n 3 😍 smoothing like silk on wood .
Sometimes I use my scrub plane on wood just to see n 3 😍 in action , last time I mentioned that I own n 3 , 4 , 6 and finally now bought n 5 🎉🎉💪 and I can't sleep until own n 7 .
Thanks mr James for such wonderful teaching videos .
LOL nice man. happy hunting!
@@WoodByWright 😊👍
Mr. James Wright, thanks for this excellent video. I have a three and a four and generally use the four. I do have one thought. I see a lot of planes that get set, then they are run across the edge of a board. I'm not sure how much of a difference it would make, but I'd love to seen these newly fettled planes run across the full face grain of a board. Thanks again for your video. You inspire me to keep using the old hand tools!
Thanks. I wish I would have thought of that. The reason for the edge is it makes it easier to see which side is deeper when ajusting it.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge of this topic. I've always used a block plane, but have left my very old Stanley No 4 rusting in the garage for years. I suppose I just had such a hard time with understanding how to set it up and use it correctly.
Your simple tutorial has made it much more accessible, and I'll be out there tomorrow having a go at cleaning it up and getting some skinny shavings.
A BIGGG BLUE THUMB from France for a lot of " SMOOTHNESS " 😌 in our rude world ! 😏 Thank you James !!! 😀😀😀😀😁😁😁😁
LOL thanks man! that means a lot!
I'm taking Spring Break off next week. Will definitely be spending some quality time with my plane. Thanks for all the tips on this topic lately!
sounds like a fun time to me!
I’m new to hand tools and love your enthusiasm and enjoy seeing you spread your knowledge of woodworking. I would like to see you attack the grain of vertical grain Zebrawood. Thanks James!
that is a fun one, but if you want hard you should try palm!
A great explanation on the subject. As you say, it is a combination of the design of the planes and how they are set up that makes them more/less suitable for individual tasks. So if you have a plane that is not well suited for smoothing due to design issues you can probably tune it for other tasks.. I was also glad to see the discussion on "transition" planes and would like to see you expand on them some. I find them to be excellent tools that often get little attention from woodworkers. That helps to keep the price down on them since they are so overlooked and that opens some opportunities for woodworkers on tight budgets. Keep up the good work.
thanks. oh ya transitionals are often over looked! so much fun though!
Great tutorial, always great to here your take on all things hand tool. Hope that wonderful family you've been blessed with are doing well!!! Thanks, Joe
Thanks Joe. Any time.
I think you missed a very important part of the iron setup. A slight camber off the straight line of the blade, where each corner is just slightly honed "upwards" to eliminate the edge line that will occur on smoothing a large surface. Paul Sellers, who has been setting these up for more years than you've been alive, has a very nice tutorial that covers setting up a plane. He goes into a bit more detail on the exterior of the plane as well. You make excellent points and your chipbreaker points are spot on.
Thanks. A lot of people like to do that. I find that for fine cuts it is not needed. I use to do that, but not any more. that is what makes the sport great. so many ways to do it and there is no one right way to do it.
I would love to see a detailed setup video on an eBay find, a proper restoration job, especially jury-rigging a way to get a dead-flat sole when one doesn't own a surface plate or other reliably flat surfaces like table saws and such! ALSO some day I wanna see a series where you go through setting up a Japanese kanna and doing a side-by-side with your custom Veritas--I think the world is ready for that! Let the factions assemble!
Yes please, I have a crappy time getting "flat"
I have several videos on that if you want to see them. here is the series where I go through restoration and flattening on several different conditions.
ruclips.net/video/R_QKpSrKuuo/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/N7vyUMgr_G0/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/sT8bHbiO5mE/видео.html
alos, do not worry about perfection on being "flat" people go WAY overboard on that topic and it does not make that much difference it the plane is a few thousands out on most of the plane as long as the mouth, tip and heel are all coplaner. most planes out there do not need it. I even have several that I use regulary that I bought used and have never checked the flattness of the sole.
I’m with you!! Love the planing curls!! 👍👍👍😎🇨🇱
So much fun!
Found out my blade is too far out from the breaker, will have to go and experiment! Thanks!
GREAT, GREAT, even GREATER TOPIC.....Will watch tomorrow; spent the day out and just too tired to concentrate tonight...cheers...rr Normandy
See you in the morning then!
James you make me want to paint all my planes blue!!! Idk why I love the added character and how it Pops, so cool
It is fun to make plans your own.
Great information! Other videos do not stress the importance of the mouth opening. Made a huge difference for me. Keep the videos coming.
thanks Neil. that is huge when smoothing!
I'm planning to buy my first one, so this video is right in time! thank you so much for your great videos time after time!
sweet man. have fun. those can get addictive!
@@WoodByWright and expensive 😂😂😂
@@christofix oh ya!
Grateful for your pro teaching.. You are one of a million..
Good luck keep up the good
thanks you!
Thank You Sir! Learnt so much!.
Well done James. Excellent video.
thanks!
I have a no.3 Clifton (UK), a no.4 Dictum (Germany) and a no.62 from Axminster. These are all quality planes. I also have an older no.4 Stanley that does all the rough work. Works for me.
I won't buy chinese tools.
Great plans from back when quality was standard.
Thank you. I was getting frustrated with tear-out with my plane on hard maple. I've got some ideas of what to check now. :-)
Sweet! yup some times you can not always go with the grain.
Well done, video was very helpful.
great video, thanks. I have a couple of old #4's from my father-in-law that need to be restored, I guess I'll make one of them my smoothing plane.
sweet! sounds like a fun time!
A scrub plane just makes it easier to work but to be honest you could just use a no 4 smoothing plane.
Nice demonstration James, thanks.
thanks Bill!
I'm scratching my head to try to understand why you don't have 10 times more subscribers because your videos are always great. Maybe wearing a cool signature hat would help.
LOL thanks. that is the problem my signature is on my feet. only channel I know of to wear clogs!
Thanks very helpful.
A wealth of information! Thanks.
thanks. my pleasure!
Mmmmm.... buttery smooth.
lol the best kind
Great video. I love my number 3.
such a fun plane!
Common sense videos on an uncommon subject. Keep up the good work and I love the idea on an eBay find restoration.
thanks joe! I do have have several videos on hand plane restoration form the ones that just need touch up tot he ones that need a full tear down.
Outstanding my friend!
thanks!
Awesome video. Thanks, I've been needing this.
thanks! glad I could help!
Thanks James, great video as usual.
Thanks Joel.
2:12 Shameless plug. Lol. Great video and, as always, very informative.
The best kind of plug. LOL
You said "the chipbreaker is actually a really important piece" - could you make a short video about this topic? (Or do you already have one?) How is it works in details, what is important to care about?
surprisingly the chip breaker does actually break the chip kinda. In particular it actually compresses the chip rather than just breaking the chip. The act of compressing the chip allows the iron to then cut the next strand without leaving tear out. This is actually its predominant use. If you ever get a chance to watch a video close up of the chipbreaker in action you will see it does not actually support the tip of the iron the tip of the iron will vibrate against it if it is not supported by the bed of the plane. However the chip breaker will compress the chip and stop tear out from occurring. I'm trying to get the setup right now to make a video to show that but it is a bit difficult to get that close. hopefully sometime this year that video will be coming out.
I found that planetuning.infillplane.com website gives much useful infomation about chipbreakers, cutting angles and shaving formation mechanisms. I my humble experience the chipbreaker (cap iron) do the most job for preventing tearout, even much more, than a tight mouth.
Good Video James.
Thanks Jeff.
I learned a lot from this video. Thanks man!
Thanks Noah!
As always James a wonderful video.
Two brief comments. First it felt as if you were a bit rushed. Not sure how much you practice your speaking, but I find that about 3 aloud "read-throughs" (preferably taped when possible) help me to dramatically reduce that feeling for my audience. Usually, I am also able to refine my speaking to be both clearer and more concise. Of course I also realize that much of your tempo comes from your strong and contagious enthusiasm, and I would never want you to lose an ounce of that.
My second comment is a small clarification about plane parts. The "chip breaker" is not actually a separate part, but a special section of a part. The part itself is known as the Cap Iron. So called because it is placed on top of the Iron (blade) in a traditional bevel down western plane. The chip breaker is the region of the Cap Iron that is closest to the cutting edge of the Iron AND which bends the freshly cut fibers causing them to break and therefore curl. Stanley traditionally uses a small humped region. Other manufacturers eliminate the hump but include a bevel which serves the same purpose.
While this action does effectively reduce taring, it was initially introduced to simply push the shavings out of the way of the users hands. The Cap Iron was introduced so that thinner irons could be used. A thinner iron was both less expensive to produce and much faster to sharpen and maintain than the thick irons of older wooden block and wedge style planes. Adding the use of steal instead of iron meant that thinner irons (blades) could also be made many times sharper. However all of this came at a cost. The thinner iron would often vibrate/chatter in use. So a second piece of thin spring steal - the Cap Iron - was added to provide the rigidity needed at the cutting edge. The first ones were actually flat. The hump was later added to improve the reinforcement of the cutting edge and had the advantage of causing the curling which both cleared the shavings and further reduced tare out.
It should be noted that traditional eastern planes do not make curls and do not use cap irons, so they also lack chip breakers.
Thanks for the feedback. I always like hearing what others think. I purposefully try to talk quickly as I find most channels talk too slowly for me. but to each their own. Thanks Michael.
Great info, very useful!!
Thanks.
My absolute fav plane video ever. And man you're funny haha
Thanks for the info James! 😃👍🏻👊🏻
thanks Fred!
Wooden vs metal planes video, please? Is it possible/practical to "patch" somehow a mount of a wooden plane when it becomes to wide?
that is a video I would like to make. and yes there are a couple ways to close the mouth on a plane. eather putting in a small patch or putting a whole new sole.
Thanks for sharing that
any time!
Thank you for the great video. Do you know the grits of your sharpening stones?
I use course. Fine and extra fine. The grits do not equate to wet stones or sand paper as they cut differently. But they are around 600-1200
@@WoodByWright thanks taking the time to reply. That's really helpful.
Thank you for asserting that a low angle bevel up plane is not the "cat's meow" for smoothing. For smoothing and really for anything besides end grain work, the low angle bevel up plane has two thing going against it, it is low angle (that could be fixed by changing the bevel angle on the iron) and the big one is that it doesn't have a chip breaker. There is a reason that the standard bevel down bench plane IS the standard for most work and low angle bevel up planes are really specialty planes. Yes, you can use them for other things but in the end they aren't made for general purpose work and especially not for smoothing. A really sharp blade goes a long ways but for anything beyond a super fine cut, it is just asking for trouble.
so true. the LAJP is a great plane but there is no one plane that can do it all.
@@driesvanoosten4417 I mentioned that you can change the bevel angle of the iron but that doesn't make up for not having a chip breaker which is the primary feature that helps with tear out. Low angle bevel up planes are just giant block planes made for end grain (like butcher blocks) so they didn't need a chip breaker. Any plane can avoid tear out if they have a really sharp blade and if they are taking a very fine cut/shaving. The real issue comes when you want to remove a reasonable amount of material when you are flattening a board (think any step between scrub and smoothing) and you don't want to take an enormous number of super fine shavings to get it done. A chipbreaker/double iron has been the standard for general work since the late 1700's. Adjustable mouths were experimented with on bevel down metal planes by a number of makers (I have one from the 1860's) long before the no 62 (started in 1905) and it was never really considered important enough to bother with (partly because you can adjust the frog ).
Thanks, I needed this.
I just came from a video where a dude was comparing a Veritas, a Stanley, and a Harbour Freight plane. Which is fine, but he was comparing how good the planes were by how large a shaving they could take, and several times, with the blade protruding _much_ too far, he proceeds to slam the blade right into the end of the piece of wood. I mean he really horsed the poor plane into it. You could hear the _THUNK_ as the blade just slams into about 1/4" of end grain.
It was literally painful to watch.
I needed to watch something smoothing after that..
Lol sounds like fun! I am here to help any time I can.
@@WoodByWright Haha.. Nice one!
Like your work.👻
can small rust pitting on the sole of the plane result in a lower surface finish? or is it most likely to be an issue related to the blade (vintage one, so probably rusted and unrusted) ? I have some kind of lines, or tracks, can't really feel it with my finger, but I can see the lines/tracks... Also, my iron is cambered.. , if it's due to the pitting, I can basically throw away the plane - it's too deep, not large holes tho. I tried some kind of epoxy filler on them, worked on the big one ( only a few mm large) but didn't stay on the small holes after flattening it again.
pitting wont cause a problem at all as long as it is flat. you don't want anything hanging down. if it is a quick run of some sand paper on a flat surface can fix it. if there ate tracks that is most often from micro chips in the blade.
You’re so smooth.
OH YA!!!
Which plane would you suggest for someone's first hand plane?
I talk about that a good bit in this video. ruclips.net/video/1QYDC72yAsg/видео.html that is a hard thing to suggest with out knowing what kind of work you want to do.
When you strop your soothing blade so often, what is your procedure for verifying your setup once the blade is returned to the plane? Isn't there a great of variability, having removed the blade and made some MINOR adjustments? Thanks for your help.
Yes. Every time I sharpen it I have to readjust it. Unless it is one of the new custom planes by veritas. Those are really good setting them back exactly where they were. My normal method is to back the Aaron off so it's not taking any shaving. Then slowly advance it until it just touches the wood. Then use the lateral adjuster to make sure it's taking an even shaving across the blade. Then I'll set the depth to whatever particular I'm looking for. Usually all told it's 5 or 6 passes and 30 seconds.
@@WoodByWright thanks. So do you use a different board to set it back up and then return to your project board, or are you setting it up on your project board?
Usually I'll use another board because most of the time with the project boards I only need to take a shaving or two.
Another GREAT video! I'm officially a fan. :) I am also new to all this, so another question: Are you saying that a plane can make sandpaper redundant?
yes. the plane will most always make a surface as smooth as your finest stone or strop so it would be like sanding with 12,000 grit. sand paper will fill the poors of the wood allowing the finish to pinitrate a bit deeper, but not enough to make a difference.
@@WoodByWright Cool. So much to learn. I thought sandpaper was needed for the final touch.
Should the blade have square corners or rounded corners?
personal preference. I keep mine square, but many like to round the corners to make plane racks harder to see.
When you set your frog to close the mouth, is the blade even with the bottom of the sole or does it protrude below the sole?
no the iron does not touch the sole, but on most planes it never does as that small pece of sole is where the bevel of the iron is. so for most planes the only thing the bed of the iron touches is the frog.
I've set up my smoothing plane as you have suggested. I have also backed off the corners of the blade, yet I still get small ridges on my wood after using it. Any idea why?
It may be because there is a scratch in the sole of the plane or a corner of the mouth is sticking down when pressure is applied from the iron. But most of the time when there is a plane track it's because the iron is sticking down too far, or the corners of the iron aren't rounded up, or one side of the iron is sticking down farther than the other side.
I enjoyed your video. I was just wondering if you have an opinion on smoothing plane frog angles. Is there really an advantage to a 50 or 55 degree frog? Thanks
If you are planing agents the grain or changing grain the higher frog will help reduce tear out bit for strait grain it does not help at all
The biggest problem I have using a hand plane is knowing when to stop lol I get caught up in making thin shavings and forget why I’m making them
LOL yup. I ahve the same problem. I have run into the bench a couple times.
Do you paint your planes blue? I have a two record planes that are blue and was wondering if that makes them a good or bad plane
Record is a great plane. yes all the planes I restore for my personal use are painted blue.
10:28 Hmm.. melting on the tongue! Buttery shavings for dinner.
When smoothing the face of a board, how do you avoid leaving "tracks" from the corners of the blade?
You would put a small camber on both edges of the blade. I was surprised that James did not mention it
Some people like to hit the corner of the iron 4-5 times to round it off. I do not do that though. If the shaving is thin enough there are no tracks you can feel. So I don't mess with it.
Thank you both for your replies...much appreciated.
Can you tell me the angle needed to sharpen the smoothing plane please
That is mostly personal preference. Generally anything between 20 and 40° will work. The higher the angle the more durable the edge. But the harder it is to push the plane. Generally I sharpen mine in about 35°. But you ask five woodworkers and you'll get six different degrees.
@@WoodByWright many thsnks I will keep to your experienced advice
How about the best angle for a smoothing plane? 45, 50 or 55 degrees?
There is no best angle. If you go up to a high angle like a 55 it might be a little better for difficult grain but also makes it harder to push. Most of mine I keep it 45 but I have one way up at 55 for that really really hard grain.
@@WoodByWright Thanks. Can I use a #7 with a 55 degree frog as a smoothing plane? I am having trouble getting the thin wispy shavings with a 45 degree frog.
Generally a smoothing plane is a short plane. A #7 is for jointing and does not need to take wispy shavings. But if it has a problem with that then it would not be a problem with the frog angle. Send me an email I would be glad to help out.
Well, I guess I'm not making that video now hahahahaha
LOL go for it. it would be fun to start up an argument!
I bet you could do it better Wm. Walker
But I will say this video did make me decide to subscribe
Dear sir, you talk about tour custom plane : could you give us some details ? I think it is a Veritas but why is it ... custom ?? Thank you !
Yes it is a plane by Veritas called the custom. They allow you to pick the type of tote, knob, blade steel, bed angle. Etc. That way you can have a plane that fits you.
May I ask what specific modification you asked for?
Warm regards !
www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/CustomPlane1.aspx sorry a little long time before I saw this vid.
I’m afraid I’ve been a barbarian and have resorted to using sandpaper instead of my smoothing plane, Stanley no: 4. Whenever I move the chip breaker as close as possible to the iron’s edge, the shavings just keep jamming in between both elements even if it seems that there is no perceived gap! 😐😭
It sounds like you have a bullnose on the front of your chipbreaker. it should be sharpened to a sharp point so that the curl slides over it as opposed to impacting it or trying to go under it. I have an entire video showing how to set up a chip breaker so that it doesn't clog.
Thanks James. Only problem now is I have to go set up my 3,4 and maybe4.5 now. I love the 3 as a smoother, but the handle is tight. I suspect I can't use a 2. Oh well at least I've got the rest of the series
Lol have fun setting them up.
mmmmm buttery.
How rare is a number 3 with the corrugated bottom?
Not really rare.. on the collector's price they're worth about $5-10 more than the smooth bottom.
@@WoodByWright thank you sir. I live in Kentucky. Over the weekend I snagged a number 3 corrugated bottom, a number 5 smooth bottom, another corrugated bottom that I believe is also a stanley but I can’t find any stamping on it anywhere and then another small plane that doesn’t have a depth adjustment or lateral lever. Just a lever cap and an iron. The Stanley’s are all original with original stamped irons and everything. I picked all 4 up for 80 bucks. Their in beautiful shape.
Check out Doucette and Wolfe Furniture Makers for those of you wanting to see incredibly high level smoothing plane work in builds. Even Mr. Wright here is a fan :)
yup. great channel.
Where can you find a good planner? Lowe's and home Depot just don't cut it.
There are no good planes sold at big box stores. The cheapest one I've seen new that some people say is okay is by grizzly. but it's still a fairly cheap plane and I haven't had a chance to test it out. The next cheapest that is new are the Stanley sweetheart planes or Wood River planes. for most people the cheapest option is to get an old hand plane and restore it. Often if you know where to look you can find them for 5 to 10 bucks a piece. Handtoolfinder.com is a page I have setup to help people find antique tools.
James great video disappointed that you poo poo bevel up planes for smoothing I use Veritas bevel up planes exclusively I keep a few different angled blades and get very good results even in Western Australian hardwoods which are notoriously difficult. For general application I use 40 degrees for smoothing I go to 50 degrees. For softer woods I use 30 degrees The 40 degrees is sold as a 38 and the 30 is sold as 25 degrees. I use a Robert sorby pro edge and drilled extra hole to acomodate 40 & 50 degress. I also have a veritas scraper plane which is fantastic.
Updated after watching this and some other videos. Then playing with throat gap set at 1/32 then trying on bad piece of tuart. Great results👍 I do like the look of the veritas custom plane though. I can see a number 4 being addded to my collection.
Thanks for the thoughts. They are fantastic tools and do amazing things. you should see my video on bevel up vs bevel down planes.
If you were lihited to two planes, what would they be>
A #4 and a #5. you can do everything with those two.
@@WoodByWright Thankyou for your quick reply
Is a Wood River #4 decent quality?
Yes. They are good. Great for the money.
The quality is really good. My only complaint is that its fairly heavy. This is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your approach. I prefer wooden planes over metal planes but I do use a Stanley No 4 daily for a lot of general smoothing. My dedicated smoother is a high angle German Horned Smoother. Look into getting an ECE smooth plane...its only $105 from highland woodworking and it is SUCH A GOOD plane for the money.
What stone do you have for your finest grit
The one I just got that the extra fine 1200 / 9 micron
yup that is my finest, but I would say do not call it "grit" because it cuts differently and will give a finer cut then 1200 sand paper or wet stone.
While I enjoy your videos, I feel I must disagree with you over bevel-up planes. I have a Lie Nielsen 62 1/2, and use a blade honed at a 40 degree secondary bevel. I rarely have any problem with tearout. I also have three other blades for it at various angles.
that is what makes the sport fun there are a thousand right ways to do it and we all have to find the best way for the way we work. I do a lot with figures and curly white oak. and even with a 50 degree iron and a laser tight mouth I still get tear out.
With a low angle plane like that Stanley, you can eliminate the tearout, you just have to get a different angle blade.
That works okay, but I'm really difficult woods. It isn't quite as good as having a chip breaker and a higher angle.
🧡💯😎👍👍
I'm curious why you compared the low angle plane having a 25 degree bevel (37 degrees total), rather than a larger bevel angle, against the #4 bailey design plane?
Well, 99% of this I knew, because of you. Thx teach. . . . . . , , Dont understand why the issue with the 62 w/ b/u, in comp to a b/d.
thanks. there is no chip breaker on the Bevel up plane. so the only tear out protection is making the mouth smaller or putting in a higher angle iron which defeats the purpose of a low angle plane. and it still does not have a chip breaker.
I would think the up bevel would act as a chip breaker specially on thicker blades and maybe depending on angle.
no the chip breaker compresses the chip. you need a second angle behind the cutting edge to do that. so even if the bevel of the iron were 70 degrees it would stole just slide past rather then being compressed.
oh!! damn no wonder i dont have any good bench style planes, ugh
well, since you dislike that #2, I'll take it off your hands.
LOL
Thanks for not writing off the #3
of coarse not. it is a great smoother.
This was still a bit too rough.
Lol nice.
You can joint with a number 4 when doing it on smaller boards. It is just easier to get longer sections to joint when using a long jointer plane.
A number 4 is perfect for making wood square for joints. You could easily make up drawers with a number 4 or even use it to make cabinets.
If you are trying to do a table top so that you can joint the runs you are going to need a larger plane so that you do not do too much work.