I originally was going to go Stanley 3/5/7, but now getting some experience I believe a 3 or 4 is the first place to start. And that might be enough for 80% of the woodworkers out there. I started with an old Stanley Defiance 1203 (like a No 3 size) a couple years ago when building a desk. Recently I've started building a "Thuma" style bed frame. So I picked up a Stanley No 5 Jack for $50 landed off of ebay. Then a few days later I got a good deal for a No 6 for $77. Finally, just yesterday I bought a Stanley No 4, again for about $50. I cambered the iron on the old Defiance just to see about using it as a scrub plane...but then I discovered that the narrower blade fits into the No 5 and turns my Jack into an AWESOME scrub plane. Very precise. I'm going to re-camber it a little more shallow for use in other planes and retire the Defiance. I'll also likely have spare blades in other profiles that I'll keep for specific use cases. So for me I could see a 4, 5 and 7 making the most sense. I'll be real curious to see if the 2" blades from my 4 and 5 fit in the 6...
I actually have a few more than that, but I certainly agree that most of the time, these three are adequate for everything. I've ended up with two smoothing planes, because I can't resist a bargain (good Stanley plane for £20!), and I found a really small block plane during a house clearance that was dead handy when I needed to ease the runners on the table saw sled I built. I also have a jack plane that I have had for years and see no reason to get rid of it. Then again, I have a DeWalt 18v planer and a planer/thicknesser, so I am pretty much set up for any planing jobs....
I would add a Jack or Fore Plane to the mix. I use my Low Angle Jack Plane more than any other, including my Block Plane. But that's me and my process.
Although I have every plane from No3 through to No 8 I would say that I use my Stanley block plane, Record 4 1/2 smoothing and Record 5 1/2 Jack planes most of the time. I am not into these LN & V type planes as they are overly expensive and as I have tuned all of my Stanley and Record planes over the years there is no reason to replace them with more modern planes. I will admit that they have all benefitted from replacement after market blades which are thicker and hold an edge longer but they will see me out and be handed down to my Sons and grandkids and go on indefinitely as long as they look after them as I have done. They range from 50 - 100 years old and are as good as new so why spend silly money on new ones - I would rather spend it on wood!!!
Most block planes are too wide to be pushed efficiently. There are the rare occasions you might do with a 6, 7 or even 8. For most part, they are too large and heavy to do anything but the very most specific jobs. Trust me, the sole on the jack is long enough for jointing. You may have an easier time for really long stuff with a 7, but I don't see how it's necessary for most jobs. It's not that I dont love planes, I have about 30 different planes (mostly Veritas), but you DONT NEED them. What you really NEED is the No 3 or 4 depending on your hand size. A No 5 (remember that a 5 is so much longer than a 4 it's like skipping a size - sometimes known as the 5 1/4) for longer stocks. A rabbet/rebate, route and a small plough are IMO much more essential. No need for bevel up as they are more of a specialty tool suited for very specialized tasks like softwood, with-grain smoothing, end grains. The 45deg will do just fine. Unless you are doing a lot (and I mean a lot) of beading stuff, combination planes are absolutely non-essential. For me it's always a 4 and a 5 for flat stuff and a plough and skew rabbet for most everything else. My No 7's (yes multiple) never see the light of day unless I am making a large 7' long table gluing together a bunch of pieces or something.
if you flatten and dimension stock by hand, jackplane is not as useful. still great to have, but a wooden 60cm long jointer witch 6cm blade is beast when you need something flattened. Also, there is almost nothing that a block plane can do that you couldnt achieve with a bigger plane, its convenient for small tasks, but thats about it.
Great question. There is no correct answer - it all depends on your needs. For me, I could *probably* make my jack plane work as a jointer plane if I needed to do that, but it's not ideal. And I like the shorter #4 size plane over the longer 14" jack plane as a smoother. It's just easier to handle and I have it dialed in to make precise cuts. I even use my #8 jointer on my larger shooting board just because it's so stable and has a lot of mass behind it. If you're building yourself a bench and need to laminate a bunch of timber together, you'd probably do a lot of the roughing out with your jack plane and do the final fitting with your jointer plane. With enough patience, you could do all of the work with the jointer plane.
@@petrsidlo7614, @Tom Raney Thank you guys for responding. I'm just getting into woodworking and i was wondering what planes to get. This year I plan on learning how to build boxes (etc jewelry, tools, art supplies, etc) and hopefully by the end of the year progress to building barrister bookshelves for myself. One that is kind of modular you could say.
Be careful taking advice from someone who doesn't know how to grip the tote on a plane correctly. Just saying. "Hand Plane Trinity"? With that thinking, I guess it explains why there are over 900 different Christian churches teaching completely different things. Why have a jointer when you use it as a Jack? Just save your money and buy the jack (No 5), it will do everything he is doing in the video but easier and better. When you skew the plane (like he does the long jointer) during the stroke you lose all the value of the long sole. Skewing sometimes is needed to compensate for a dull iron, or skill Why are you using the jointer on a diagonal cut (across the bench)? Again, a No 5 would do that job better, easier, and more efficiently. The shaping you did with the block plane can be done with your smoother (No 4), so no need for the block for that job. "Planing with the grain" isn't planning in the direction the boards are laying, it is planning in the direction of the actual "grain direction" of each board (I doubt all the boards on your bench have the grain going the same way, especially the knotty areas). As you made the comment of planning in the direction of the grain you planned over a large knot with the grain going in all directions (a bit of irony?) Do you really need to have your bench perfectly flat? NO. It looks like you were trying to get within a few thousandths, a bit overkill I think. Regardless of my comments, it is good to see someone trying to keep the craft alive, thanks.
I appreciate the very thorough critique. You didn’t stop with an empty criticism but provided some justification and that goes a long way with me. Regarding your comment about skewing the plane, it simply doesn’t matter (much) when the surface you’re flattening is fully covered by the plane. It absolutely WOULD matter if I was jointing two long surfaces and was allowing my plane to drift partially off the material with excessive skew. Then, as you stated, I would lose the benefit of the longer plane. A 14” #5 jack plane is a fine plane. Mine is configured as a scrub plane and it works well for removing material quickly, but I wouldn’t say it’s a substitute for my larger jointer. Could I flatten my bench with it? Absolutely. In terms of grain orientation, I would take the same flattening strategy even if the bench was composed of end grain, like a butcher block. And why I didn’t chop out those knots when I built the bench is one of those life mysteries. To be clear, I'm not a Woodworking Gatekeeper. I'd much rather encourage people to learn a few tools well and jump into the craft rather than waiting for the perfect complement of gear. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you come back.
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I originally was going to go Stanley 3/5/7, but now getting some experience I believe a 3 or 4 is the first place to start. And that might be enough for 80% of the woodworkers out there.
I started with an old Stanley Defiance 1203 (like a No 3 size) a couple years ago when building a desk. Recently I've started building a "Thuma" style bed frame. So I picked up a Stanley No 5 Jack for $50 landed off of ebay. Then a few days later I got a good deal for a No 6 for $77. Finally, just yesterday I bought a Stanley No 4, again for about $50.
I cambered the iron on the old Defiance just to see about using it as a scrub plane...but then I discovered that the narrower blade fits into the No 5 and turns my Jack into an AWESOME scrub plane. Very precise. I'm going to re-camber it a little more shallow for use in other planes and retire the Defiance. I'll also likely have spare blades in other profiles that I'll keep for specific use cases. So for me I could see a 4, 5 and 7 making the most sense. I'll be real curious to see if the 2" blades from my 4 and 5 fit in the 6...
Enjoyed your planer trinity video, and learning about the different types of planers. Your paddle board looks beautiful! Thanks for posting 😊
Thank you!
That was very helpful. Thanks from Spain.
Thank you and I’m glad it was useful to you.
I actually have a few more than that, but I certainly agree that most of the time, these three are adequate for everything. I've ended up with two smoothing planes, because I can't resist a bargain (good Stanley plane for £20!), and I found a really small block plane during a house clearance that was dead handy when I needed to ease the runners on the table saw sled I built. I also have a jack plane that I have had for years and see no reason to get rid of it. Then again, I have a DeWalt 18v planer and a planer/thicknesser, so I am pretty much set up for any planing jobs....
Your blades sound very sharp by the way
I would add a Jack or Fore Plane to the mix. I use my Low Angle Jack Plane more than any other, including my Block Plane. But that's me and my process.
i would say a scrub plane & jack plane would also be needed depending on what your doing
I liked the video! Nice demonstration of some different planes.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.
Although I have every plane from No3 through to No 8 I would say that I use my Stanley block plane, Record 4 1/2 smoothing and Record 5 1/2 Jack planes most of the time. I am not into these LN & V type planes as they are overly expensive and as I have tuned all of my Stanley and Record planes over the years there is no reason to replace them with more modern planes. I will admit that they have all benefitted from replacement after market blades which are thicker and hold an edge longer but they will see me out and be handed down to my Sons and grandkids and go on indefinitely as long as they look after them as I have done. They range from 50 - 100 years old and are as good as new so why spend silly money on new ones - I would rather spend it on wood!!!
Very well said!
Most block planes are too wide to be pushed efficiently. There are the rare occasions you might do with a 6, 7 or even 8. For most part, they are too large and heavy to do anything but the very most specific jobs. Trust me, the sole on the jack is long enough for jointing. You may have an easier time for really long stuff with a 7, but I don't see how it's necessary for most jobs. It's not that I dont love planes, I have about 30 different planes (mostly Veritas), but you DONT NEED them.
What you really NEED is the No 3 or 4 depending on your hand size. A No 5 (remember that a 5 is so much longer than a 4 it's like skipping a size - sometimes known as the 5 1/4) for longer stocks. A rabbet/rebate, route and a small plough are IMO much more essential. No need for bevel up as they are more of a specialty tool suited for very specialized tasks like softwood, with-grain smoothing, end grains. The 45deg will do just fine. Unless you are doing a lot (and I mean a lot) of beading stuff, combination planes are absolutely non-essential.
For me it's always a 4 and a 5 for flat stuff and a plough and skew rabbet for most everything else. My No 7's (yes multiple) never see the light of day unless I am making a large 7' long table gluing together a bunch of pieces or something.
great video! thanks!
Thank you!
Thanks for sharing 👍
Awesome video
Thanks, glad you liked it!
👏👏👏
nice!
Why not just a block plain and a jack plane?
if you flatten and dimension stock by hand, jackplane is not as useful. still great to have, but a wooden 60cm long jointer witch 6cm blade is beast when you need something flattened. Also, there is almost nothing that a block plane can do that you couldnt achieve with a bigger plane, its convenient for small tasks, but thats about it.
Great question. There is no correct answer - it all depends on your needs.
For me, I could *probably* make my jack plane work as a jointer plane if I needed to do that, but it's not ideal. And I like the shorter #4 size plane over the longer 14" jack plane as a smoother. It's just easier to handle and I have it dialed in to make precise cuts. I even use my #8 jointer on my larger shooting board just because it's so stable and has a lot of mass behind it. If you're building yourself a bench and need to laminate a bunch of timber together, you'd probably do a lot of the roughing out with your jack plane and do the final fitting with your jointer plane. With enough patience, you could do all of the work with the jointer plane.
@@petrsidlo7614, @Tom Raney
Thank you guys for responding. I'm just getting into woodworking and i was wondering what planes to get. This year I plan on learning how to build boxes (etc jewelry, tools, art supplies, etc) and hopefully by the end of the year progress to building barrister bookshelves for myself. One that is kind of modular you could say.
Do you always have to push this hard on the smoother? Sounds way too rough to work effectively. Try waxing the sole and a tad lighter cut.
Great tip! It's a very hard maple cutting board but you're correct that I could have tuned the plane a bit to make that easier.
Be careful taking advice from someone who doesn't know how to grip the tote on a plane correctly. Just saying.
"Hand Plane Trinity"? With that thinking, I guess it explains why there are over 900 different Christian churches teaching completely different things.
Why have a jointer when you use it as a Jack? Just save your money and buy the jack (No 5), it will do everything he is doing in the video but easier and better.
When you skew the plane (like he does the long jointer) during the stroke you lose all the value of the long sole. Skewing sometimes is needed to compensate for a dull iron, or skill
Why are you using the jointer on a diagonal cut (across the bench)? Again, a No 5 would do that job better, easier, and more efficiently.
The shaping you did with the block plane can be done with your smoother (No 4), so no need for the block for that job.
"Planing with the grain" isn't planning in the direction the boards are laying, it is planning in the direction of the actual "grain direction" of each board (I doubt all the boards on your bench have the grain going the same way, especially the knotty areas). As you made the comment of planning in the direction of the grain you planned over a large knot with the grain going in all directions (a bit of irony?)
Do you really need to have your bench perfectly flat? NO. It looks like you were trying to get within a few thousandths, a bit overkill I think.
Regardless of my comments, it is good to see someone trying to keep the craft alive, thanks.
I appreciate the very thorough critique. You didn’t stop with an empty criticism but provided some justification and that goes a long way with me.
Regarding your comment about skewing the plane, it simply doesn’t matter (much) when the surface you’re flattening is fully covered by the plane. It absolutely WOULD matter if I was jointing two long surfaces and was allowing my plane to drift partially off the material with excessive skew. Then, as you stated, I would lose the benefit of the longer plane.
A 14” #5 jack plane is a fine plane. Mine is configured as a scrub plane and it works well for removing material quickly, but I wouldn’t say it’s a substitute for my larger jointer. Could I flatten my bench with it? Absolutely.
In terms of grain orientation, I would take the same flattening strategy even if the bench was composed of end grain, like a butcher block. And why I didn’t chop out those knots when I built the bench is one of those life mysteries.
To be clear, I'm not a Woodworking Gatekeeper. I'd much rather encourage people to learn a few tools well and jump into the craft rather than waiting for the perfect complement of gear.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you come back.