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What is the best first hand plane to buy?
BEST OVERALL: WoodRiver #4 Bench Plane. BEST EDGE RELIEF PLANER: YOGEON Woodworking Hand Planer, 4″ BEST FOR TIGHT SPOTS: Stanley 3-1/2″ Small Trimming Plane. BEST FOR ROUGH LUMBER: Stanley Low Angle Sweetheart Jack Plane. BEST SMOOTHING PLANE: Veritas #4 1/2 Smoothing Plane.
What hand planer should I buy?
Most people opt for a number 4 size plane (pictured above). If your hands are a bit smaller, then a number 3 works great (pictured below). If you prefer a heavier smoothing plane to give more power to your planing, then a number 4-1/2 size smoothing plane is ideal (pictured below).
What plane do you use for woodworking?
Woodworking Hand Planes Bench planes are used to flatten and smooth broad wood surfaces and narrow edges. Long bench planes are best suited for smoothing very long surfaces and edges. Specialty planes, such as a shoulder plane or rabbet plane, have plane irons (blades) that come flush with the edges of the tool.
How much does a block plane cost?
The price of block planes ranges from $11 to as high as $300. The type of materials used to make the plane affects the price. The size also influences the price. A balance can be struck between cost and efficiency with planes within the $30 and $150 price range.
What is a number 3 plane used for?
The lighter weight and smaller size of this otherwise fully-fledged Smoother make it a popular tool for young apprentices, small work, and situations in which single-handed operation is necessary. The short body makes this an effective smoother for touching up local trouble spots. 9″ long.
What is a No 6 plane used for?
The No. 6, also called a ‘fore’ hand plane is good for jointing edges and flattening and smoothing large surfaces, such as table tops, panels and workbench tops, where you might not want or need the length or weight of a larger plane.
What size hand plane do I need?
My personal recommendation for a first hand plane is a number 4 or 4-1⁄2 because with a smaller sole it can take shavings readily almost anywhere on a board. If it comes time to joint a long surface, place a straightedge on the surface of the board.
Are hand planes necessary?
Whether you’re an active hand tool user, a neophyte learning to work wood by hand, a weekend woodworker or a casual homeowner, a basic set of good hand planes is essential. There’s a great deal of generalization that goes into compiling a list like this.
What is a No 4 plane?
A No. 4 is a handy size and weight for finishing and final smoothing as well a general-purpose plane. The cap iron and other quality fittings on the planes are solid brass, an ideal material for these moving parts. The sole is 245mm(9-1/2″) long with a 50mm(2″) wide blade.
What plane should I buy first?
Your first purchases should be a low-angle block plane and a shoulder plane, above. Both help you put a refining touch on the less-than-perfect cuts produced by your power tools.
Do you plane with or against the grain?
No matter which way you feed the wood, you’re planing with the grain part of the time and against it the other part. When you’re planing against the grain, the knives tend to lift the wood fibers and tear them out, leaving the surface chipped and gouged.
What is the difference between a block plane and bench plane?
The differences between the Bench Plane and Block plane is mainly where the direction the Bevel is Facing, having the Bench Plane’s bevel facing upward with a shallow angle, and the Block Plane with a bevel facing downwards and has a steep angle.
What is the difference between a jack plane and a block plane?
Bench planes have a blade angle of 45 degrees, while block planes have a much shallower blade angle, at 20 degrees or less. Many people believe this design makes these tools (block planes) ideal for trimming and shaving wooden pieces because their blades can gently remove material without gouging wood fibers.
What is a No 5 plane used for?
Bench or ‘Jack’ planes have a long base and are used for the initial preparation of rough timber. Made with a quality grey cast iron body for strength and stability with precision ground base and sides for flatness and squareness.
What is No 7 plane used for?
In a traditional shop, the No. 7 is the most common size of jointer plane. It is used for shooting the long edges of boards to form them into a wider panel. And it is used for dressing the faces of boards to make accurate surfaces for joinery.
What does a jack plane do?
A jack plane is a general-purpose woodworking bench plane, used for dressing timber down to size in preparation for truing and/or edge jointing. The versality of the jack plane has led to it being the most common bench plane in use. The name jack plane is sometimes used interchangeably with the longer fore plane.
What do the numbers on hand planes mean?
#1 size hand planes are very small and rare and basically unusable by most adults. The numbers 1 to 8 simply refer to different lengths of plane with #1 being (very) short and #8 being pretty long. As the numbers and length increase so does the width: a #4 has a narrow blade while an #8’s blade is wide.
Why is it called a jack plane?
How did the Jack Plane get its name? Its name is related to the saying “jack of all trades”, as jack planes can be made to perform some of the work of smoothing, fore and jointer planes, especially on smaller pieces of work.
What is the longest bench plane?
The longest and heaviest of the bench planes, the No. 8 will flatten and true like no other. It is capable of precise joints and perfect flatness of large areas.
