Sam the Cat wrote:
Looking to into jointing a board with a hand plane and trying to select
the appropriate type planes.
I can understand that the long the plane the less likely the plane is to
"follow the curve" but given that I can get a #6 at 18", a #7 at 22" and a
#8 at 24" is there significance in flatness or speed of work between the
three. Given that the different planes are made, there must be a reason
why.......

Good question but you've been distracted by the two differnt
places of use for the planes, face and side. Jointing is done to
the side of the board with a shooting board. This allows the
plane, whatever it is, to follow a registerd line and shave the
boards where needed to make them straight of mate to each other.
For this you can use alomost any plane, although a #5 or greater
is easier unless you own a shooting/chuting plane. Flattening the
face of the board is where the length begins to matter. In
theory, a longer plane won't follow the ups and downs of the board
but will span them instead. For this a #6 or better will be
necessary if it's a long board. The plane needs to be of decent
size compared to the board, but if the board is short, say under
3', even a #5 will work adequately. Remeber either buy old planes
or fairly expensive ones, India and China make paperweights, not
planes, newer Stanleys aren't as good as old ones and Buck or
Great Neck aren't worth the effort to fettle, IMHO.
I hope that helps,
Dave in Fairfax
--
Dave Leader
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