I'm a newbie myself (2 years) but have picked up some ideas along the
way...

First, a professional cabinet maker and instructor (at the Peter Korn
school and Anderson ranch) told me that only two planes are needed:
the Lie-Nielson (LN) adjustable mouth block plane and the LN #five and
a half which is a compromise between a "baby jointer" and a big
smoother.

Many others have told me that you should get planes in this order....
block plane
#4 bench
smoother
jointer

If you're planning to take wood from the rough to finish, a scrub
plane is good. Some folks think a scraper is important but I use the
Lee Valley Veritas (LV) hand scraper. Beside the plane scrapers are
reputed to be tricky to use - I don't know.

All that said, I've found many occasion to use a shoulder plane
(Veritas Lee Valley medium) and a LN chisel plane.

A friend of mine bought the Steve Knight coffin smoother and raves
about it so I just ordered one. (It should arrive next week - whoopi!)
He claims there's nothing that beats the feel of wood on wood. Steve
was such a pleasure to work with and willing to deviate from the woods
on his web page to provide me with what I think will be a piece of
art, that I also bought one of his razee style jointer planes.

However, LN and LV and also good to work with but they are more
pricey, especially LN. But .... LN is usually considered the benchmark
to beat.

Here's what I have currently:
LN adjustable mounth block plane - I use this one more than any other,
usually after I've built something and need to shave a littel here or
there....

LV medium shoulder plane - Also used frequently to clean tenons.

Steve Knight coffin smoother - should arrive soon but based on the
direction I'm headed, will be used a lot (instead of sand paper -
dust, noise, etc).

LN #4.5 - beautiful plane. I haven't used it much. However as I have
improved as a woodworker (and I have a long long way to go), I've
began using is more.

LN small chisel plane - lot's of folks said I'd _not_ use this one
much but I do. Sometimes I have large tenons which need cleaning. I go
in from the end with the block plane and then finish up to the
sholders with the chisel plane.

Steve Knight Jointer plane - since I have a powermatic 6# jointer, I'm
not sure whether I'll use this one. It would sure be quieter and
produce less dust though. Steve sent me pictures of the coffin
smoother he's building and made me a great deal on a matching jointer.
I couldn't refuse. Bloodwood with hard maple.

Next:
Oh, maybe the LN #5.5 as the "pro" mentioned above. Or the LN skew
angle block plane. A spoke shave may be in my future, too.

Lastly, let me say that there's lot's of people that do good work w/o
a single plane. There's lot's of people that eschew power tools. I
have found (and some of the books advise) a blending of the two. Going
into hand tools is sometimes referred to as the "slippery slope".
That's true. They have charm as pieces to collect and they have
utility as tools and they are fun to use...to a point.

There are many plane makers but I've discoverd that Steve Knight, LV,
and LN can meet all my plane lusts. The other manufactures don't seem
to have the same plane sex appeal (with the possible exception of
ECE). I also like buying American when I can. The Canadians (LV) are
also nice.

BTW, I recently posted "What Plane Next" and some of the replies were
quite good. Do an advanced search in rec.woodworking with the author
Never Enough Money.

(Ben) wrote in message . com...
I've been using power tools for a while now and while they're great
for accuracy, saving time, etc., I find I'd still like to try using
hand tools more often, especially planes. So here are my questions:

If you could only have four planes, which would they be? What brand?
Where would I go to find the best information in tuning and using them
(besides here)?

TIA for the help.