"Mike H." wrote:
I was gonna get a #4, then I was gonna get a standard block plane. That was
my original plan. But based on the amount of reading I've been doing, the
low-angle/shoulder planes makes sense to buy first. But I will not have a
joiner or a planer, so I was going to use hand planes to smooth all of my
rough sawn wood. That's why the #4 was first on the list.

If you're starting with roughsawn wood, you need to flattten it,
and square your edges. That means longer planes, not shorter ones
and a shooting board or very large and flat bench. A #4 is boing
to be one of the last planes that you use in the process, it
finishes up wha the others have gotten "just about right". DAGS
on shooting board for more info. A #6 or 7 is very useful on
flattening as well as in squaring up the wood, then you'll need to
go backwards yo a #5 and then a #4 or #3. Hopefully you won't
need a scrub plane, but in a pinch a #4 with a highly radiused
blade will work to flatten the board before you use the longer of
the planes. You really need to check out
http://www.supertool.com as well as http://www.amgron.clara.net
for info on what planes are used for what and how to care and use
them. The reason that many people have suggested using the older
Stanleys is that you can't do everything you need to do with just
one or two planes, not realistically anyway, and that the cost
start mounting pretty quickly if you are buying new planes. The
old planes are likely to have been used by someone who knew how to
use them, so little to no fettling may be required.

All of this assumes that you can sharpen a plade to a high degree
of sherpeness, pretty darn isn't sharp enough by half.
Look in the antiques stores and tag sales in your area for old
planes. Depending on where you are this can range from a
no-brainer to very difficult.

I hope this helps,
Dave in Fairfax
--
Dave Leader
reply-to doesn't work
use:
daveldr at att dot net
American Association of Woodturners
http://www.woodturner.org
Capital Area Woodturners
http://www.capwoodturners.org/
PATINA
http://www.Patinatools.org/