igor wrote:


I am looking for some plain info on hand planes. A book and/or a DVD.

I do not want to make planes. I do not want to collect planes. I do not
want to admire their beauty. I do not want to bow down and worship planes.
I do not want to develop some psycho-sexual relationship with planes.

You say that like it's a bad thing. :-)

(Though, I must say, I have enjoyed some of the writings here of those who
seemingly have done that. Tool-porn prose, that you very much.)

I do not own any planes. The most I have ever done with a plane was, long
ago, with my Dad's guidance, plane down the top of a swollen door.

I have been drawn to the neander dark side by those of you who have come to
know and love your planes -- or, it not the planes themselves, then what
you can accomplish with them. And, after a trip to a recent woodworking
show, both to a scraper demo and the LV booth, I seem convinced to consider
manual labor in the shop.

I want simple info, simply presented. If I need to clean up a tenon, I
want to know what plane I should get/use (and maybe an alt. selection), how
it should be set, and how it should be moved to do what I need. I want to
know what size plane I should get of a given type -- the ups and downs of
larger or smaller. Extra points if the book/video tells me how to sharpen
my planes -- though Leonard Lee's book may be joining my library.

According to Amazon.com, FWW is coming out with a book on the subject
within the next week or so. I also found The Handplane Book by Garrett
Hack and John Sheldon, which was well reviewed. (As for a visit to my
local library, and I am a big supporter of public libraries, the pickin's
are slim to none, with none in the lead.)

As someone else suggested, check out Patrick Leach's Stanley Blood &
Gore website. It may be a bit much to absorb at the beginning, but keep
it bookmarked and you will find yourself returning to it often.

Hack's book is probably the most succinct and in-depth book I know
of for the basics of plane use. It lists the basic and specialty
planes, describes their uses and gives tuning and sharpening tips.
(Though I still recommend you get Lee's sharpening book.)

As far as "starter planes" for your shop -- I can't truly disagree
with those who recommend a low-angle block, but, I personally would go
with a low-angle smoother or L-N's low-angle jack. IMHO, they are more
versatile than the block plane, because they can be used for jointing
small boards, set coarse for stock removal/flattening boards, used on
endgrain, and set fine for final smoothing.

Because of the bevel-up configuration, you can also buy an extra
iron for your plane, and sharpen it to a higher angle, in effect giving
you a second plane for different types of wood.

FWIW, I own mumble mumble hand planes, and while some would call
me a dilettante (hey, who you callin' a dilettante?), I always have a
project of some sort going on in my shop (currently that number would be
three ... ooops, make that four). I also do all of my dimensioning,
surfacing and smoothing with handtools. The planes that permanently
reside in the tool tray beneath my bench are a LV low-angle smoother,
and the L-N #62.


Chuck Vance (not a worshipper of planes, so much as a worshipper
of wood ... er, nevermind)