Modat22 wrote:
I've never used a wood plane in my life and I need to buy a few and
learn to use them but I don't know what I need to buy.
I'd like to be able to Join boards for rubbed glue joints, flatten and
smooth table tops.
What would you recommend as a minimum number of planes to buy for the
above operations?
Next question, will stanley brand planes hold up well enough for a 2
or 3 time per month usage?

There are a LOT of assumptions here.
The 1st question is, "You don't need to be able to do this by, say,
Thursday, do you?"
2nd, "How much money do you want/are willing to spend.
3rd"Do you have experience sharpening things like chisels, or just
kitchen knives?"

Assuming that you can sharpen to razor edgeness, and that you are
willing to spend a couple of hundred bucks, yes OLD Stanleys wil do the
job and more. New Stanleys will take a lot of tune-up before they'll
work acceptably, and even then you'll nprobably need to buy after-market
blades for them. Old Stanleys will have acceptable blades if they are
the original blades. You will need a shooting board and a flat bench,
#s 3 or 4, 5 and 6/7/8 (choose one depending on size of table). You
*might* be able to do it with just a #4 and a #6 or 7, but it will take
a lot of practice to get it done properly with fewer planes. Others
will, no doubt have different views on this. If you want to spend a bit
more money, than antique Stanleys, Lee Valley has *nice* planes. If
you've got deep pockets LN makes pretty ones.

Enjoy the slippery slope,
Just my, way more than, $0.02
Dave in Fairfax
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