I'm thinking of buying a good plane.
I've not used a plane in about 10 years. I want some recomendations for a
reasonably priced plane.

I was first thinking about a stanley plane, but all these numbers and types
of plane are a bit confusing. I just want a general purpose plane (if there
is such a thing).
Also, looking on the price of thes on amazon, they're in the region of £50+
Draper ones are cheaper, any good?

Wickes do one for £15 and one for £20, are these completely useless.

I'd probably also need a good sharpenning stone and guide to sharpen it, and
my chiesels.

What about a power plane. Would it be a good alternative to a hand plane or
is it a completely different tool for a different job.

Thanks.

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
J wrote:

I'm thinking of buying a good plane.
I've not used a plane in about 10 years. I want some recomendations
for a reasonably priced plane.

I was first thinking about a stanley plane, but all these numbers and
types of plane are a bit confusing. I just want a general purpose
plane (if there is such a thing).
Also, looking on the price of thes on amazon, they're in the region
of £50+ Draper ones are cheaper, any good?

Wickes do one for £15 and one for £20, are these completely useless.

I'd probably also need a good sharpenning stone and guide to sharpen
it, and my chiesels.

What about a power plane. Would it be a good alternative to a hand
plane or is it a completely different tool for a different job.

Thanks.

The Record plane from Screwfix http://tinyurl.com/dqqra for £22.49 is
probably ok - unless you want a much longer one.

You might also consider the Screwfix sharpening kit
http://tinyurl.com/7f8pf for £12.

A power plane is very useful for removing a lot of material - and is
particularly good on end grain - e.g. the ends of the uprights in an
internal door when planing some off to clear a carpet. However, it takes a
*lot* of practice to get a uniform flat finish with a power plane - and I
wouldn't want it to be my *only* plane.
--
Cheers,
Set Square
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

The jack plane is the basic first plane for general purposes. There is
a jack plane (no5) and a fore plane (no6) here and either would be good
but I prefer the one in between (no 5 1/2) which doesn't seem to be
available new;
http://www.toolfastdirect.co.uk/acat...d_Jointer.html
By the best you can afford but at a discount price if you can find one.
Plenty of bargains on ebay. Wouldn't bother with an electric hand plane
but they are useful for rough jobs such as fitting doors but you can
easily manage without one.
The plane recommended by Set Square is not a jack plane and not what
you need yet.

cheers

Jacob

Actually not that many on ebay but there's one here looks OK =A350 max?.
http://cgi.ebay.com/STANLEY-BAILEY-N...RKABLE-TOOL_W=
0QQitemZ4404347881QQcategoryZ29526QQrdZ1QQcmdZView Item
The Record 5 1/2 is a bit longer but also good.

J wrote:
I'm thinking of buying a good plane.

First thought - buy second-hand. Try e-bay.


Wickes do one for £15 and one for £20, are these completely useless.

If it's not cast iron, it most likely is. What will you use it for?
If you want a "general purpose" plane for ordinary D-I-Y use, a No. 4
1/2 Stanley is fine. The "biggest" plane you can use for the job is
best. I've got some "wooden" planes which are excellent, but if you
buy similar, you need to know how to use/set them up (this info. is
easily available). N.B. keep your planes sharp, and jealously guard
it from mucky jobs involving previously-sanded/painted/dirty surfaces
and so on.


I'd probably also need a good sharpenning stone and guide to sharpen it, and
my chiesels.

Use wet'n'dry and a flat surface such as a bit of melamine-coated
chipboard or even some float glass. P600 is fine for finish sharpening
(wet, better if paper has been used before).


What about a power plane. Would it be a good alternative to a hand plane or
is it a completely different tool for a different job.

Vicious abstrads, that have little use for d-i-y, although they seem
a good idea at first sight. OK if you want to whizz off a lot of waste
from your previous bodged work. Again, technique is everything. Mind
your bits'n'pieces, you can develop physical shortcomings easily.

On Thu, 08 Sep 2005 21:33:10 +0100, Chris Bacon
wrote:

J wrote:
I'm thinking of buying a good plane.

First thought - buy second-hand. Try e-bay.


Wickes do one for £15 and one for £20, are these completely useless.

If it's not cast iron, it most likely is. What will you use it for?
If you want a "general purpose" plane for ordinary D-I-Y use, a No. 4
1/2 Stanley is fine. The "biggest" plane you can use for the job is
best. I've got some "wooden" planes which are excellent, but if you
buy similar, you need to know how to use/set them up (this info. is
easily available). N.B. keep your planes sharp, and jealously guard
it from mucky jobs involving previously-sanded/painted/dirty surfaces
and so on.

....And definitely keep them away from any secondhand wood that might
have nails etc left in :-)

I still have a "Woden" jack plane that I received for my 12th birthday
- oooh - a while ago!

--
Frank Erskine

wrote:
Actually not that many on ebay but there's one here looks OK £50 max?.
http://[snip]

'Cutter width 2 2/3"' *What?*

You can buy some good tack on a car boot. Don't be afraid of paying a
fiver for a wooden jack if in good condition.

Draper is OK, Record and Stanley are all about the same but cost a
little more. For the sme money you can get an electric one. 240 V ones
are fairly cheap.

What do you need a plane for?

I have managed for years with a small hand plane (a smoothe) and an
electric one.

You also need a stone. Buy a diamond one and learn how to use it
properly. Use plenty of water with it. When choosing an electric one
you want to know if changing or sharpening the blades is the best for
you. I can grind and sharpen mine but I would be better off with
disposables these days.

I've considered the ebay option, but having never bought from ebay and not
used a plane in so long, I don't want to be cursing the dammed second hand
plane when it may be something i'm doing wrong.
Also, don't want to be thinking i'm doing something wrong, when it's the
damm second hand plane that's the problem.

I can see that would be very frustrating

If I find a seller with a high rating, I might risk it. But I really don't
want to chuck the thing in a drawere and curse it because I can't get it to
work for whatever reason.

J wrote:
I've considered the ebay option, but having never bought from ebay and not
used a plane in so long, I don't want to be cursing the dammed second hand
plane when it may be something i'm doing wrong.

Even a new plane will (probably) need sharpening and setting to your
task. There's *loads* of info on the 'Net - you don't even need to
buy a book! A *very* quick Google shows:

http://www.fine-tools.com/G10010.htm (Yank, "box" planes).
http://diytools.com/productTypes/1.asp?Guide=1 (loads of info.).
http://www.antiquetools.co.uk/norris.html (can't read, too ****ed-up).

Don't worry about e-bay, "ask the seller a question", if they don't
answer, don't buy. If their answer is not satisfactory, don't buy.
Don't rush, there're *loads* of opportunities. You can always leave
-ve feedback, look at their ratings to see how honest they are. If
they've got good feedback, & lots, they will want to preserve their
good record (!). Talk to people before you buy. Talk to them before
slagging then off, too!

Chris Bacon wrote:
wrote:
Actually not that many on ebay but there's one here looks OK =A350 max?.
http://[snip]

'Cutter width 2 2/3"' *What?*

2 3/8 I would have thought. 2 2/3 bit of a brute , perhaps not then!

J wrote:
I've considered the ebay option, but having never bought from ebay and not
used a plane in so long, I don't want to be cursing the dammed second hand
plane when it may be something i'm doing wrong.
Also, don't want to be thinking i'm doing something wrong, when it's the
damm second hand plane that's the problem.

I can see that would be very frustrating

If I find a seller with a high rating, I might risk it. But I really don't
want to chuck the thing in a drawere and curse it because I can't get it to
work for whatever reason.

Don't assume that a brand new plane will be nice and sharp and perfectly
set up - it won't (at least not at the price range you're looking).

IME a £10 Ebay Stanley plane will be considerably nicer than a brand new
Stanley. You just need to spend a bit of time setting it up.


--
Grunff

On Thu, 8 Sep 2005 19:59:33 +0100, "J" wrote:

I'm thinking of buying a good plane.

Search through rec.woodworking - a regular question.

Don't buy new Stanleys
Certainly don't buy new sub-Stanley brands.
If you want to buy an Anant, or anything with a folded steel base, then
go right ahead (and save some time by stopping reading now)

If you're just thinking of one plane, then get a block plane. Get the
Lee Valley low-angle block, to be precise. This is an excellent piece of
work and worth every penny.

As a bench plane, then second-hand Stanleys from eBay are the usual
recommendation. Get a #5 as a bench plane, then a #4 as a smoother.
Rec.wood will tell you how to tune them.

#4s are the woodworking equivalent of wire coathangers - they breed in
dark cupboards. Don't spend good money on one, as you'll pretty soon
have a boxful. A spare rough one is usefully converted to a scrub plane.

Read Jeff Gorman's website on planing. Also look on eBay for a cheap
little book called "Planecraft", a '60s handbook by Record.

If you're just thinking of one plane, then get a block plane. Get the
Lee Valley low-angle block, to be precise. This is an excellent piece of
work and worth every penny.

Can't agree with that. It may be an excellent plane but not as a first
or only one. This has to be a jack plane - about 15inches long and
about 2 7/8 wide - the industrial standard more or less. The Stanley or
Record 5 1/2 is ideal - perhaps old one 2nd hand. A low-angle block is
a specialised plane unsuitable for general work.
New Stanleys: I bought a new block plane (no number) as replacement for
a 220 missing which turned up later. It is quite inferior to the old
220 in various ways. I don't know if all new Stanleys are also inferior
but it looks likely.

cheers

Jacob

If you're just thinking of one plane, then get a block plane. Get the
Lee Valley low-angle block, to be precise. This is an excellent piece of
work and worth every penny.

Can't agree with that. It may be an excellent plane but not as a first
or only one. This has to be a jack plane - about 15inches long and
about 2 7/8 wide - the industrial standard more or less. The Stanley or
Record 5 1/2 is ideal - perhaps old one 2nd hand. A low-angle block is
a specialised plane unsuitable for general work.
New Stanleys: I bought a new block plane (no number) as replacement for
a 220 missing which turned up later. It is quite inferior to the old
220 in various ways. I don't know if all new Stanleys are also inferior
but it looks likely.

cheers

Jacob

Chris Bacon wrote:
good record (!). Talk to people before you buy. Talk to them before
slagging then off, too!

Agreed on that - if you are not happy with what you have bought then it
is well worth givin the seller the chance to make ammends - as they will
often be very accomodating if they think you are going to give them bad
feedback!

On 8 Sep 2005 23:55:37 -0700, wrote:

If you're just thinking of one plane, then get a block plane.

Can't agree with that. It may be an excellent plane but not as a first
or only one. This has to be a jack plane

Depends what you're doing with it. If you needed a jack plane, you'd
probably already have a #4. If you don't have any planes, know nothing
at all about planes, and clearly aren't intending on becoming a major
hand tool user overnight, then the chance is that what you will really
find useful to you is a block plane.

I agree completely with your point that the basic starter bench plane is
a #5 - but that's for someone wanting to begin benchwork, not someone
wanting to take a rough edge off plywood from a circular saw.

Andy Dingley wrote:
On Thu, 8 Sep 2005 19:59:33 +0100, "J" wrote:

I'm thinking of buying a good plane.

Search through rec.woodworking - a regular question.

Don't buy new Stanleys
Certainly don't buy new sub-Stanley brands.

It depends...
I've found the couple of planes that were bought from Aldi for 2.99 quite
handy.
Yes, they are cheap 1mm steel bodies.
However, this means that I diddn't worry overly about cleaning off the
cement from timber before planing it.
Wouldn't have done that with a stanley one.

Not to mention that adjusted right to one side, it'll cut nearly to one
corner.

However, a quality plane is a joy to use - you really need the mass of the
big plane (and of course the wood solidly clamped) for some tasks.

On 11 Sep 2005 11:32:06 GMT, Ian Stirling
wrote:

However, this means that I diddn't worry overly about cleaning off the
cement from timber before planing it.
Wouldn't have done that with a stanley one.

Surely a job for the Stanley #340 "furring plane" !


(ridiculously rare. About £500+ for one)

In article ,
Andy Dingley wrote:
On 11 Sep 2005 11:32:06 GMT, Ian Stirling
wrote:

However, this means that I diddn't worry overly about cleaning off the
cement from timber before planing it.
Wouldn't have done that with a stanley one.

Surely a job for the Stanley #340 "furring plane" !


(ridiculously rare. About £500+ for one)

BTW Does anyone know of a good site/book for advice on using and maintaining
the range of planes available?

--
John Cartmell john@ followed by finnybank.com 0845 006 8822
Qercus magazine FAX +44 (0)8700-519-527 www.finnybank.com
Qercus - the best guide to RISC OS computing

On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 09:54:43 +0100, John Cartmell
wrote:

BTW Does anyone know of a good site/book for advice on using and maintaining
the range of planes available?

Loads of them

http://www.amgron.clara.net/planingp...planeindex.htm

www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan0a.html

There are many other plane sites out there, including the Stanley plane
dating flowcharts (mostly US-only)

As to books, then look out for "Planecraft" (50s/60s by Record, couple
of quid off eBay) or Charles Hayward / Bob Wearing / Garrett Hack

In article , Andy Dingley
wrote:
On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 09:54:43 +0100, John Cartmell
wrote:

BTW Does anyone know of a good site/book for advice on using and
maintaining the range of planes available?

Loads of them

http://www.amgron.clara.net/planingp...planeindex.htm

www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan0a.html

Very many thanks for those.

There are many other plane sites out there, including the Stanley plane
dating flowcharts (mostly US-only)

As to books, then look out for "Planecraft" (50s/60s by Record, couple of
quid off eBay) or Charles Hayward / Bob Wearing / Garrett Hack

--
John Cartmell john@ followed by finnybank.com 0845 006 8822
Qercus magazine FAX +44 (0)8700-519-527 www.finnybank.com
Qercus - the best guide to RISC OS computing