Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey guys,

I dont have a good plane and will be starting my first build soon. I have a thickness sander so I dont know if that changes what planes I should purchase. I was looking into getting a low angle jack plane and a 60 block plane.

My questions are: is there a plane style I can purchase Lie-Nielsen blade for and do you feel those two planes are the most common for a build. I was going to contact supertool.com and antique-used-tools.com to see if they had anything I could use. I was trying to stay away from ebay because I dont exactly know what to look for.

thanks as always
matt

I have a Lie Nielsen Low Angle Jack, and it is really really smooth for doing tops, when you get them real thin, you use the thickness sander for the last .030 of thicknessing. I also have a toothed blade for backs and sides. Veritas also has a low angle jack plane, you might save $40.00 on ebay. Both are really really nice out of the box. I get really super nice shavings off my tops with the Low angle jack!

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I

My problem is at this time I cant afford new LN planes so I was wondering if there is a different plane I can stick an LN plane blade into. Or is that just a stupid idea?

thanks
matt

I bought 4 relatively inexpensive Anant planes from Highland Hardware. I tuned up the bodies and replaced the chipbreakers and irons with those made by Ron Hock (google him) and these planes are now as good a plane can be. The upgrade cost under $100 and a lot of elbow grease to true up the soles and sides.

And BTW...I use the original crap irons for heavy scraping work...they are some of my favorite and more effective side scrapers.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

LN makes a whole series of Stanley Replacement irons... A quick trip to LN's website will help you ferret out which specific ones are supported. You should be OK with most all of the Stanley/Bailey pattern bench planes that take 2" or 2 1/2" irons... but you can run into trouble with the Block planes.. as there were 10,000 different slight variations of irons thru the year.

One word from my own experience...
Unless the stock Iron is seriously damaged or has had the heat treating ruined... it will serve you pretty well as-is. It may take a bit more frequent sharpening than the LN A2 irons, but those old High Carbon Steel irons cut well and are also far more forgiving of poor sharpening technique.

When buying a Refurb plane from a reputable vendor... You already get an Iron in good shape and basically only needing touching up from shipping... Literally any properly set up Stanley pattern plane will give you years of good service in its stock configuration.

If you really do want to improve the performance over what you can get stock, I would personally spend the money on replacing the Chip Breakers (rather than the irons) with the thicker, stiffer Hock units. These really cut down on flex and most of the chatter which makes cutting more difficult... and the planes I have done this with have run better than when new... even with their old stock irons.

Thanks

John

Then go with Ebay used Stanley Jack plane #5, BUT, you need to get a good one you dont have to fool with. So post your pick here and we might be able to help pick a good one! And shop ebay vicariously through you!

_________________
Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I

I was given a used number 4 and 5 old(not sure how old) plane. I took some pictures of the number 5. Let me know what you think? Everything seems to function pretty well. Is it worth putting an LN or Hock blade in.

Here is the number 4. Let me know what you think. I have not heard of many people using a number 4 for building. Much less rust probably a much newer model. The blades are the same size so if I wanted I could buy one good blade LN replacement, and change the bevel on these.
I still do not have a low angle block plane. Or a toothing blade.
thanks again
matt

You really should just try out those planes before you go spend a pile of cash on new irons.... I bet you will find that those irons are good quality and cut just fine!

Toothing irons are very easy....

Go over to your local Home Depot or Lowes. Buy a Cheap replacement iron. (They run about $4.00)

Take your Dremel with a thin cutting wheel and carefully cut 1/8" deep slots every 1/16" or so across that iron. Don't worry about precision here.. you just need a whole bunch of slots... Cut with very little pressure so you don't burn the steel... You don't want to see it changing colors as you cut... This operation is easy if you let the wheel do the work.

Now, sharpen it up to razor sharp per your usual technique... and you have a $4.00 Toothing iron that will cut with the best of them!

Personally, I use the Toothing iron in the #5 and the Standard iron in the #4 when I am manually thinning plates and such...

I don't recommend swapping the toothing iron and standard iron back and forth in the same plane, as toothing requires a very wide open mouth to clear those thick shavings, while the smoothing iron needs a much tighter mouth so it doesn't tear out....

Thanks

John

Use marker on the sole, 80-100 grit wet dry, and a flat surface, it has to be the flatest thing you can find, and see how flat it is. That is more important than a Hock blade! Youtube 'Tuning a hand plane'.

I agree you should try it out first before you start buying better blades. Clean that rust off also! Sounds like you got a good deal!

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I

Thanks for the advise. I was thinking of using thick plate glass with sandpaper (crazy sharp or what ever its called) this way I know it is flat.

After I fix them up I'll see how they are.

Should I still get a low angle block plane?

A small block plane is a must. The crazy sharp is for the blade, you still need to flatten the sole and at least one side for the shooting board. That is the most important, even if you leave a small hollow, it needs to be flat at the sides, front and right in front of the blade. Fun fun fun! Thats why its nicer to buy a Lie Nielsen out of box. But its not to bad if your in good health, just some muscle and some wet dry.

_________________
Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I

It also looks like they knew how to sharpen a blade! These look like a good find!

_________________
Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I