A Few Questions -- Planes and chisels

[mouppe]

LN or LV is not an either/ or choice. I prefer the LV router plane, spokeshaves, shoulder plane and plough plane but I prefer the LN bench planes.

I don't have any skew or fishtail planes and don't miss them. I do, however, have a 1/8" LN chisel to get into the corners when I need to. I think I may grind an old chisel into a skew shape one day.

There's no "best" block plane- just what you yourself prefer. As I said before, I like the LN 102 and have a low angle and a standard angle blade for it. I use my LV Veritas adjustable block plane for the crap stuff like plywood!

Likewise, a smoothing plane is an evolving choice. I started with a #4 because what I read pointed me in that direction, but over time I have come to prefer a 5 1/2. Now I use my #4 for general bench work.

I use my LN low angle jack on a shooting board, for preliminary board flattening, planing a straight edge when the board is not that long,  sometimes for smoothing on softwoods...but I would have bought the jack rabbet if it was available at the time. Then again, I would go for the LV jack rabbet over the LN jack rabbet...more features.

At the end of the day, these hand tools overlap each other a lot, so much comes down to the way you prefer to work. Sometimes you just reach for the nearest tool because it's the only sharp one left.

 

[butzla]

Hey Daniel,  RE: LA jack planes.  I have the L-N which is great but if I had to do it over again I'd go with L-V.  if you ever get into shooting end grain,  Lee Valley's has a little beefier sides that are less prone to tipping and a very nice "dimple" depression in the sides that your thumb fits nicely into. 

 

[kfitzsimons]

You actually have a great opportunity April 5 & 6 to attend a Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event in Cincinnati. There you can try out every tool L-N makes and the L-N crew will help you pick out the tools you need. It's a really fun event. Blue Spruce, Drake, Daed, and several other tool makers are there. You'll learn a ton and have a great time. It's at the offices / shop of the Popular Woodworking magazine. It might be a several hour drive from northern Indiana, but it's worth it.

 

[Runhard]

I ordered the LN 60-1/2 low angle adjustable mouth plane an LV large router plane plane with fence. I hade the LN no.4 bronze smooting plane in my shopping cart, but decided to take it out at the last second. I will try these out for a while and go from there.

Thanks for the help,

Daniel

 

[sgryd]

Haha, I did the exact same thing when I ordered my 60 1/2. Had the #4 bronze in the shopping cart, but lifted it out just before ordering. Today I ordered the smaller 102 bronze and did the same thing again - lifted the #4 out. The L-N bronze planes are so beautiful and nice. I can't see myself resisting the #4 many days more [tongue]. I'll just stop spending money on food for a couple of weeks and then I can order "my precious"..

 

[Runhard]

Haha, I did the exact same thing when I ordered my 60 1/2. Had the #4 bronze in the shopping cart, but lifted it out just before ordering. Today I ordered the smaller 102 bronze and did the same thing again - lifted the #4 out. The L-N bronze planes are so beautiful and nice. I can't see myself resisting the #4 many days more [tongue]. I'll just stop spending money on food for a couple of weeks and then I can order "my precious"..

That's funny  [laughing]
I placed a Festool order too, so I didn't want to go overboard. I'm sure I will get the LN #4 bronze soon. 

 

[tiralie]

Hey Daniel,  RE: LA jack planes.  I have the L-N which is great but if I had to do it over again I'd go with L-V.  if you ever get into shooting end grain,  Lee Valley's has a little beefier sides that are less prone to tipping and a very nice "dimple" depression in the sides that your thumb fits nicely into.  

Jim:
Did you get the "hotdog" with the L-N? I have never used my L-N to shoot end grain so I can't comment but when I bought mine it came with that attachement.
Tim

 

[GhostFist]

I recommend chris schwartz' anarchist tool chest

 

[GregBradley]

The viewpoint of a mostly Festool power tool user is that you do want a plane or two or three. Lie Nielson is mostly a company that continues the tradition of the Stanley Planes made as well or better than Stanley made them in the "good old days". Lee Valley is making planes of the same quality with less regard to following the traditions. If there is a better way to do it, they generally move in that direction.

In the ultra small low angle block plane, I prefer the LN 102 over the LV apron plane.

In the full size low angle block plane the LV DX60 is just an amazing piece of technology. It is superior to the LV Low Angle Block Plane, which has some technological advantages over the LN 60 1/2. I actually went with the NX60 Nickel verson of the DX60 which is crazy expensive but really, have you seen it? WOW.

You can't go far wrong sticking with either company but I prefer to take advantage of the strong points of each company.

 

[Rickfisher]

I think that as anyone moves into hand planes or chisels, the first priority is sharpening. 

A few chisels and a selection of good stones is more useful than a set of the finest chisels and no way of sharpening them ..

Good chisels hold an edge longer than cheap ones.  Often an a whole bunch longer. 

I would suggest you obtain a 1000 x 4000 x 8000 set of stones at the bare minimum and spend as much time as possible sitting in front of the TV practising sharpening.  Truly sharp hand tools are amazing to use..  They take woodworking to the next level .. 

On the planes..  I have 6 x Veritas planes and a couple Lie Nielsen.  Quality of both is outstanding ..  Lee Valley tends to be a bit more advanced, Lie Nielsen are stunningly beautiful and absolute top quality.  There is no bad choice. 

 

[McNally Family]

I think that as anyone moves into hand planes or chisels, the first priority is sharpening. 

A few chisels and a selection of good stones is more useful than a set of the finest chisels and no way of sharpening them ..

Good chisels hold an edge longer than cheap ones.  Often an a whole bunch longer. 

I would suggest you obtain a 1000 x 4000 x 8000 set of stones at the bare minimum and spend as much time as possible sitting in front of the TV practising sharpening.  Truly sharp hand tools are amazing to use..  They take woodworking to the next level .. 

On the planes..  I have 6 x Veritas planes and a couple Lie Nielsen.  Quality of both is outstanding ..  Lee Valley tends to be a bit more advanced, Lie Nielsen are stunningly beautiful and absolute top quality.  There is no bad choice.

This is a rather old thread (2013), but it really hits the nail on the head when it comes to the path I am currently on.  Having just finished purchasing the essentials of the Shapton sharpening system, I am now looking to purchase a decent set of chisels, and then hand planes.  I did not want to go any further until I had a system in place to sharpen hand tools, as nothing is worse than a dull edge while woodworking.    While I make my chisel and hand plane choices, I am busy refining my sharpening skills on our kitchen cutlery, which which was in desperate need of sharpening. 

 

[ear3]

Good luck!

Reading over this thread, i feel grateful that people on the FOG took time to answer the almost exact same set of entry level hand plane questions I posted over the past year, despite many of the same people having already posted essentially the same answers in this thread.

 

[HarveyWildes]

...  While I make my chisel and hand plane choices, I am busy refining my sharpening skills on our kitchen cutlery, which which was in desperate need of sharpening.

Points with the cook for sure .  If you do the cooking, it is oddly self-serving.

 

[derekcohen]

Reading through this thread, if I had been present to reply to the OP, I would have advised him to design something to build before buying more tools. He was more focussed on buying the perfect tool without understanding what make it so. Plus he had more than sufficient tools, but was afraid of using them in case they were damaged!

My advice to those starting out with handtools is to purchase adequate but not excellent chisels. Learn to sharpen them, discover what will damage them, master the techniques of use ... and then buy the chisels of your dreams. For example, a small set of Narex is a far better incentive to dive in than a set of Blue Spruce, which look great in the cabinet (BS are excellent chisels, by the way).

This is not a rail at premium tools - I own and use them - but a recognition that many newbies want to start out with a full tool chest of the best, which is fine if all you plan to do is look at them. They are not the tools to learn on.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[ear3]

Good advice, especially about the damaging part.  I was chopping out a mortise on a board last year, and wasn't paying close enough attention when I hit a screw (with not one but two mallet strikes) and chipped the hell out of the edge on my chisel (i wasn't making furniture -- rather the board was recycled from my lumber pile for a utilitarian purpose).  Fortunately it was just a Narex, otherwise I would have broke down crying.  And after an hour with the coarse diamond stone I had learned how to restore a damaged edge!

Reading through this thread, if I had been present to reply to the OP, I would have advised him to design something to build before buying more tools. He was more focussed on buying the perfect tool without understanding what make it so. Plus he had more than sufficient tools, but was afraid of using them in case they were damaged!

My advice to those starting out with handtools is to purchase adequate but not excellent chisels. Learn to sharpen them, discover what will damage them, master the techniques of use ... and then buy the chisels of your dreams. For example, a small set of Narex is a far better incentive to dive in than a set of Blue Spruce, which look great in the cabinet (BS are excellent chisels, by the way).

This is not a rail at premium tools - I own and use them - but a recognition that many newbies want to start out with a full tool chest of the best, which is fine if all you plan to do is look at them. They are not the tools to learn on.

Regards from Perth

Derek