A powered planer can be used with quite a lot of finesse to flatten wide panels
or boards with a lot less sweat than hand planing.
Portable planers have short soles, however, and this will affect how flat and
straight you can make your edges and surfaces. Surfboard shapers pay
big bucks for an out-of-production SKIL planer with a longer sole.
Hand planes will frustrate the user who does not take the time to understand the
tools. You need to be able to put a very sharp edge on a plane blade to get
good results and not wear yourself out too much.
Still- hand-planing is hard work.
Get a 14" #5 Stanley Jack plane. Its all you really need to do good work
flattening panels, shooting edges, planing doors, etc. I don't use a block plane
much. I use a #4 for most finishing work including end grain and the #5 for
flattening boards.
I have about 20 planes and don't need most of them for most work.
SHarpening Your Plane Irons is All-Important
If you are just starting out... learn to sharpen your tools. This took me awhile.
Its second nature now... but if you sharpen with a wiggly wrist you will get rounded
bevels on your plane irons which is no good. Learn how to lock your wrists to
control the angle of sharpening, or use a guide.
Now I have an electric Makita waterstone sharpener with a 1000 grit wheel on
it. Its ideal for jointer and planer blades. It puts a real nice edge on a plane
iron as well. I follow up with a 6000 grit or 8000 grit hand-lapping on a waterstone.
Just starting out with sharpening? Put a white oxide wheel on a bench grinder and
get a 1000 ( or 800) grit waterstone and a 6000. That cool-running grinding wheel
will have you grinding square-cornered hollow bevels on your plane irons. Mine
is set up with an iron pipe serving as a tool rest for both wheels of the bench grinder.
The factory tool rest will undoubtedly suck, so don't expect to get clean bevels
with it.
Follow up with the two waterstones, and if youhave done your business correctly,
the edge will shave the hair off your arm with only the mildest feeling as the hairs
are cut. An 8000 grit stone will "scare" the hair off your arm, but I don't think
having the edge that sharp improves my woodworking. Its good for the ego though.
Leonard Lee wrote a really good book about sharpening. Available through Lee Valley
and other sources. I have used Brian Burns Double-Bevel method too, and its
good if you work with troublesome woods.
