# What hand plane for surface planing boards?



## Master of none... (Jan 25, 2012)

I was thinking of trying to find a plane (used one) so I could surface one face of a board before sending it through my planer. I don't do enough with large boards to justify a large jointer and you guys have made planes just seem like fun to work with so I want to try one out. I know nothing about hand planes so I was wondering what size plane I should be looking out for? A #5, #7, block, low angle? There seems to be endless choices out there! A couple options would be nice since I'll be looking at garage sales, flea markets and the like where options might be limited. 

Thanks for you help!


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

It partially depends on what you are jointing. There's no point in using a No 8 on a 6"x6" board... and on the flip side it's futile to attempt jointing a 12 foot long board with a block plane.

It's all about size. The longer/wider the plane then the flatter and more efficient the tool will be for flattening. Of course the sole has to be relatively flat as well. The longer the plane the longer the reference area. If you see a coopers wooden body jointer they are 4' plus long, mounted upside down on legs and truly the forefather to our modern power joiner design. This isn't practical to uses like a bench plane hence the manageable size of wooden joiner planes and iron Stanley joiner planes. 

I'm mainly familiar with the Stanley sizes so I'll be referencing them. Technically speaking No 7's & 8's are considered the jointers. You'll find wooden jointers a bit longer still though but they are lighter and hence still manageable. You CAN joint with a No 6 fore plane but it's on the smaller end of efficient. I did so for some time but always borrowed an 8 for bigger pieces. 

I'd suggest you find a 6,7 or 8 but keep in mind the larger the work the larger the plane. Wooden jointers are an option but I don't recommend you start with that as wooden planes can be a bit more difficult to tune and master for the uninitiated hand tooler.

Hopefully that helps.

As for the low angle option you mentioned, a low angle jointer is nice but it's only real advantage over the typical 30 deg plane is it's ability to cut highly figured woods more cleanly. You'd be a little more pressed to find a used one while the typical Stanley style planes are easy to find.

EDIT: Correction, the blade itself on your typical bench plane is near 45 degrees, referred to as "common pitch". I apparently had bevel angle on my mind when I wrote the above 30 deg and I want to clarify that.


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## CenCal_Sawyer (May 5, 2012)

What you're looking for is called a Jack plane or a Stanley No. 5. It's an aggressive open mouth plane that removes material very fast. The blade is not straight across but has an 8" radius and is the goto plane for the initial flattening phase.


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## Wrangler02 (Apr 15, 2011)

If I were to own one plane, it would be a #5 or Jack plane. It can be set up and used as a smoother, joiner or fore plane. I actually have and use two #5's. One is adjusted as a smoother with a fairly tight throat. The other is set with a wider throat to hog off material. I own a #2, #3, #4 1/2, and a #7; in addition to the 5's. I always grab one of the 5s first.


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## Lola Ranch (Mar 22, 2010)

M.O.N.,

If I am interpreting what you are trying to accomplish correctly, you want to flatten one side of a board enough so that when you run it through a surface planer it will come out fairly flat.

I run into the same problem with a 15" planer but only a 8" jointer and have to break out the hand planes to knock the high spots down with the help of a pair of winding sticks to sight across. 

My favorite plane for this purpose is a very old Stanley 6 because of the heft and width. I have my plane iron in the 6 ground slightly convex and I tend to attack the grain at a 45 degree angle and scrub the high spots down quickly. I mix in a little use some other planes, mostly a Stanley 3.

Sometimes the problem is that I have some figured grain am afraid that it might gets some chipout from the planer and I'll break out the hand planes to put the surface on the finished side of a plank. This is a much slower and careful procedure than prepping the back side of a board.

Others have mentioned a Stanley 5, which I own but seldom use. I bought it new back in the 70's. I just don't like the feel of it. 

Every plane I own has required tune up to some degree, including the ones I've bought new. You mentioned you know nothing about hand planes. I would recommend learning as much as you can or else your hand planing experience may be a bit frustrating. It was for me at first, until I took the time to learn how to get my irons really sharp, adjust the frog, hone the chip breaker and lap the sole. I'm still learning but my planes, for the most part. a pleasure to use. Then there is "technique", which is learned by doing and practice.

It is also very important to have your workpiece firmly secured to a heavy bench. If your work is moving around as you are trying to work on it, forget it. My bench is not expensive, has a homemade pipe clamp vise, but is very very heavy and does not move.

Good luck with your hand plane experience.

Bret


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## Hammer1 (Aug 1, 2010)

One of the first things to know is that you may not have to surface one face before going to the planer. If the board will lay on a flat surface and not rock if you push down on a corner, you may be good to go. For boards that are not relatively flat, you may only have to knock off some high spots, it isn't necessary to surface the entire face. With smaller lengths and pieces, you can build a planer sled. This allows you to place a rough board on the sled, shim under where necessary and allow the planer to do the work. Not something you can do easily with 16' pieces but fine for 4'. 

Some folks use a router jig to prep a flat surface. Two straight rails that a router with a large base plate will ride on. Work is placed between the rails. This type of jig can be great for establishing a flat surface even if you want to use a hand plane to finish the surface.

Flattening a face before planing is only one use for a jointer. In many woodworking operations you need a straight edge, whether it's for running against a fence or in gluing up panels. Feeding a board that does not have a straight edge against any fence can be very unsafe, not to mention inaccurate. 90% of the work my jointer does is edge work. I'm of the opinion a jointer may want to be the first power tool to own.

I no longer have a huge jointer. It's almost a given that for face surfacing, your jointer will never be big enough. I still flatten faces with my jointer regardless of how wide the board is. I remove the guard, run the board and then use a flush trimming router jig to finish off the uncut area. Simple fast and accurate. Then I go to the planer.


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## joesbucketorust (Dec 13, 2011)

All these suggestions and nobody told him to use a Stanley #40 or 40-1/2 scrub plane? The plane that was actually designed to quickly knock a side down to semi-flatness?


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

joesbucketorust said:


> All these suggestions and nobody told him to use a Stanley #40 or 40-1/2 scrub plane? The plane that was actually designed to quickly knock a side down to semi-flatness?


I don't have one, but think for accurate flattening of longer boards in preparation for a planer,the #40 at 9 1/2" long will be a challenge.


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

firemedic said:


> It partially depends on what you are jointing. There's no point in using a No 8 on a 6"x6" board... and on the flip side it's futile to attempt jointing a 12 foot long board with a block plane.
> 
> It's all about size. The longer/wider the plane then the flatter and more efficient the tool will be for flattening. Of course the sole has to be relatively flat as well. The longer the plane the longer the reference area. If you see a coopers wooden body jointer they are 4' plus long, mounted upside down on legs and truly the forefather to our modern power joiner design. This isn't practical to uses like a bench plane hence the manageable size of wooden joiner planes and iron Stanley joiner planes.
> 
> ...


+1 :thumbsup:

Keep your eyes on e-bay, that is where I got all my old Stanley's and with a bit of work they are as good as new.

This top was flattened with a #7 Stanley and touched up with a Veritas #4 1/2 smoothing plane. The first time it saw sandpaper was after the first WB finishing coat.


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## Wrangler02 (Apr 15, 2011)

WillemJM said:


> I don't have one, but think for accurate flattening of longer boards in preparation for a planer,the #40 at 9 1/2" long will be a challenge.


I agree totally. I have converted a Jack to use as a "Scub" or Fore Plane. The 19" length works well.


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

joesbucketorust said:


> All these suggestions and nobody told him to use a Stanley #40 or 40-1/2 scrub plane? The plane that was actually designed to quickly knock a side down to semi-flatness?


I hear ya Joe. I do think there is some disagreement in terms of method mostly due to conflicting terms used in the OP.

The title implies surface planing where the body suggest jointing. I'm assuming he wants to joint the board because he mentions not having a large enough power jointer. he also implies he's buying one plane to start with. Those assumptions may certainly be incorrect.

Here's my 2 cents on the scrub plane. It's fast and efficient on wasting material however it's size limits it's abilities for a jointing application. The jointer will be a be slower and would typically follow the scrub plane in the operation of prepping a board entirely with hand tools. That said if I had to lose one it would be the scrub plane. The end result will be slower to achieve however it would also be much flatter.

So my whole premise may be built on sand but there it is.


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## Lola Ranch (Mar 22, 2010)

If I were still making a living from being a woodworker, I wouldn't even consider surfacing lumber with a hand plane. I would simply order my lumber already thickness planed, surfaced and straight lined one edge. It adds a bit to the cost of the lumber but compared to the labor it saves it's dirt cheap.

The main reason to hand plane anything is because you want to. 

Bret


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Lola Ranch said:


> If I were still making a living from being a woodworker, I wouldn't even consider surfacing lumber with a hand plane. I would simply order my lumber already thickness planed, surfaced and straight lined one edge. It adds a bit to the cost of the lumber but compared to the labor it saves it's dirt cheap.
> 
> The main reason to hand plane anything is because you want to.
> 
> Bret


The OP said he can't justify a jointer, I have been there a long time ago.

Digressing a bit:

Personally, I prefer buying in the rough, and thickness plane and straight line myself. Taking care of my cutters, I always have a better finish and end up with a bit more thickness than lumber from the vendor. My cabinet maker friend, who never buys lots less than 1,000 bf, does the same thing.

One of the main reasons I hand plane, is accuracy and finishing. Can't get the same finish with power planing or jointing and sanding a power planed/jointed part loses accuracy, which can be important for some work.


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## Lola Ranch (Mar 22, 2010)

WillemJM said:


> The OP said he can't justify a jointer, I have been there a long time ago.
> 
> Digressing a bit:
> 
> ...


+1 here, all reasons for wanting to hand plane. Oh come on now though. your friend really hand planes 1000 ft lots of rough limber? I'd have to see this to believe it.

Bret


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Lola Ranch said:


> +1 here, all reasons for wanting to hand plane. Oh come on now though. your friend really hand planes 1000 ft lots of rough limber? I'd have to see this to believe it.
> 
> Bret


LOL

No, sorry I meant he does not buy milled sized lumber, he does that himself with a 11 employee shop and power machinery. Meaning he buys only rough lumber. 

By the way, he is my lumber source, because of his volume prices are below normal wholesale and he normally charges a small handling fee. I fringe when I see people paying $6 or higher for Walnut or Cherry.


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

WillemJM said:


> LOL
> 
> No, sorry I meant he does not buy milled sized lumber, he does that himself with a 11 employee shop and power machinery. Meaning he buys only rough lumber.
> 
> By the way, he is my lumber source, because of his volume prices are below normal wholesale and he normally charges a small handling fee. I fringe when I see people paying $6 or higher for Walnut or Cherry.


This is off subject but WOW! $6 for cherry??? I paid $2 a few weeks ago...


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## Benny Blanco (Apr 21, 2012)

Wrangler said:


> If I were to own one plane, it would be a #5 or Jack plane. It can be set up and used as a smoother, joiner or fore plane. I actually have and use two #5's. One is adjusted as a smoother with a fairly tight throat. The other is set with a wider throat to hog off material. I own a #2, #3, #4 1/2, and a #7; in addition to the 5's. I always grab one of the 5s first.


 I use the same system, a pair of 5s first, then the big ones.
Seems to go a lot faster that way.


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

firemedic said:


> This is off subject but WOW! $6 for cherry??? I paid $2 a few weeks ago...


That sure is the exception to the rule.
What grade?

I got 8/4 for around $3.60 the last time, FAS and better. This is not the Cherry you buy retail, it is deep red.

I guess we are jacking the thread a bit.:boat:


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## Grandpa's old tools (Apr 17, 2012)

Interesting thread...


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## Master of none... (Jan 25, 2012)

firemedic said:


> I do think there is some disagreement in terms of method mostly due to conflicting terms used in the OP.
> 
> The title implies surface planing where the body suggest jointing. I'm assuming he wants to joint the board because he mentions not having a large enough power jointer. he also implies he's buying one plane to start with. Those assumptions may certainly be incorrect.


Sorry for any confusion but you are right in your assumptions. I'm looking to joint the surface of a board before sending it through a planer. I'm just a hobbyist woodworker so I'm not too worried about speed and efficiency. Right now I'm just looking for a way to utilize some rough lumber I already have and thought it would be a great excuse to dabble in hand planes which have always intrigued and intimidated me.

Thanks for all the replies so far, if nothing else I have realized I have a lot to learn about planes! If the hand plane turns out to be more fun, I may end up surfacing with one at some point. I have to start somewhere though!


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## Benny Blanco (Apr 21, 2012)

It doesnt take too long to get the hang of it, just start planing boards. After some time, getting a surface flat goes faster then you might think.


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