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Thread: #5 or #6 as Fore Plane?

  1. #1
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    #5 or #6 as Fore Plane?

    Thanks to the wise advice in this forum I am currently rehabbing two old Stanleys: a #4 and a SW #7. I narrowly missed a bedrock 606c last night and have been waffling between a #5 and #6 to use as a fore plane. Thoughts? The first task of the aforementioned plane will be primary flattening of the top to the Roubo workbench I have in the works. Any insight is much appreciated.

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Either will work, but I'd go for the #6. Put a camber on the iron and you'll be able to remove substantial shavings.

  3. #3
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    The #5 and the #6 are two very different planes.

    For bench top flattening, the #5 would likely become tedious.

    The #6 is 3/8" wider in the blade and 4" longer. That is a lot more mass and blade to work on the top.

    You might even want to look for a #4-1/2 to do the smoothing.

    jim
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  4. #4
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    Just missed the #5...looks like I'm holding out for the #6, which had been my first choice before the #5 came up.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Charlie Gummer View Post
    Thanks to the wise advice in this forum I am currently rehabbing two old Stanleys: a #4 and a SW #7. I narrowly missed a bedrock 606c last night and have been waffling between a #5 and #6 to use as a fore plane. Thoughts? The first task of the aforementioned plane will be primary flattening of the top to the Roubo workbench I have in the works. Any insight is much appreciated.

    Thanks!
    Go for the No. 6. Since I got mine a few months ago, I've barely picked up a No. 5. It's a good choice for what you have in mind, and you'll find plenty of other work for it.

    Jim

  6. #6
    I have used both a #5 and a #6 as a fore plane and both have noteworthy drawbacks.

    The #5 in my opinion is a little too short. It will work, and it's weight is good for a fore plane, but a longer plane helps with flattening tasks. The narrower iron of the #5 is an advantage in a fore plane, however, as it requires much more effort to take the thick shaving a fore plane is designed to take with the wide iron of a #6.

    The #6 on the other hand is a great length for a fore plane, but it's way too heavy. Set up to take a thick shaving, a #6 will wear you out after just a few minutes. In my opinion, the iron is also too wide and requires too much effort to be effecient when set up with a heavy camber for a thick cut.

    If I had to choose between a #5 and #6 for a fore plane, I'd take the #5. While I feel it's shorter length is a disadvantage for planing furniture sized stuff, the narrower iron and significantly lighter weight win out for taking thick shavings. The #6 is just too blasted heavy for doing the heavy rough work a fore plane is designed for.

    If you are going to set the plane up as a true fore plane (i.e. heavy camber to the iron, set to take a thick shaving), let me suggest an alternative; a wooden fore plane, about 16-18" long. The wooden fore plane really is the best of both worlds for this task. It has the length of a #6 but the weight and iron width of a #5. You get the advantages of both planes, without any of the disadvantages. Mouth opening is irrelevant as well because you really want a wide mouth for this plane to prevent the thick shavings from jamming the throat. I fully understand the preference for metal planes in jointers and smooth planes, but for a fore plane, it's really hard to beat a good wooden plane. Look for something about 17-18" with an iron of about 2" wide.

  7. #7
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    A number 6 is too heavy? I suppose you're one of those people[0] who also follows the directions on heavy boxes about team-lifting and safety. Talk like that just slows you down! If I[1] want my 41" tool chest in the basement and the only person who can help me is SWMBO, well, I just have to do it myself.

    [0] Someone who has grown up and is more careful with their joints, muscles, and stupid exertion.

    [1] Someone who is still young, stupid, and still mostly 'invincible'. Can also be found thinking aloud, "I wonder how my 8 would work if I replaced the knob and tote with a heavier infill-like piece. . . "

  8. #8
    If you didn't already have a #7, I'd say a #6 is a better choice for flattening. But your #7 will do a good job flattening a bench.

    I think #7 --> #5 --> #4 would be a good progression for getting yr bench into spec.

  9. #9
    I live in a very plane-rich environment, just downriver of New Britain, and just upriver of New Haven. Union, Stanley, Sargent, flooded the area with planes everywhere. It's like looking for minie balls at Gettysburg. Miller's Falls, MA is about two hours away. Jack planes are practically falling out of trees. They're a dime a dozen. The only thing that's more plentiful is cheapie block planes. I've seen scads of transitionals and coffin smoother planes too, but the problem with all of them is that while you can leave an old Jack #5 in the garage and clean it up after forty years, you can't do that with a Jill. The wood just doesn't hold up to the abuse, and what's worth having that's left over is snapped up by people in the know. The alternative is to make your own wooden plane, but someone who's just starting out doesn't want to be fooling around with that.

    My advice is be patient and a #5 will turn up. It's harder to find a #6. That said, I love my #6. Yes, it's heavy, but not as heavy as a #7 or #8. Very handy for those shorter jointing projects where you need something to be flat, but it's not a door or long table top.

    I have a couple of jacks. One is set up for finer stuff, the other for horking stuff off sort of like a scrub plane. I like using the latter for cupped boards. Once you get the edges mostly knocked off with the jack by going against the grain, you can start going diagonally with the #6. If the board is long, like the side of a book case, you can finish up making it flat with the grain with a #7 (don't have) or a #8.

    Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by
    [1
    Someone who is still young, stupid, and still mostly 'invincible'. Can also be found thinking aloud, "I wonder how my 8 would work if I replaced the knob and tote with a heavier infill-like piece. . . "
    Me to a T...mostly. I masquerade as an engineer by day but definitely have my 'it sounded like a good idea at the time' moments. I'd also replace 'invincible' with 'resilient'.

    I average 5 days/week at the gym, hopefully that'll pay off for using the heavier plane.

  11. #11
    Charlie:

    I have a pre-war Stanley #6 set up with a 10-inch radius camber on the blade and a 35d microbevel. Just used it to flatten a very out-of-flat 10 ft x 25 inch white oak bench top. It did a beautiful job. It was work, to be sure, because I had to go over the bench about 6 times each way (traversing the wood at between a 90d and a 45d angle rather than going with the grain is the way to go). I wouldn't consider using a 5 for that job or any other serious fore-planing. A 5 1/2 might do, but I have mine dedicated to a schuting board, though.

  12. #12
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    8-10" camber blade on a Stanley #6C, type 10-11 with corrugated sole would be my preferred choice. It's a reasonable balance between weight and size. Having said that, I think I'll make a Krenov-style foreplane that's about 18" length and 2" blade one of these days. The standard #6 blade is a little too wide for a foreplane.

    For flattening the bench top, I'd use my #5-1/2C followed by my #7.
    Last edited by Tri Hoang; 02-15-2010 at 4:10 PM.

  13. #13
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    I agree with Tri - to get it initially flat, I think you have to do a little carving on high spots with a shorter plane and a straight edge. After that, use your #7 and flatten it. The only other advise I can give would be to try and stay away from pushing the plane off the edges (at least for 90% of the task) because it will always take area there. Register your #7 across two or three egges and remember that slight hollows are better than bumps when it comes to flattening. At least that was advise given to me and the experience I had in flattening mine.

  14. #14
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    As usual an outstanding amount of information, thank you all!

    Is it commonly recommended to 'traverse' initially when flattening a laminated top? I believe I read in Schwarz's book to traverse initially with the fore plane and then follow with the jointer at a 45* angle.

    I'm going to cheat a bit and glue the top in 3 or 4 sections with a fewer number of boards, plane the glued up sections with my DW735 lunchbox and then handplane the entire assembly.

  15. #15
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    I have to agree with Bob regarding the wooden fore plane. Since I don't have one... Yet, I use my #6 a lot, in fact, that is the plane I use the most, I,m a big guy so can work it all day without to much problems. I like my #8 a lot but that is an other topic.
    So I suggest you to go with the #6 and put a good camber on the Iron, like a 8" rad., we are not talking scrub plane here!

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