Best Smoothing Plane Update

[Brian Kent]

Jim, you can also build an infill using the body of a #3, a blade purchased for under $40, some brass for the cap, and your favorite wood in the shop. When I made my "Stanley Infill" I followed the tutorial that Derek posted:

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMad..._smoother.html

Here's an inexpensive blade source:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...182,43698&ap=1

In my Stanley #3 infill, I confess that the hidden metal work was done with an angle grinder and files.

Brian

[Brian Kent]

It is great to get the wisdom of all of your experiences, combine it with reviews, your own research and hands-on tests, and with time and cost and availability…

…and choose your best smoothing plane for the kind of woodworking you do.

A13 Infill - Shop made
Bedrock 604C with aftermarket blade
Clark and Williams 2 1/4" Smoother
Krenov Style
Krenov Style - even with a big mouth
Krenov style Mesquite plane bedded at 55°
Lee Valley / Veritas #4-1/2
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Jack with 38° iron
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas BU Smoother (12 ° bed, 62 ° included angle)
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lie Nielsen 4-1/2
Lie Nielsen 4-1/2 (with Cocobolo!)
Lie Nielsen 4-1/2 with 45° and 55° Frog
Lie Nielsen 4-1/2 with 55° Frog
Lie Nielsen 5-1/2
Lie Nielsen 5-1/2
Lie Nielsen 5-1/2
Lie Nielsen Bronze #4 New Chip Breaker, HAF
Marcou BU15 (15 degree bed, 60 degree included angle)
Mathieson Infill
Mujingfang High Angle Smoother / Polish plane - 62° blade
Norris #5 -style Infill
Norris A5 - Pre-War
Record 4 1/2 with hock blade
Ron Brese Custom Infill
Stanley #3 Infill
Stanley #3 type 11
Stanley #3 with Hock blade
Stanley Keen Kutter - K4 with Hock Blade
Wards Master with Lee Valley O1 Iron
Winchester Sargent

[Chris Friesen]

Are you advocating that we buy the 50 degree bevel blade to get to the 62 degrees of cut?

The 50 degree blade is only really useful if you hollow grind then freehand hone. If you use a honing jig (and especially if you want to camber the iron slightly) then you're better off grinding at 25 degrees then putting a teeny little secondary bevel at whatever you want the final angle to be. The wood only cares about a very small area right at the cutting edge.

[Jim Paulson]

Thanks Chris,

Jim

[John Lytle]

I have a Ron Brese infill and a LN 4 1/2 and Ron's by far is my final smoother. I will get close with the LN, but the tighter mouth and a little extra heft to the Brese infill just gets it right.

John

[David Keller NC]

Brain - Just my $0.02. I have used:

Norris A6 (high-end collectible with original blade and untouched, so mouth not opened by lapping)
Norris A5 (ditto on condition comments as A6)
Norris 50G (basically a gunmetal version of the A5 with a steel sole)
Matheison straight-sided infill smoother - similar to Norris A6
Sauer&Steiner Norris A6 copy - 0.003" mouth, hock blade, 47.4 degree blade pitch
Lie-Nielsen 4-1/2 25th anniversary (gunmetal 4-1/2 w/ 50 degree pitch)
Lie-Nielsen #4 bronze w/ 45 degree and 50 degree frog
Lie-Nielsen #2 bronze
Lie-Nielsen LA smoother w/ 55 degree planing angle
Steve Knight wooden smoother with 60 degree blade pitch
Spiers unhandled coffin infill smoother - early model, about 1870
Marples beech coffin smoother, circa 1920's
Shop-made traditional coffin smoother, 50 degree blade pitch
E.W. Carpenter beech coffin smoother (american, approx. 1850)
Stanley #3 w/ Hock blade
Stanley #4 w/ Hock blade

Conclusion:

So long as you're using a domestic hardwood with straight (unfigured) grain, all of these perform pretty much equivalently, though the Stanleys are the biggest pain in the rear to use because of the slop in the mechanism.

On figured domestic wood such as high-figure tiger maple, the Norris and Sauer&Steiner perform best, as they produce no tear-out and are fairly easy to push with a lower cutting angle than the LA smoother or high-angle LN smoothers. The L-N high-angle frogs are the next best performers - principally because they're harder to push.

The next one on the list is the LN LA smoother. While it does prevent a lot of tear-out in figured grain, it's hard to push because of the high cutting angle, and it's also not all that versatile - it performs very well when 1 or 2 thousandths of an inch shavings are taken, but the cutting geometry tends to make it try to dive into figured grain when thicker shavings are asked for, which can lead to big ugly chunks taken out of the grain.

Finally, the normal-angle Stanelys, L-Ns and wooden smoothers bring up the rear - they work very well on well-behaved grain, but not so good in situations of planing against the grain or in figured grain.

[Terry Hatfield]

Mostly a power tool guy but this Type 2 Bedrock 604C is pretty sweet. Just feels so good in the hand and works even better. I restored it...er...over restored it a few years ago and added the LN A2 blade. Makes for a great smoother in my book. By FAR the best I've used.

[Brian Kent]

That is one sweet looking plane.

[Terry Hatfield]

That is one sweet looking plane.

Thanks Brian. I have a few Type 2's that I've restored. It was truly a labor of love.

t

[David Marcus Brown]

"Best" has not changed ... Marcou BU15 (15 degree bed, 60 degree included angle).



Almost its equal. Just an amazing plane for the money. Veritas BU Smoother (12 degree bed, 62 degree included angle) ..

Regards from Perth

Derek

Derek, where on your scale would you rank your LN 4-1/2 bronze? Have you tried it with a 55 degree HAF?

[David Weaver]

only a year plus behind.

Easiest to use, a house-built infill that's a lot like Brese's big smoothers (55 degrees, 3-4 thousandth mouth) - the iron and the lever cap are from brese, anyway. If it's sharp, it will pretty much cut anything. If it's dull, it will still cut most things. The mouth is small enough that you can't really ever get yourself into trouble. Plane any direction with it on most woods, against the grain feels a little different but the visual result is almost the same as planing with the grain.

For woods that are well behaved, any of the japanese smoothers with an iron that is designed to take a fine edge are really pleasant to use and make really excellent results.

I think everyone should make themselves an infill smoother or two, and a big heavy infill panel plane is useful when you order stuff that's supposed to be straight grained hardwood and it comes and isn't remotely close to straight.

[Tom Vanzant]

Definitely the Brese planes I had the pleasure of handling last fall... a "J" and the smaller two of Ron's new stainless family. Of my own planes, it would be a Stanley #3 and Bedrock #604, both fettled and fitted with Hock iron sets. I just wish the adjustments were a bit finer.

[David Marcus Brown]

Yeah, I'm a bit behind but I figured the questions were still valid.

[David Weaver]

No worries, i was referring to me with my year-plus behind in replying to the thread. I love the marcou smoother. I'd love to have one, but buying one wouldn't do great things for my marriage.

[David Marcus Brown]

Do you have any pics of the Brese-like plane that you built?