Which plane do I buy, the LN No. 5 or a 5 1/2 ?

[gary Zimmel]

Good pick on the 5 1/2 Robert. Won't be long and I bet a left and right 140 will be on order.

[jamie shard]

Yeah, you'll enjoy the 5.5! If you want to get obsessed with planing, consider getting the charlesworth videos on planes. It will help you get every thousandth of an inch of performance out of the tool.

[Mike Brady]

Unless you get it real sharp and cut yourself with it.

Why do you want two #140's

R & L, I would guess.

[Robert Miller]

Yeah, you'll enjoy the 5.5! If you want to get obsessed with planing, consider getting the charlesworth videos on planes. It will help you get every thousandth of an inch of performance out of the tool.

I think it will be the right choice,I have both DVD's. Really great instruction.

[Robert Miller]

Unless you get it real sharp and cut yourself with it.

Why do you want two #140's

LN makes both a right and left handed version. If I'm planing end grain, and the grain is going the other way( I'm left handed) you use one or the other. You don't HAVE to have both, but it's the plane obsession thing again.

[John A. Callaway]

I cherish my 5&1/2 ... very much. I bought the 55 degree high angle frog too... you have to take really, REALLY thin shavings on things like curly and bird's eye ... and the hope chest i am currently building is cased in sapele... it doesn't like any plane I own, set up any different way. It just wanted to tear out. but for straight grained wood, you cant ask for a better tool.

[Chris Fournier]

The LN 140 was the first of their planes that I bought, rarely used and finally sold. This thing is a clunker compared to the other block planes that they offer. It didn't even feel good in the hand.

Oh you want to use it to field raised panels you say? Uh huh. The skewed blade gives a better cut... any block plane blade can be skewed by the operator and in either direction.

If you want a LN block plane I highly recommend the 102/103 and the rabbet block. These planes carry their weight and are well worth the money.

The 10 1/4 bench rabbet will field panels and is another plane worth having as it is a bit of a jack of all trades and can be used as a smoother.

[Tri Hoang]

A #5-1/2 is a good size for jointing/shooting tasks. I'm not sure I'd like it as a fore or smoothing plane, though. It's workable but not ideal. A #4/#3 would be better sizes for smoothing.

[Mike Brady]

Chris Fournier commented: "The LN 140 was the first of their planes that I bought, rarely used and finally sold. This thing is a clunker compared to the other block planes that they offer. It didn't even feel good in the hand."

Chris: I have to disagree with you here. Did you give the 140 a chance? You said it was your first plane from LN and it is more complicated than their other block planes; but, I find it very valuable because of the skewed blade and fence. The 140 can be configred for any block planing task. The drawbacks are that you may require both versions and the honing (for me) required the skewed blade attachment for the Veritas Mk II guide. The plane I use the least now is the rabbet block plane because it is a comparitively coarse tool and does not perform particularly well cross grain for tenon trimming. The skew block is much better at that. The fence allows really nice rabbets, where the plain rabbet block needs a straight edge clamped to the work and the optional spur to do that job. If I has to give up a block plane, the 60-1/2 would be the one, since its stablemates can outperform it function-for-function.