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Thread: #3 vs. #4 bench plane

  1. #1

    #3 vs. #4 bench plane

    I'm planning to buy a WoodRiver bench plane but am a little undecided between a #3 and #4. I already have a couple of block planes that I like and a #5 jack plane, so this will fill the gap between them. I don't have a Woodcraft store near me, otherwise I would just go and see which one feels right. Any advice?

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Get a No. 4. 3's are a great size, but if you have large hands they can be a little cramped behind the handle. Plus I just subjectively feel that the No. 4 is the perfect all around size smoother. It's got enough weight to plow through hardwoods and difficult grain, but its small enough that you can still smooth a surface pretty easily that isn't dead flat.
    Woodworking is terrific for keeping in shape, but it's also a deadly serious killing system...

  3. #3
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    I'd say it depends mostly on your hand size. Giant mitts may have trouble with a 3, and tiny hands might be overwhelmed by a 4 for smoothing. I have average size hands, and I have a few of each of the #3 and #4 in old Stanley Baileys, and I reach for both sizes about equally as often. I use the different sizes depending on the scale of work I'm doing, or if one happens to be sharper than the other, or if one is closer to me when I need it, or if I just feel like using a low knob/high knob plane, or...

    Cliff notes: doesn't matter much.

  4. #4
    I'd also get a #4. There's probably a good reason you see more of them than anything else. I've been through just about everything stanley, LV and lie nielsen have to offer (except I've never used a #1....and have no interest in it either), and the 4 is by far my favorite smoother to use.

  5. #5
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    A matter of preference but I'd go with the 4.

  6. #6
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    Another vote for #3

  7. #7
    i have a couple #3's (Stanley and LV small BU smoother). I love them, but the narrow base make them a little tricky for smoothing larger things. I just like them because they can be used like large block planes. If you are looking for a strict smoother, i'd pick a #4. Even for the small handed, #4's are not heavy. Further, smoothing isn't as sweaty work as flattening and thicknessing.

  8. #8
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    My vote is on the #3.

    My reason is if you purchase a plane at a yard sale or flea market it will likely be a #4. The #3 is rare out in the wild.

    My current set up is one #3 in my shop and three #4s. For small work, the #3 is often my choice. The #4s also get a lot of work.

    If a #3 popped up at a yard sale or other venue at a decent price, it would be invited to come home with me.

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

  9. #9
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    My #3s are getting most of the work. A Union #3, A Millers Falls #8, and even a Handyman#1203. I do have (at last rollcall) four #4 smoothers. Been wanting to try out a Union #5A as a panel smoother. Might do it this weekend...

  10. #10
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    I don't really have enough experience to give a reasoned preference, but I did just want to note that Old Street Tool and other wooden plane makers use a 1-5/8 to 1-3/4 iron in a smaller smoother which is close to a #3. (They also use a 55° angle, but that is another story). So, smaller smoothers seem to have a place in the world.
    Old age can be better than the alternative.

  11. #11
    It depends on how you use your smoother. I don't think most people would be very happy with a smoother of that size for general furniture work when something else is available.

    There is a difference in philosophy between how Warren Mickley has described smoothing (straight through strokes on a surface), and IIRC Larry described historically accurate smoothing as being more of a spot removal issue, at least sometimes.

    Most users are practicing something much closer to what Warren describes. The last time I saw warren mention anything, it was a plain stanley #4 - a plane he won a WIA smoothing contest with against a quantity of very expensive planes.

  12. #12
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    I have vintage Stanleys in both #3 & #4 sizes. Others have said to get the #4 if you have "large hands" or "giant mitts". I would offer a different take on it. I say that unless you have "small hands" or at least "smaller than average" hands that you get the Stanley Bailey #4. The #4 design is shear perfection. Oh sure, Lie Nielsen, Lee Valley, and others have tweeked Bailey's design a bit here and there, but the basic size, shape, & configuration has remained the same since 1869. Yes, of course the #3 has also been made since 1869 and yes companies have reproduced tweeked versions of the #3 as well. But not as many and not as often.

    In goldilocks terms the #4 seems to be "just right". It is big enough to cover a surface without wearing you out, while still small enough to work on small things quite well. It seems to me that the #3, with a 1/4" smaller iron (6.25%) and a 12.5% smaller footprint, has always been meant for smaller work or smaller hands.

    Personally, I use both. But I use them for different things. In fact I have them set up quite differently. The #4 is my go-to plane for general smoothing (I also have a 4 1/2 that I use for larger projects, but that is a whole other thread discussion) while I use the #3 for edge smoothing. My #4 iron is honed straight across except for a small and extremely slight upturn at the edges to minimize ridging. The iron on my #3 is honed with a very very mild camber. For whatever reason, this seems to produce a better edge on my workpieces. BTW, if someone knows why this is so, I would love to hear it.

    Well, anyway, that is my take on the 3 - vs - 4 controversy.
    "I've cut the dang thing three times and it's STILL too darn short"
    Name withheld to protect the guilty

    Stew Hagerty

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Stew Hagerty View Post
    The #4 design is shear perfection.
    I hesitated to call it a genius design since I've done so so many times in the chipbreaker threads, but it really is just that. It is an absolutely genius design, and the reputation that it's ever gotten for being only for rough use or easy woods is purely because we seem to know less on average about using tools than people did when it was developed.

    In almost every single instance where someone asks what plane they need to get to work a given wood, the answer is that you can figure out how to do it with a #4 faster than any new tool will arrive at your front door.

  14. #14
    My hands are on the large side, so it sounds like the #4 would be the best choice. I was leaning that way anyway, but I wanted to get a few opinions. Thanks!

  15. #15
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    What a diverse bunch. I use a 3 for shaping, a 4 for smoothing, but a bit heavier cut and a 4.5 for fine smoothing.

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