LV Plow plane or skew plane?

[Chris Atzinger]

Hi,

I have a few extra dollars and am interested in a LV plow plane or skew plane. My immediate upcoming projects are some small boxes for xmas gifts, and starting a big liquor cabinet project/morris chair after the first of the year.

Any recommendation on which tool i would get more use out of? What do you use more?

I have also considered their new shooting plane.....

Thanks!
Chris

[Jim Koepke]

Is my guess correct that by "skew plane" you are referring to the skew rabbet plane?

If so, both of these are good tools to have in one's arsenal.

If only one can be purchased at the moment the point to consider is which will be used most on the upcoming projects.

Another consideration would be do you currently have tools to do the work?

For instance, you mention building small boxes. How will the tops and bottoms be held in place? A plow plane is good for this kind of work, but stopped plowing with a plow plane is tricky.

Not too sure how either of these would work into plans for a Morris chair.

A liquor cabinet would make use of a plow if you are going to have paneled doors.

Maybe the best answer is get both.

Life is easy spending someone else's money.

jtk

[Chris Griggs]

Tough call. Both are pretty great and both types of planes are pretty essential in a handtool shop...I got the skew rabbet before I got the plow because I already had the router and was able to get by cutting grooves with that.

I guess I'd say plow for the first one. If you get the wide blade attachement with it can be used to cut rabbet up to about 3/4"...w/o the extra attachment it can still cut rabbets but only up to 3/8" (which may be just fine).

Yes, plow first. You'll want both eventually, but since the plow can do some of what the skew rabbet can do I'd say get that first.

[Jim Koepke]

I guess I'd say plow for the first one. If you get the wide blade attachement with it can be used to cut rabbet up to about 3/4"...w/o the extra attachment it can still cut rabbets but only up to 3/8" (which may be just fine).

Yes, plow first. You'll want both eventually, but since the plow can do some of what the skew rabbet can do I'd say get that first.

Good point Chris. Since I do not have the modern LV equivalents of rabbet and plow my awareness of the full capabilities is not up to speed. For me, when it comes to a rabbet my choice is whether the Record 778 or a Stanley 45 will be used for the job. It usually comes down to which has the sharper blade available.

jtk

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I probably use my wooden moving fillester more than any of my other "specialty" non-bench planes; I love the thing to heck. That said, as Chris mentions, a plow can called in to make rabbets if you have to. (although cross-grain rabbets would be rough as all get out unless you saw the sidewall first or go back and knife it after each couple of passes.) No way you'd make grooves with a rabbet plane.

It can take a little fettling, (Larry Williams "Sharpening Profiled Hand Tools" video at Lie Nielsen covers fettling the iron in the first chapter) but I really like my wooden moving filetster plane, and now I've got it working like a champ, prefer it over a metal-bodied one. Even a simple rabbet plane can get the job done in a lot of instances with some attention payed. You can often come across one of these for much less than the cost of a new metal-bodied plane.

[Graham Haydon]

To echo the points made so far if only one, go for the plow. It offers great versatility. I currently use a Record 405 for most tasks that require grooving or rebates, I just need some time to really clean it up so it adjusts quicker and easier.

[Ryan Baker]

I have both, and you are going to want to have both of them in your stable eventually. But I would definitely go with the plow first if you can only get one. Rabbets can be handled a number of other ways (including with the plow!). Stanley 78s (or similar) can be had pretty cheaply too as a cheaper rabbet option.

Note: Cyber-Monday is coming soon. It's not uncommon for one or both of those planes to be deals in that sale.

[Jim Matthews]

Plow plane, it's one of the better tools made today.

Good rabbet planes are much easier to find, even second hand.
The only hard part is getting the blade sharp, as the iron is set at that angle.

You can get by with a rabbeting block plane, but a plow plane is hard to beat if you make lotsa drawers.

[paul cottingham]

Plow plane. I had one, but it really hurt my hands, so I returned it. I wish I had one daily.