Which plane to buy? Tuning tenons

[lowell holmes]

I think your price on the LV router plane is much too high. You may want to check it again.

[David Weaver]

Thanks for advice David. I'd love to see a video on using the plane bed float, as I can't find anything online about using them.

Maybe i'll keep an eye it for a Stanley router plane, as it does intrigue me. I had originally thought about buying new only, and that plunking down $250 for the Veritas was too much. Any suggestions on buying a used router plane? Go with a Stanley from ebay?

What plane bed float do you recommend?

I'm still considering the rabbet plane and skew plane.

I like LN's thin plane bed float (I think they have one that's rigid and one that's thinner).

For router plane, any stanley (like a 71) or other make that's equivalent.

I'd buy on price.

I'm sure the planes that LN and LV make are a little better, but I don't ever use a router plane for anything other than cleaning out dados.

[Greg Berlin]

Yeah It's only $149 new at lee valley.

[john zulu]

I found a router plane more useful then shoulder planes.....

[Greg Berlin]

I always wondered about the LV Japanese Milled Files as use as a float. I think it would work about the same as a lie neilsen float for 1/3 cost. Might be worth a look. http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/pag...,42524&p=63451

[Richard Verwoest]

ok, I'll throw a monkey wrench into this.....I prefer a shoulder plane. As others, I have floats, router plane, chisels, etc. One other thing to consider, ease of sharpening since you do not use hand tools often. The blade on a shoulder plane is easy to sharpen. Depending on the size of tenons most used, will determine what size shoulder plane. If you go with a float, you want the LN bed float. It is the widest(hardest to make on your own) and the teeth run from edge to edge. Around 70 bucks.

Richard

[paul cottingham]

Shoulder plane here as well. I often use it to finish up work on a tenon after paring with a chisel.

[Paul Sidener]

I use a shoulder plane and a router plane. The router plane will make it easier to do multiple tenons, and keep them the same. You will get more use out router plane than you think. I also use it to clean up rabbets and dados.

[Mike Allen1010]

Shoulder plane 100%. I use it for both cheeks and shoulders.

For cheeks, no depth adjustment like a router plane and I have no trouble keeping the cheeks parallel to the stock face. More important, great for shoulders. Yes , I start w/ chisel in the knife line, but if you're fitting 4 shoulder tendon and need to trim a 32nd." off the back shoulder for tight fit on the show shoulder, much easier for me to do with shoulder plane than a chisel. Same for breadboard ends -much faster and more accurate for me than a chisel. YMMV

Cheers, Mike

[lowell holmes]

I see no consensus here. I guess you pay your money and take your choice.

[Matt Day]

Sounds like I need a shoulder plane, router plane, and a float! Back to where I started it seems.

[Paul Sidener]

Sounds like I need a shoulder plane, router plane, and a float! Back to where I started it seems.

Not really. There are many ways to accomplish a task. Figure out how you would cut your tenons, and work towards that. I started with a shoulder plane. After a while I wanted to have more consistency in my work. I bought a router plane. My tenons started fitting better and were repeatable, when I had a bunch to do. I don't have a float, some day I may see the need for one. You can cut a tenon with just a saw, it will be rough. You can use a rabbet plane, if you like. Use what you have and refine from there.

[Michael Ray Smith]

I use a shoulder plane with occasional help from a sharp chisel. I have a Stanley No. 92 from the modern Sweetheart line, not a vintage 92. I bought it before I learned to look for vintage tools for better quality and value, but I've been very, very happy with this one. Maybe I'm just too dumb to know better.

[Brian Holcombe]

IMO, it depends a lot on what size tenons your cutting. I always, somehow end up working on massive tenons on my projects and they benefit greatly from having a router plane and should plane handy. I use the router plane for faces and should plane for shoulders.

However, you can do all of this with a sharp chisel that has a flat back. It's just a bit more difficult.

I choose based on the project, if I'm cutting massive through tenons then I'm using the router plane to make sure they are true. If I'm cutting tiny tenons for a cabinet door frame, then no, I'm not going to bother with using anything more than a chisel.

I use floats more often for mortises than tenons, for through tenons they are an awesome tool.

[Kent A Bathurst]

I have the pair of LN joinery floats - cheek float and face float. These two made as dramatic improvement in fitting tenons as anything short of my TS tenon jig. Remarkable - that's all I can tell you. Easy to use, and very quick. Cheek float most commonly used inside the mortise.

And - a shoulder plane. I have the large LN - wish I had the medium instead, because easier to grab, and I've never needed the blade width of the large. I watched a video or read a photo story from Derek C, and that made the light go off on how to use it - I had been holding that darn thing all wrong. Duh !! Works like a charm.

Have the usual suspects in block planes including rabbet and skew, and a large router plane. All good for their purpose, but I don't think I have used them for tenons since I got the floats and learned my way around the shoulder plane.