[OP]
Contributor
Have a Bday coming up in a couple of months and starting to think about what to ask for.
I have a wooden low angle spoke shave and wondering how useful it would be to add a metal standard angle one as well.
i have a #4, #7, and #62 and wonder about adding a #5 or #5 1/2 for the Charlesworth style planing I'm doing.
i see how useful Paul Sellers finds a gouge and think I migt should add one to my tools.
Contributor
Tony, I can't comment on some of the items you listed, but in the case of the planes, besides your interest in Charlesworth planing (of which I have no experience), the #5 is extremely useful for other uses, and is the size I use almost exclusively when I use a bench plane for carpentry.
It is the size I use for planing a door, etc. The 5 1/2 size has a wider blade and is an inch so longer than the #5, as you probably know, and as such might be even better for door planing etc. I don't know that it is, but am currently restoring a #605 1/2 Bedrock, so plan to find out more about the 5 1/2 size.
If you look on Ebay, there are more #5s than anything else, perhaps even more #5s than all other sizes of bench planes combined. I think this is due to it's versatility and because it was the size that carpenters primarily used. Consequently, if a handyman, building maintenance man, homeowner who did some woodworking, etc. bought one plane, it was a #5 the majority (probably a large majority) of the time.
You already have a #4, which in combination with the #5 (or also probably with the #5 1/2) gives a lot of versatility for carpentry. The other plane I use a lot in carpentry is a block plane.
I think Schwarz comment on the #4 versus the#4 1/2 are applicable to the differences in the #5 versus the #5 1/2. Schwarz basically says that if you build moderate size projects you will probably prefer the #4, but if you are smoothing large project, large book cases, etc., then you will probably love the #4 1/2.
Regards,
Stew
Last edited by Stew Denton; 02-17-2015 at 8:17 PM.
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Having a 5 sized plane (fore plane) seems essential to me.
I got cash in my pocket. I got desire in my heart....
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I would highly recommend a standard shave. I have the flat soled Boggs from LN and love it. I much prefer adjusting the iron with a hammer than two adjuster screws
You can't go wrong with a #5. You'll find yourself using it more than you ever expected...even if you're a power tool guy. Get yourself a pre-war Stanley and you'll be a happy camper. I picked up my Type 11 for about $50 and put a nice camber on the iron.
Blood, sweat, and sawdust
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Mine do get quite the workout.Originally Posted by Judson Green
Chris
Member
I'm curious why the vote for as #5 when the OP said he has a 62. Don't get me wrong I love my #5 with a cambered blade, just trying to understand the redundancy. I thought Charlesworth machined his stock and only uses hand planes to remove mill marks. If that be the case, I can't imagine too much need for a heavily cambered blade.
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A five sized plane (be it a low angle 62 or anything else) is very versatile, perhaps more so with a chipbreaker - reduce tearout. Worth having more of. I've 3 in my shop and use 2 of em nearly every time I'm doing something.
And I didn't know how Charlesworth preps his stock, sorry.
I got cash in my pocket. I got desire in my heart....
Some good advise here. I am especially interested in hand tools that can remove large amounts of wood vs a hand plane with a straight blade. Maybe our OP might find these tools useful? I'm not sure what the Charlesworth planing method is the OP mentions, although some of the follow up comments seem to move towards tools that remove more wood.
I just took Chris Schwarz's first class on making "old school" sawbenches using old tapered tenon techniques. The class is a preliminary to Chris' Book and strategy to apply these techniques to a wide range of furniture building. We had to taper legs from 8/4 pieces of dry red oak. Doing this with a hand plane is quite time consuming unless one uses a jack plane with a sizable camber. The second day I used a Stanley #5 with about a 7" radius camber and the results were much better. I am in the process of obtaining a frog and blade for my #6 Blum fore plane that will allow me to use it for that purpose too. I am planing to make quite a few Irish Stick/Windsor chairs. I want to make legs with hand tools instead of turning them. I will be taking a course at Country Workshops on making captains style Irish Stick Chairs that I am tooling up for.
Another option is large spokeshaves with larger heavy blades. WoodJoy makes larger shaves with 3-5" blades that are capable of hogging off some serious wood. I like the increased ability to accurately adjust the mouth, etc. the WoodJoy shaves offer vs even tapping. A spokeshave with a long blade that is slightly canted in the mouth provides a fine, medium and large shaving depending on which area of the canted blade is being used. My problem with the LN/Boggs shaves is they have very tight mouths & small blades that will require a large amount of work with a file to get them to the point that they can make anything other than a fine shaving. The adjusting screws on the WoodJoy spokeshaves allow the user to adjust the mouth, blade cant and size of the cut with similar precision to the adjustments on better hand planes. Although nothing compares to the adjustability in Blum hand planes IMHO.
The classic way to remove large amounts of wood, particularly green wood, is with a drawknife. Watching Peter Galbert or Curtis Buchanan shape round spindles, legs, seats, bows...from large chunks of wood with a drawknife was a revelation for me. Huge chunks of wood can be removed quickly, easily and accurately. The issue with a drawknife is properly sharpening one and learning how to use it well requires a specific skill set. A large spokeshave with the kind of adjustability the WoodJoy tools offer is a little easier to learn in my experience
Last edited by Mike Holbrook; 02-18-2015 at 11:54 AM.
Member
No Judson, you misunderstand. I simply was hoping to learn something. I meant no disrespect. I am not very familiar with Charlesworth either. I have his hand planing DVDs but that's it. I guess I was more curious about the #5 recommendations because I want to make sure I'm not missing a cool way to utilize a 5 that I might not have been aware of. There's so much knowledge floating around here.
Contributor
In my experience the #62 works great on end grain and the #5 works better on edge grain. The blade on the #62 is a bit of a job to sharpen by hand. The blade on a #5 is an easy blade to sharpen.I'm curious why the vote for as #5 when the OP said he has a 62.
Currently there is one #62 in my shop and four #5s, that is about two too many, imo. The #5s get used more often until it is time to shoot some end grain.
Cambering the blade for a #5 is an easier task than for a #62.
If there was some rough possibly dirty wood needing a clean up, my least liked #5 would get the job, not my #62.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
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That helps Jim. Im starting to notice that you like to keep multiples of tools so you dont have to repurpose them every time a different task comes up. I wonder, of your #5's, do you keep one with a straight blade for edge jointing only?
More to the original point...
Tony, do you work primarily by hand? As I mentioned earlier, I have a 62 and a 5 that is heavily cambered, I think a 5 1/2 would be a good fit for me to fill some of the gaps between my current setup. Perhaps this could benefit you as well.
Contributor
Usually with two of one size, one is set with a tight mouth and the chip breaker close to the edge. The other will be set up with a wider mouth and the breaker back a bit for removing more stock.Im starting to notice that you like to keep multiples of tools so you dont have to repurpose them every time a different task comes up. I wonder, of your #5's, do you keep one with a straight blade for edge jointing only?
With my extra #5s, one has a slight camber to the blade for cross grain work. My preferred plane for that is a junker #5-1/4 that has some cracks around the mouth.
Mostly two of my #5s are hanging around until I want to sell some tools to raise money or if a neighbor wants to borrow a plane. The two spares have less than $20 and a little time invested.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Member
Drawknife does work well to remove lot of wood. I used one last night while flattening my bench slabs bottom. My glue-up was done with various width planks and bottom had some boards that were about 1/2 inch above the others. Drawknife was nice for the high spots close to the edge, but in the center handles of 8 inch drawknife were getting in the way. Ended up using a sharp axe and that was the fastest. All said it was a fast way in 20 min to flatten really rough 6' x 1' slab. Seems that having a wider 10 or even 12 inch drawknife can be handy, I will have to pick one up on ebay.
Galberts drwasharp jig works well for sharpening drawknife.
Member
Ahh I see, thanks for the reply!
Contributor
I have 2 #4s and 2 #5s always within reach.
One #4 is set for fine smoothing with the chip breaker and mouth as close a possible. The other is set to take a thicker shaving but it's still a fairly fine cut. Both have cambered irons but the camber is slightly more for the thicker shaving. The #5s are similar. One is set nearly as fine as the smoother. The other #5 is for hogging off material and rough dirty stock. It has the most significant camber and a wide mouth. It's not quite a scrub plane, but that's how it gets used.
How I work has a lot to do with what planes I have and how I set them up. I do a lot of the grunt work with machines, so I don't need many aggressive planes.
I often start with plane to roughly flatten a board and remove dirt and grit. Then I go to the jointer and thicknesses planer and get the stock flat, parallel and close to thickness. Then I dial it in with hand planes.
I don't think any of my planes duplicate each other. They each have different uses.
-- Dan Rode
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle
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