Which LN plane?

[joe maday]

I'm thinking of getting a long Lie Nielsen plane. Either a No 7 or a No 8. I already have a number 4 1/2 ...so the blades would be the same as a number 7...Then which frog angle?....so many choices.....what to do? Thanks for your inputs.

[Bryan Robinson]

I have the LN number 8 and it is awesome. I don't really see the need for any high angle pitch, like you could use with a smooth plane on figured or difficult wood.

[Robert Engel]

Someone has a No. 7 for sale on the forum.

[Patrick Harper]

I have the No. 7 and love it. The LN's are a good bit heavier than their Stanley ancestors, which I think comes in handy. Their haven't been any times where I wish I would have gone with the No. 8. However, I imagine if I had gotten the 8, I'd feel the same about the 7.

[Jebediah Eckert]

A used LN 7 popped up on the Classified Section, looks like a good buy. Check it out.

[Jim Koepke]

At one time it seemed like my Stanley/Bailey #7 was the fulfillment of my jointer dreams.

Then a #8 came along at an irresistible price.

So now it is just dependent on my mood and stamina as to which gets used.

Either one is usually adequate for the job, but the old Stanley/Bailey jointers can be found fairly inexpensively if one has the time and patience. So why not have more than one?

As for the question at hand, being able to change blades between planes hasn't been that big of a deal for me. Maybe if one had all bevel up planes with interchangeable blades there would be an incentive to have planes with the same blade sizing.

Sometimes my blades have gotten swapped around. Mostly it happens when a batch of the same size blades are being sharpened together.

In one case one of the blades was an original in a type 6 plane. It could likely be sold for as much as was spent on the plane it came in. That blade is sitting safe while a newer blade does all the work.

When it comes to jointers, it is possible to create a fine surface, but it isn't the main purpose of the long planes. Unless you want to be changing frogs around with your #4-1/2, a standard 45º frog should be fine.

jtk

[Reinis Kanders]

Take a look at the ECE jointer with the wedge. New is $200 and used on ebay can be hand for a bit over 100. Very effective planes if you are really jointing by hand because they are not too heavy and their bottoms can be made flat . Even Stanley 8 is too heavy for regular jointing, Nielsen 8 and 7 are way too heavy.

[Curt Putnam]

I would suggest first thinking about the stuff you've made and are going to make. How big are the individual pieces? If they tend to be long (as in 8' bookcase sides) then you may prefer an 8 over a 7; the same thought applies to large panels (mine tend to be a nominal 36" x 24".) For the most part, furniture pieces tend not to be so large that there is a clear preference for one size over the other. In those cases, a 7 is generally sufficient. I have an LV BU 7 and an 8 ground by Tablesaw Tom. Both are sweet. I tend to use the 7 for edge jointing because it has a fence and I find that it is much easier for me to get a square edge with the fence. Still, one always needs a square and a straight edge.

I would get the 45° frog because in the realm of coarse, medium, fine the jointer is a medium plane and any tearout issues should be easily handled with a proper chipbreaker setting.

JMO & YMWV.

[Brian Holcombe]

I share Curt's sentiment.

It's enough to push a #7 plane making a full width saving down the length of a board with a 45 degree frog, I wouldn't want to add to it with a 55 degree frog and with a proper chipbreaker I can usually get finished surfaces without needing to use the smoother, for particularly terrible grain I will use the smoother which has a more aggressive chipbreaker setting.

I occasionally yearn for a longer reference when edge jointing, but rarely for panels.