Jointer planes-size, chip breaker or not?

[Warren Mickley]

I agree, Kees. I use a #7 for everything over six inches, whether eight inches or eight feet. I think it is important to avoid too many planes in regular use because one loses intimacy with the tools. If you have one plane that is devoted to jointing, you know the plane and the iron well, you can keep track of how much camber, depth of cut, when last sharpened, et cetera.

If a fellow were working in a factory and jointing the same length boards over and over, I could see having a jointer tailored to that length.

[Chris Hachet]

Short answer, no, it will not be satisfactory.

In my shop, the #6 is actually the most frequently used plane. It is capable of jointing boards up to 24" after that I use a jointer plane.
It is my preferred plane for truing the faces of boards.

As for jointing a long board, then cutting, I would cut boards to length first, then joint.
IMO, jointing an 8' board will take more time than jointing 3 or 4 shorter lengths.

Pretty much this. I have a #8 sized wooden plane with a chip breaker which is lighter and easier to sue over long edges. For most other jointing I use a #5 or a #6. With a little practice, I got 36 inches plus out of the #5, I can do a 48 inch board if I am patient.

[lowell holmes]

What's interesting is that the #6 Bailey is left out. I have a 1940's #6 that is a good plane, but for some reason I don't use it. It will joint about as well as as the 607 I have.

I also have a 5 1/2 Bailey that I like. It is longer than a #5 and wide. It does a pretty fair job smoothing large boards and will do a bit of jointing as well.

I don't disagree with Kees and Warren.

[Pat Barry]

A cooper's jointer is usually far longer than that thing.

I've seen (pictures) of those monsters that approach 6 ft long and today I found a video showing how (at least one person) uses it. He sets the plane into his bench vise to hold the plane and then pushes the wood across the blade. Don't know if this is common but at some point a plane as long as something like that would take Superman or the Incredible Hulk to use as a traditional joinery plane.

[steven c newman]

Those long Cooper's planes use a stand. It held one end up, with the heel of the plane on the ground/floor. Just a matter of Gravity helping the cooper push a stave down the sole.

[Pat Barry]

It did turn out nice! The picture was very deceptive

That board was 36" long, the plane is 24"
Attachment 336450
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Attachment 336433
Stanley No. 31....24" long. weighs about half of a Stanley

Steven, I have looked at this last picture quite a bit and I'm confident that there is no way the board in that picture is 36" long if that plane is 24". Not saying you didn't use a 36" board for your table, just that the picture of the board in the vise with the plane in the background isn't the same boards as the table.

[steven c newman]

Plane is 24" long. board was 36". there was about 8" between the end of the plane and the board. Toe does not reach all the way to the end of the board.

[Jim Koepke]

Plane is 24" long. board was 36". there was about 8" between the end of the plane and the board. Toe does not reach all the way to the end of the board.

It looks like there is another plane behind the first one. I can see the vertical edge of a toe on the closest plane.

jtk

[Pat Barry]

It did turn out nice! The picture was very deceptive

That board was 36" long, the plane is 24". I wrap the front hand around the body of the plane, using the knuckles as a fence. Board was part of a five board glue up
Attachment 336450
Seemed to work out fairly well.....

After a few hours of using them bigger planes,,,sore forearms are the least of the problem.....shoulders.....the area of the back between the shoulders......neck gets stiff.....things like that. Good thing the biggest of the jointers is a bit lighter in weight..
Attachment 336433
Stanley No. 31....24" long. weighs about half of a Stanley #8c did. Yeah, yeah, it only has a 2-3/8" wide iron.....didn't really need the extra 2/8" in width, anyway.

It looks like there is another plane behind the first one. I can see the vertical edge of a toe on the closest plane.

jtk

stevensplane.jpg
There must be significant optical distortion because I don't see that board as 36 inches. Oh well...

[Steve Voigt]

Here's a cooper's plane I saw in Alsace last year. My shoe in the second pic gives a sense of the scale.

IMG_1210.JPG

IMG_1211.JPG

[steven c newman]

This one was a tad too big for the shop....
SDC15192.jpg
No, that isn't patrick Leach, either. I don't wear plaid.

[Stewie Simpson]

The critical figure of merit here is the ratio of the workpiece length to the plane length. Claiming that a 5-1/2 (15" long) can't adequately joint a 24" board is equivalent to claiming that a #7 can't adequately joint a 35" workpiece, and I think we all know that's bunk.

Mike, for a 36" piece you'd ideally want a slightly longer plane but it will work if your technique is good. It's equivalent to using a #7 on a 53" workpiece, which isn't uncommon. At 24" the 5-1/2 is perfect.

The Australian Carpenter & Joiner; (1958; 1966; 1975; 1981; 1985) Fifth Edition; 1985 ; Volumes 1 to 5.

Try plane ; 560mm and 610mm long with a 60mm cutter, used mostly for shooting the edge of boards that are to be jointed together, but also useful for planing large flat surfaces to a perfectly level face.

Fore plane ; 450mm long with a 60mm cutter. This also makes a reasonable good job when shooting joints and planing large flat surfaces, and is more favoured generally than the try plane because it is lighter and fits in the tool kit more easily.

Jack plane ; 355mm long with a 50mm cutter, referred to as a No.5 plane. This is the plane that does most of the rough work and is a plane for general all- round work. This plane is the first favourite with tradesmen because it can be used for roughing off surfaces, and then by setting the cutter fine, for finishing off, and can be used fairly successfully for jointing short timbers.

Wooden Planes; when new, should have the aperture of the mouth stopped with putty, then filled with linseed oil, which in time will soak into the wood, filling the pores, and thereafter preventing the absorption of moisture. With planes, where it is impossible to do this, rub frequently over the surface with the oil until no further penetration takes place. Planes when out of use for any length of time should have their wedges released, as continued tension is harmful to the plane.

[Mike Holbrook]

When I originally made this post I was thinking about the whole idea of jointing, working edges, as a job typically done by a single try or jointer plane. I think this is where guys like Kees and Warren are coming from too, with their comments about exclusively using a #7 jointer. I think people typically think about jointing the relatively thin edge of a single board. When we glue up a bunch of boards to make a bench top though, I don't think we are talking about the same thing.

It seems to me that when we talk about flattening an entire bench top we might be well advised to go back to the coarse, medium and fine plane concept. We start with a coarse plane to do major stock removal, then move to a medium plane to start removing the deep tracks created by the coarse plane and then finish with a fine/smooth plane.

It seems to me, the unique thing about a jointer plane is it may be used like a smooth plane to produce a "final" surface, particularly on longer surfaces. So my question for the guys who apparently use a #7 for "all" jointing, is how they deal with the wide, heavy stock removal jobs? I don't think anyone wants to flatten an entire glued up bench top with a jointer set up with a close chip breaker for making fine shavings. Do some guys have multiple jointer planes set up for heavier and lighter cuts? The other alternative I see is using a scrub/jack for the heavy work followed by a jointer to remove plane marks and level the bench. I'm not sure whether or not a #4 type smooth plane should be used at all on a surface that long?

My main goal is to figure out the best way to make chair/table legs with hand planes. Some may not consider this jointer plane work. It is a little difficult to tell edges from top & bottom surfaces when you start with a 2x2" board that winds up an octagon. On the other hand, we might end up with eight edges on a single board.

[Jim Koepke]

My main goal is to figure out the best way to make chair/table legs with hand planes. Some may not consider this jointer plane work.

This is when the Goldilocks theory kicks in. A person needs at least one of each plane. Then they can be switched around until you find the one that is just right.

jtk

[Kees Heiden]

I must confess that I am not a real plane monagamist . They are too nice not to have a few extras. At the moment I have a rather complete serie of Stanley's (#3,#4,#5,#6,#7, managed to avoid the siren call of the 1/2 sizes) and a full set of wooden planes from smoother upto the large jointer (7", 14", 16", 21", 27"), plus some random wooden planes that are just too cute to sell, but not being used much.

If planes weren't so much fun and if this would be my profession, I suppose I would be perfectly happy with just a #4, a #5 and a #7.

But to answer your question about large surfaces. A surface rarely needs the absolute flatness and straightness of an edge made ready for glue jointing. I use the rather conventional sequence of jackplane, try or jointer plane and smoother. The jointer makes the surfaces flat and true but often leaves some areas that need more attention, even with the chipbreaker set close to the edge. The smoother is perfect for that. The chipbreaker on the jointer isn't set at the optimum position for absolutely no tearout in any kind of board. It is set to reduce tearout as much as possible, while at the same time keeping the resistance as low as possible, while taking shavings as thick as reasonable. In the end everything is a compromise.