Joinery Planes

[Jim Koepke]

I'll refine my question just a bit more and come at it from the "anarchist's toolchest" perspective. When starting out, one of the things I found daunting about joinery planes is the cost to apparent use ratio. So, for those looking to get into the game with minimum early investment, any suggestions on minimum kit or no-brainer starting places? Shoulder planes and router planes seem to be the most recommended by magazines, but...

From the "anarchist's toolchest" perspective a Stanley #45 may have been one of the original "anarchist's" tools.

Today's version would be the LV small plow. It plows, beads, cuts rabbets and has tongue and grooving blades.

I think a router is more useful than a shoulder plane. Most of the work a shoulder plane can do can be done by other planes. My shoulder plane mostly does clean up work following other tools.

My side rabbets also do a lot of clean up for other tools. They are very handy when fitting some joinery and can get into some very tight places.

jtk

[Nicholas Lawrence]

The first two joinery planes I acquired were a Stanley 78 and a Stanley 71. I now have a combination/plow I use a fair amount, but the router and rabbet are still the ones who see the most use.

There are just so many situations where the router in particular is very handy. There was a comment above about the 78 not being a very good tool. I don't know about the ones they are making now, but the old one I have works fine. A side rabbet does not get used that often, but it has really made my life easier on occasion.

[Joshua Hancock]

Probably one of the most amazing things ( and easy) was when I learned to use my wooden rabbet plane with my fingers as the fence (and a good knife line). Roy Underhill recently did an episode, with a guest I cant remember right now, that featured this (along with how to make a molding plane) and it became pretty indispensible and faster than setting up my electric router. I find myself also reaching for my router plane and #45 quite a bit more these days as my skill with them increases. The ole electric router is more and more being relegated to being a substitute for the molding plane set I cannot afford.

[Mike Cherry]

LV and LN router plane - used to clean bottoms of dadoes. I cut dadoes with chisels and do a few light passes with the router plane. I like the LV better. Need to sell the LN.

LV small plow - Use it all the time for grooves.

LV medium shoulder - clean up tenon shoulders. Rarely use it. Again I prefer chisels.

LN rabbet block - Just got this. Not sure how much I'll use it. I'm hoping it will replace my shoulder plane and be my general fine tuning joinery plane.


I believe that good chiseling skills will never let you down and so I prefer to use a chisel for almost everything. I feel confident about my skills with a chisel and I continue to get faster with them. Too bad I spent so much money on these planes when all I really needed were some chisels. This all came about when I realized that stopped and captive grooves, dadoes, and rebates just about have to be done by chisels.

[Adam Stevens2]

I have:

LV router plane - love it

Stanley 78 rabbet plane - it works well, but I find it uncomfortable to use after a while

Wooden moving filister - can't recall the maker, haven't really turned it loose yet. May replace the 78 if I can get the hang of it

2x wooden plow planes, a screw arm and wedge arm - the screw arm threads are a little worn so I've been turning to the wedge arm more often. Finicky to adjust but works well once it's dialed in.

3/4" dado plane which I rarely use - just haven't gotten the hang of, but mainly because I seem to have wedge the iron in so tightly that I haven't been able to get it out!

I feel that the router plane would be a good place to start due to its versatility - it can clean up any joints made using a saw and chisel, while the others are a little more specialised. And it works great for those stopped grooves and dados once the dimensions of the joint are established.