Low angle jack or Dedicated Shooting Plane?

[Lucas Elef]

I'm looking at picking up new plane from Lee Valley with the discounted gift cards i got on cyber Monday.
I'm new to woodworking in general so i'm spending time building a roubo workbench, shooting board, sharpening stone holder and such.
However, once i finish those tools i plan to mostly do luthier type stuff (ukulele first and foremost), and tool chests with lots of little drawers. Nothing too big as i'm working in a small spare bedroom of my house. While building the workbench i realized if i had to dimension lumber with hand tools i'd give up on the hobby, so i picked up a Makita 2012NB lunchbox planer. Now that i can dimension lumber quickly i'm focusing on other hand skills. I realize the value in the shooting board as i regularly want to square up smaller boards (and don't want to buy an electric jointer as i'm trying to keep my power tools to a minimum becuase of space), but using the one i built has been an exercise in frustration. I think this is partly due to my #4 and #7 Stanley are not perpendicular in the castings, but also because the #4 is too short, the #7 is too long, and they are hard to hold while shooting. So i realize my next purchase will be something to improve my shooting, and the low angle jack is cheaper and more versatile, but i'm struggling to figure out what i might use it for beyond shooting. On the other hand i can spend $100 more and get a dedicated shooting plane which looks to be more comfortable to use, but will only be good for shooting. I don't mind spending the money on the dedicated shooting plane if it indeed will improve my shooting and be more comfortable to use.

Do you have any thoughts whether i should get the low angle jack or the dedicated shooting plane?

[Chet R Parks]

Lucas, This was just discussed last month. See here
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...J-for-shooting

[Lucas Elef]

Thanks, there's some good information in there. One thing i did note was that most people seemed to already have a Low Angle Jack Plane. Will i be missing out by not having a LAJ as i get further along in my woodworking? I probably won't buy another plane for a while after this purchase.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Lucas, my early efforts at shooting with a Bailey style plane were frustrating. The grip that works for me is to place my thumb on the adjuster knob. The rest of my hand sort of wraps around the frog and blade. I find the heavier plane works better for me. If you experiment you may be able to find a grip that works better for you with the planes you have.

[Chet R Parks]

Lucas,
Yes, you may feel that you will miss out not having a LAJ in the future but you can say the same about not having a dedicated shooter. That is a decision you have to make based on your work methodology. The LAJ is a popular plane, you may have a better chance of picking up a used LAJ as opposed to a dedicated shooting plane later on. Good luck on your decision.

[Robert Hazelwood]

If you are able to use your #4 and #7 well for bench plane tasks, then there would not be much use for the LAJ *except* for shooting. And the shooting plane seems much nicer for that, in particular the skewed blade and handle orientation.

[Christopher Charles]

Hello Lucas,

I have the LV shooting plane but do not have a LA Jack. I am quite content and will note that I have used the shooting plane to plane end grain freehand as one would with LA Jack. A bit awkward, but doable. Regardless, the shooting plane is quickly becoming my favorite, especially for the small and med scale work you describe.

Best of luck deciding.

[Jim Koepke]

The advantage of the Low Angle Jack is it can be used either left or right handed. For some shooting tasks this is a handy feature. Derek Cohen made a "hot dog" handle for his LAJ. It looks like there are two posts at the top of this page:

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/index.html

Here is one made for a Stanley/Bailey bench plane:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...25#post1320425

The dedicated shooter might be a bit awkward for non-shooting board tasks but would likely be a bit better at shooting. The lower effective angle would cut with a little less work and likely leave a slightly smoother finish.

Not having used a dedicated shooter my only comment about the comfort of use is that my LAJ, an LN #62 is a touch awkward even with a hot dog handle on the shooting board. For my needs it is find. If you are going to do a lot of shooting a dedicated plane may be the best choice for doing one job and doing it better.

For other situations where a Low Angle Jack would be useful a Low Angle Block Plane might be the choice.

Over time my LAJ has become my dedicated shooter. It sees occasional use at other tasks.

jtk

[Lucas Elef]

Thank you all for the insight. At this point i'm leaning towards getting the dedicated shooting plane as i have a current need for it, and the LAJ seems seems to be more for versatility which i won't really be needing at this time.
Now i just need Lee Valley to offer a free shipping event!

[Dave Parkis]

I suspect free shipping will occur shortly after Christmas. I've specifically asked for gift cards.

[Robert Engel]

I have a LA jack and the hotdog attachment for shooting. Works OK, but the truth is, I grab my #6 for shooting almost exclusively. The extra mass makes a difference for me, especially when shooting boards >6" wide. Yes, after a while your hands know it, but once you figure out the best grip, its really not an issue.

In retrospect, for me in my work, the LA jack has not been the highly used plane I thought it would be. Right or wrong, 90% of what I use it for is endgrain like cleaning up dovetails.

If I may give some unsolicited advice, I think the temptation to buy a tool is something to deal with, especially a novice. We've all been there and have drawers and shelves full of tools we never use or only used for a season.

I've learned the value of taking time to evaluate a purchase for a dedicated and/or expensive tool. I think this is a good approach even if funds are not an issue.

If I were a serious hand tool-only guy, a shooting plane would definitely be in my arsenal. Good luck you will definitely enjoy it!

[Andrey Kharitonkin]

Lucas, in my amateur experience, once I got shooting plane, #4, #7 and scrub plane, learned how to use chip breaker - Low Angle Jack sits unused (along with low angle jointer and smoother). It was my first plane, together with a low angle block plane. Also, I didn't expect that I would get so many planes after couple of years, and that planes with double iron are so good. So, try to expect that, if you can!

I do use it sometimes when grain direction is already known from double iron planes and I want to use less power to remove some material. But not really necessary, at my current stage.

Those four planes that I listed, that's all I need to go from rough sawn timber to flat stock with square edges and ends (6S?).

[Stewie Simpson]

So a modern low bed angle bevel up plane with a 12° bed angle and a 25° bevel angle would have a 37° cutting angle. If you increase the bevel angle of the blade to 30° (probably the most common honing angle), the cutting angle will increase to 42°, which is very close to the cutting angle of a traditional bevel down plane.

http://brfinewoodworking.com/planing-end-grain/

[Andrey Kharitonkin]

http://brfinewoodworking.com/planing-end-grain/

Yep, agree with Stewie. Low angle plane is not required to plane end grain. I realized that after planing end grain with #7 with nice shavings. In fact, I think #7 is the most universal bench plane for me now. Maybe #6 for those with smaller hands and not so strong.

[Derek Cohen]

I think that there is a misunderstanding about bevel angles and planing end grain (plus it is evident that there are those that make this into a macho thing about working tough).

Firstly, you can indeed plane end grain with any angle (within reason ). Many years ago I used to use a HNT Gordon Trying Plane on a shooting board. This has a 60 degree bed for a 60 degree cutting angle. It had no difficulty in this task.

However ...

There are two major advantages to shooting end grain with a low cutting angle. One is that the resulting surface will be smoother or clearer than with a higher cutting angle. The second is that the blade's edge will last longer with the lower angle. I have tested the latter a number of time. Here is an article that records one such time: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolRev...tingPlane.html

Regards from Perth

Derek