Advice needed on Chisel planes

[Gene Collison]

I am thinking about the purchase of a chisel plane for removing glue and other flush cutting uses. About the only ones I see available are a couple very good planes from L-N, and a couple much weaker entries from Veritas. Also I guess a few of the rabbit planes have a removable nosepiece permitting use as a chisel plane. My first question is; are these tools a desirable purchase and truly useful for other uses to justify a $100 or more expenditure? Or, should I concentrate on one useful for glue cleanup only? Like the Veritas that holds a common wood chisel. Any advice is appreciated. TIA..

Gene

[Steven Wilson]

I use the small LN chisel plane and it works very well. A crank neck paring chisel also works very well.

[Alan Turner]

Bridge City Tools has one as well, with a bit of a different design. I do not have one, and have never used one.
Alan

[Shawn Duarte]

I was looking for a chisel plane a few months back and ended up making one from an article in March/April 2001 issue of Fine Woodworking (#148). Easy to make and works great for glue removal.

Shawn

[Dave Anderson NH]

If you feel the need to buy a chisel plane, the L-N is the way to go. I don't consider the Lee Valley to be a viable option. Like the Lee Valley, any of the shoulder planes with the removable nose is going to have problems with nosediving into the wood and producing a gouge. This is particularly true of the Stanley #92-#93 which are very uncomfortable and awkward to hold when in the chisel plane mode. Personally I use a cranked neck chisel and it works quite well. The advantage of this approach is that the chisel is cheaper than any workable plane and it is also useful for leveling the bottoms of dadoes and grooves.

[Rob Lee]

Gene...

Have a look at our "flush plane" if you want an inexpensive functional tool. I think a chisel plane isn't a great value - no matter whose it is...

Another good choice would be a cranked chisel - useable in many places a chisel plane isn't...

Rob Lee

[Lloyd Robins]

I have the small LN chisel plane. I find it to be quite functional, but a cranked chisel would probably handle a lot of the work. I do like the heft, feel, and look of the plane though, which is probably not a good reason for buying one. They are occasionally for sale on ebay at a slightly reduced price if you keep an eye out. Good luck.

[Gene Collison]

It looks like I should be trying a cranked neck chisel or two. To be honest I didn't know these things existed. I must have passed over them 100 times in the catalog. Thanks for all that contributed.

Gene

[Larry Feasel]

Gene;
If you are looking for something to remove glue lines and such why not get one of the Kuntz cabinet scrappers. They are a rude tool but they do the job and the price is reasonable. I have one I have had for years and it is used just to remove glue lines, it does a great job of removing glue lines.

larry

[Gene Collison]

Gene;
If you are looking for something to remove glue lines and such why not get one of the Kuntz cabinet scrappers. They are a rude tool but they do the job and the price is reasonable. I have one I have had for years and it is used just to remove glue lines, it does a great job of removing glue lines.

larry

Larry,

I already have and use a Kunz scraper. But what I had in mind was a tool to remove the glue bead about an hour or two after and before it is rock hard. I currently use a cheap chisel for this but every once in while they dig in because I don't have the cranked type.

Gene

[John Wadsworth]

...you might try a nice, big chisel of the type sometimes called a "deck chisel." It's not cranked (i.e., with two sharp bends) but rather has the handle coming off at a slight angle, enough so your hand clears the surface co-planar with the chisel's back. I've run across a few of these at flea markets and once spent the time to re-grind and hone a two-incher to a very sharp edge. It's now my tool of choice for slicing off half-hardened glue, as well as for paring off slightly protruding dowels.

No good for cleaning up dados, though...