The Best Smooth Plane You Have Ever Used

[Brian Kent]

Searching for the best Smooth Plane you have used (not the best review you have read.)

What works best for you, for the woods you use?

I am searching, making planes, reading, and have bought a couple.
I want to see which direction to save for or plan to make or restore.

[Jeff Aldred]

Hi Brian:
I made a Shepherd smoother from a kit. While there are lots of things wrong with it, there are many things right about it, and for my needs, its the big gun.
The interesting thing about having made the plane, if there is something wrong, you know it can be fixed. That takes the onus squarely on the manufacterer (me!)

[Brian Kent]

Is Shepherd the infill kit company that is no longer around?

[Dale Osowski]

For me it's Japanese without a doubt. They work well on hardwood and soft, I work mainly with hardwoods. I sold all my LN's except for a couple and invested the money in more Japanese planes. IMHO you can achive a better surface with Japanese planes. So far my best plane is a 120mm made by Yamamoto-san.

[Ray Gardiner]

Is Shepherd the infill kit company that is no longer around?

Apparently...

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworki....aspx?id=25620

I am also interested in making an infill.

[Don Naples]

Mathieson as it has a tighter throat then the Norris I have.
I mostly use it on Jatoba, Bubinga and figured Maple.

[Raney Nelson]

My new favorite is a Norris A5 style infill I made. To be honest, though, I can't really claim it's objectively any better than my LN 4-1/2 - either one will handle anything but the most inerlocked or heavily reversing grain, and as long as the LN mouth is closed up nice and tight they both perform pretty comparable, and move into 'tearout' territory at about the same time.

Mine is a bit more comfortable to my hand, though...

[mike holden]

Best one I ever used was a Sauer & Steiner at the MWTCA meet last summer. But, I dont have the "discretionary funds" necessary for purchase. My Lie Nielsen #4 works just fine.
Mike

[Jim Koepke]

All the planes but a few in my shop are Stanleys or old wooden molding planes.

Surely there are others much better. The heavier blade on my Union No. 4 is what got me to try some Hock blades.

I guess as far as best plane ever used, it would have to be the Bridge City Tools HP-7, amazing shoulder plane. As it was pushed along the edge of some wood, it felt like the blade was not in contact. When I looked to see how to adjust the blade, there was a translucent shaving coming off the blade.

It gave me the feeling that if it was set on a board and one end was lifted, it could make shavings with just the assistance of gravity.

Planes like this are in a different league than the Stanley planes that do so well for me. Maybe someday I will be able to own one of these, until then, making do with what is at hand is what people have done for ages.

jim

[Brian Kent]

For me it's Japanese without a doubt. They work well on hardwood and soft, I work mainly with hardwoods. I sold all my LN's except for a couple and invested the money in more Japanese planes. IMHO you can achive a better surface with Japanese planes. So far my best plane is a 120mm made by Yamamoto-san.

For a second there it looked like you said 120mm!

Not knowing Japanese, is Yamamoto-san the same as Yamamoto?

http://www.japanwoodworker.com/produ...&dept_id=12940

[Wilbur Pan]

My new favorite is a Norris A5 style infill I made. To be honest, though, I can't really claim it's objectively any better than my LN 4-1/2....

Of course you can claim it's objectively better! You made your plane, and that LN 4-1/2 was made by that hack, TL-N.

(For the humor-impaired, sprinkle these liberally throughout this post: )

[Dale Osowski]

For a second there it looked like you said 120mm!

Not knowing Japanese, is Yamamoto-san the same as Yamamoto?

http://www.japanwoodworker.com/produ...&dept_id=12940

Yes, on both. The plane pictured is 120mm or 4-3/4" blade aprox.

Dale

[Casey Gooding]

While the Lie-Nielsen 4 1/2 is great, I did find one I like better:
My James Krenov Smoothing plane, made by the man himself.
It's amazing!!!!!!!

[Joel Goodman]

Dale,

The link shows a 60 MM wide plane iron (about the same as a 4 1/2 Stanley) -- is yours really 120mm wide? Wow!

[Doug Shepard]

This one
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=848884