Official Luthiers Forum!

Ok, first let me say I love planing wood... There now I feel better..
I don't have a block plane and feel the need for one, but.. which one.. low angle, standard angle, adjustable mouth, fixed mouth, LN, veritas, stanley, aahhhhhh.
I'm leaning towards low angle, but do i need the adjustable mouth? Are the LV planes worth the extra dough compared to veritas. The adjustable mouth lv is 150, while the non adjustable one can be had for 75 in iron. Is the iron model not as good as the bronze, or just not as pretty.. The veritas low angle has the adjutable mouth for about 120. I don't want to be cheap, it will last forever, but I also don't want to spend money for things I don't need.
How wide is the mouth opening in a non adjustable model?
Thanks
Mike

This might just be the most frequently used tool in my shop:



It's never out of reach and I wouldn't trade it for any other plane (except
maybe my L-N #4 )

Don't see why the iron version wouldn't work as well, but the extra weight
and 'warmth' of the bronze is nice... $20 worth? Up to you...

Cheers,
-Dave

Especially if it is to be your only block plane, I'd go for a 60 1/2 - the adjustable mouth makes it great for changing your cut on the fly.

It's so quick to change the blade, that the low bed angle also means with a second blade ground to a higher angle you can swap from low angle to standard in seconds (OK, maybe as much as a minute)

Don't think you could go wrong with a LN, which is what I use (one of my favourite tools - but aren't they all?)

I only have a Lee Valley/Veritas spokeshave, which is a good tool, if a little top heavy, and didn't take much to set up, so expect their block planes are good too (OT - certainly I'd go for their router plane if I could think of an excuse for another router (BTW - LV router blades do work in a Stanley, and are far superior to St James Bay or Stanley router blades.))

An old Stanley is likely to need a little more fettling than LN at least, and you'd likely want a heavier blade, but a block plane is such a simple, open design this is easy to do.

Steve

I have a bunch of Stanley block planes. My wife gave me a Veritas apron plane for Christmas a while back, and while it is very nicely made, I find I still use the old #60 1/2 as much, if not more. If I could have just one block plane, that would probably be the one. Of course, I don't have anything LN... Used Stanley block planes are cheap.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I used a Stanley low-angle block plane for awhile until I dropped it...then I bought the Lie Nielson that Dave pictured above. No contest! The Lie Nielson is the better plane by far, and it fits the hand really well.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I second any vote for Lie-Nielsen planes. They're well worth the
"priceyness."

Like the others said above, I use my Lie-Nielsen low angle block plane more than any other tool in the shop.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

I am on the record with respect to the L-N low-angle adjustable. The best tool I own. Fine Woodworking has done reviews of all of these planes. The Veritas was a best buy, I recall, so I suppose it will be a fine tool. I own a Stanley and the L-N and even though I have worked on the Stanley many hours, it still does not come close to the performance of the Lie-Nielsen. The non-adjustable L-N did not perform as well as the adjustable in doing very fine work. BTW, I own a L-N smoothing plane which is so nice I can use it to plane end grain without any problems so all of these tools are top-notch, a pleasure to use and to look at!

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

I'm with the crowd who uses the bronze L-N plane. I'm sure that whatever you decide will work fine as long as you are diligent in keeping the blade sharp.

Eventually, these little planes have a way of endearing themselves to us and ultimately becoming an extension of our hand.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

"Get the best, cry once."

Get the LN plane you won't be sorry.

I am a regular LN customer- they know my name(don't know if that is good or not so good). My 2 regular use block planes are LV LA and LV standard. Excellent tools and I have not craved replacement with LN products.MT

I have a couple LN planes, including the adj mouth low angle block plane,
and a couple of LV planes. The LN planes have just a touch of refinement
that the LV planes lack, though both are really excellent tools. If you love to
plane wood, get the LN. It will add to your enjoyment. Oh, and get the apron
pouch holder. It is a very nice touch to a fine tool.

I have the low-angle bronze plane that Dave pictured above. It's a sweet tool, but I still feel that I need a block plane. The small one is sometimes just not large enough to efficiently complete a task. Plus, an adjustable mouth adds to the versatility of any plane.

BTW, I wouldn't buy a bronze plane again, given a choice of that or iron. The bronze looks and feels better than iron, but it is much softer. If you whack the toe against something hard, it will dent, and just about anything seems to put scratches in the sole.

Which LN or LV plane type/size would you recommend specifically for hand thicknessing tops?

Would the low angle version or the standard angle work best for this?

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Doug Mills
Chicago, Illinois

ok, i get the point,,,you guys all hate LN planes, it so obvious from your post.. By the way, where do you all work,, lie nelson??
I see now that with the addition of a second iron the low angle can be both low and standard, so the low makes sense and the adjustable mouth also gives so much versatility... that leaves,, the stanley 60 1/2, the veritas, and the dum da dum dum,, (all rise please) LIE NELSON LOW ANGLE BLOCK PLANE.

Like roy said, "get the best, only once.

Thanks
Mike

[QUOTE=dmills] Which LN or LV plane type/size would you recommend specifically for hand thicknessing tops?

Would the low angle version or the standard angle work best for this?
[/QUOTE]

Hey Doug,

I use a #4 1/2 (Yes, L-N) with a standard pitch for all smoothing operations in my furniture work, but have not yet tried to plane plates for tops or backs. Generally, a steeper angle will plane figured wood better and L-N sells frogs with different angles to adjust the plane to the type of wood being smoothed. Some folks use a toothed blade for hogging off a lot of wood, to start the process of thicknessing, but there is a plane specially made for this with a curved iron and a wide mouth to pass big chips.SteveCourtright39000.5925

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

[QUOTE=SteveCourtright] Some folks use a toothed blade for hogging off a lot of wood, to start the process of thicknessing, but there is a plane specially made for this with a curved iron and a wide mouth to pass big chips.[/QUOTE]

You are talking about a scrub plane. Unless you have a LOT of wood to remove, I would not use one, certainly not on guitar tops that are usually in the 6 mm range when you get them from a vendor. The scrub plane can take half of that in one pass, leaving a rounded valley type of track. I like to use it diagonally to the grain, then level the valleys with a jack plane, follow up with a jointer plane. To make a really smooth surface on a glued up panel or a table I will finish up with a smoothing plane. I don't have a thicknesser, so I occasionally do this to thickness long, wide boards, to flatten slightly cupped or twisted boards and so on.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

[QUOTE=Arnt] You are talking about a scrub plane. Unless you have a LOT of wood to remove, I would not use one, certainly not on guitar tops that are usually in the 6 mm range when you get them from a vendor. [/QUOTE]

Arnt, I agree completely!

Doug, if you ever want to give a smoothing plane a try with some top or other material give me a call and you can try mine. Smoothing planes typically are considered to start with about a #4 and you can even use jack plane sizes for smoothing, although they are heavy and it makes for hard work. SteveCourtright39000.6471527778

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

I've been planing my tops and B&S on my recent builds. I use Anant Jack & Smoothing planes with Hock blades. I sometimes start off with a wide Stanley block plane to hog off the rough stuff and then go to the more refined cuts with the Jack & Smoothing. Tops are a breeze but the B&S require a bit more care and effort to avoid chipout...Mahogany excluded since it's a joy to plane.

These have standard frogs...I've not used a low angle plane for any of this work yet but would love to try a low angle jack plane.

I'd also be interested in knowing how others plane tonewood to final thickness?

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

One of the first tools I bought to be used specifically for lutherie was the Veritas std. angle block plane. It is a great, solid tool, and worth every penny. I also bought an extra iron so I could have two different bevel angles easily available.

Whichever plane you buy, the first thing you want to do is true the sole. The Veritas was almost dead flat, and required only minimal work to get it there.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live