Planes for power tools users

 YES, you can still find them useful.  So much that you may never look back once you tried.

NO, you do not need the whole assortment available, me neither, but a few tools can make all the differences in your work precision.

As a minimum I would say 3

A jack, with a spare blade assembly, a router plane and a rabbet or shoulder plane

Lets have a closer look

Jack plane

When you work with hand tools, you would use three bench planes, The Jack, the Jointer and finally the Smoother, to take a board from rough to finish surface.  The three Amigos

The three Amigos in questions.

Top Metal planes No 7 jointer, No 5 Jack, No 4 Smoother

Below, the same ones in wood

Since we are not flattening board by hands but just mostly trimming them, the lonely Jack can do it all with one spare blade assembly.

Get your hands on a good old Stanley No 5 Jack plane or its numerous clones  There are everywhere in yard sales, flea markets, Kijiji etc.  Don't worry about rust, unless severely pitted will come out plenty good to be a good worker.  Price?  Expect to pay anywhere from $5 to $25 for what would become a good worker after some work. Nothing too seriously wrong with them.  Worth all the trousers ruined with the WD-40 and rust stains :-)

The original blade set on the left has a 8 inch radius.

Its replacement set is a new Veritas blade and cap iron match set.

Wrong size shown, but you get the idea.

The No 4 and 5 use the same size blade BTW

Why two blades?  One shaped with a curvature of about 8 inch radius, act like a scrub plane to quickly remove material to flatten boards which are too wide for the jointer and the spare blade keep straight with the corners slightly relieved, act like a smoother and a jointer.  One plane does the work of three.

Why getting a premium spare blade set?  Because if nothing else, it will transform your tool into a real good one, and show you what to expect from a properly sharpen and set up blade.  Worth every penny.

But you don't have to go this way, you can get New Old Stock blade (look at Bargain Harley's in Berwick) or just a new spare cutter from a hardware store.  Just don't expect them to work as good as the premium stuff.  Not without some fettling anyway.

It size and mass also makes it a very good plane to use on a shooting board.

A cleat hold the shooting board while pushing the tool into the work

The top layer elevate your work piece and create a channel for the plane to ride on

This ensure that the exposed blade portion cover the whole piece.

The work piece is simply pushed against the fence, 90 degrees to the plane path

 

Yes, the shooting board is a must accessory with your plane.  A very simple jig to make, with it, you can easily trim the ends or face of a board exactly square and true. 

Pulling end grain shavings on the end of  Spalted  Curly maple

A favorite of mine in my shooting board is the Low Angle Jack from Veritas 

I added a sunken T-Nut to attach accessories on mine.  

Mostly for mitering angles

You can easily and effortlessly shaves off a few thou's of wood repeatedly, safely.

Impossible with any power tools. The closest would be a disk sander, but not as precise and harder on the fingers :-)

 I will show you how to build and use it. If you have a plane, you need one.

 

Router plane

If you do any kind of joinery involving Dados, Rabbets, Tenons, or want to clean up to a level surface a recess opening.  You need a router plane. 

Think your dadoes are coming off clean off the table saw?  NOPE, take a look at the bottom surface.

Think it does not matter?  It will prevent your pieces from fully seating, causing distortions. 

It is probably filled with small ridges left over from dadoes blades and spacers.  The depth is a bit uneven by inconsistent down pressure when your piece was passing over the dado head while cutting.  Yes, you can minimized that by using feather boards, but it may still be uneven. Not to mention if there was any curvature in your workpiece, it is not going to cut evenly.

Using a router table (as in electric screaming router) will produce the same inconsistencies in depth.  Minimized with feather boards, almost taking care of when using a power feeder.  But there is an easier way...

The Stanley No 71 Router plane 

The router plane riding on the surrounding top surface ensure an even bottom cut.  Need a wider base for your router?  Notice the 2 holes in the bottom?  That is to attach a wood piece of whatever length you need to bridge the opening.

They comes in three sizes Small, Medium and Large.

Stanley and others only made two sizes: The large one No 71 and the small one No 271

Stanley, smallest, the No 271

Veritas introduced a newer size in between (medium), 

and a very small size, shown, 

which is still a real working tool.

The largest (No 71) is your most used.  It in turn comes with three cutters: Square across (in two width) and a spear point cutter.  Shown on my LV router pic above.

I used practically all the time, my spear point cutter.  Goes in everywhere, can attack the grain at various angles.

Note that the large Veritas one can use the older Stanley No 71 cutters and vice versa.  So If you find an old one with missing cutters, you can buy new ones at LV.

The rabbet plane or the shoulder plane.

Both may look similar, blade extending on both side of sole, unlike your typical bench plane, both they are different animals.

The shoulder plane (below) has a lower bed angle , because it is designed to cut end grain.  

As in the shoulder of a tenon.  The rabbet plane (above) has a higher angle, more like 45 degrees like other bench planes, it is designed to cut rabbets on the side of a board.

I used them interchangeably in this example, because either could do the other's job, albeit not as good, due to the different bed angle.

Why would you need one?  Again for quick clean up of your power tool joinery, or even to cut the rabbets quicker than it will take you to set up the dado head, make your cuts then take it all out again for storage.  And you may still need clean up the joinery. So yeah, it's handy to have.

These three types are what you are looking for.  

Pick one.

From L-R Veritas shoulder plane, Stanley No 78 Duplex Fillester, 

Wooden skew rabbet plane

If going for a rabbet plane, one very versatile model is the Stanley No 78 Duplex, Fillester plane

Shown complete with its usual missing pieces.

The rod, the fence and the depth stop.

It is a Bullnose plane or a Rabbet plane (Duplex) and a Fillester plane (with the fence)

Notice the two rectangular raised pads on top of the fence?

It is to ensure that the fence can pass under the blade.

That ability to pass the fence under makes it a Fillester plane.

As set, it would cut a rabbet a set distance (width) from the edge.

To be considered complete, it should come with the fence and the depth stop.  There is only one blade with it.  You either use it up front (bull nose ) or in the back as a rabbet plane.  

Its weakest point is how the fence attach to the single rod, with a thumb screw.  

NO matter how hard you cinch it (Please do not use a pair of pliers) that damn fence will droop, meaning it is now a smidgen loose.  Just think of the fence and the depth stops as "suggesters" rather than definite stops.  Don't be a Cro-Magnon and everything will be fine, watch your layout lines and stop before you blow by them.

Expect to pay about $50 and up, depending on condition and if complete.. Buying missing parts will cost you as much as you pay for the tool, no real bargain.  The depth "suggester" you can easily do without.  The fence, I rarely use, so ...

The Record No 778 is an improved version of this plane, using two rods for the fence.  Depth stop remains a depth suggester (as in most planes BTW) rather than a stop, but the fence problem is fixed.

A new more precise metal plane would be a premium skew rabbet plane from Veritas 

If going for a wooden Rabbet plane, get a skew version, it will handle straight grain and end grain better.  Prices about $15-30 range used.  Depend on name, condition etc.

(L) A wooden skew rabbet plane

(R) Veritas large shoulder plane, 1-1/4 in wide

If going for a Shoulder plane get the largest you an afford, I.E. at least 3/4 inch and above

If buying new, cannot say enough good things for the Veritas shoulder planes, 

OR, since we already have our trusty 1/2 in chisel, sharp and ready to go, why not transform it into a rabbet plane?

Don't panic, nothing complicated  Watch how it is done...using saw and chisels...  Which you should have by now.

Rehabbing and using antiques wooden rabbet planes?  Watch this 

If you been following along your tool kit should now looks something like this.

Notice they  seems to repeats in three's.

Only 2 saws? Yes because I removed a rip saw. 

Normally a dovetail saw would be added (rip).

But this is mostly geared for power tools users. they used another kind of router for dovetails :-)

And we are almost done.  Next we will add a few essential marking and measuring tools, and then you are all set.

Yes, you will find most of these tools at the Wood Hobby shop, but you are better off having your own.  They will be always available to you, sharper, and you will avoid measurements errors by using the same tool throughout your project.

Not a big kit to carry around and maximize your shop time. 

Bob, the tools peddler