What plane should I buy first?

Your first purchases should be a low-angle block plane and a shoulder plane, above. Both help you put a refining touch on the less-than-perfect cuts produced by your power tools.

What plane should I start with?

Q. What hand plane is good for beginners? A decent all-around hand plane, either a #4 smoothing hand plane or a #5 jack plane will give you a good start. As you become more adept at using a hand plane, you may want to add specialty planes to your hand tool collection.

What Is a Number 4 plane used for?

4 Bench Plane. The No. 4 smoothing plane is historically the most common size. It is an excellent balance of sole length and cutter width to be useful for typical furniture parts.

What planes should a woodworker have?

Do I need a No 5 plane?

The No.

5 is the “jack of all trades.” Like most clichés, this one is basically true. If you can only have one plane, the No. 5 is a good choice. It's light enough to use for long periods of time, but the sole is long enough to give you a good reference surface for many straightening and flattening tasks at the bench.

Which Plane Should I Buy First? | Paul Sellers

What hand planes are essential?

What is a coffin plane used for?

Being smaller than other bench planes, the smoothing plane is better able to work on smaller workpieces and around obstructions. Since the 1700s wooden smoothing planes have predominantly been 'coffin shaped' – wider in the middle and slightly rounded – making them more manoeuvrable.

What number plane do I need?

I'd recommend a #5 and a block plane for most beginner woodworkers as their first planes. They are both versatile and very useful planes. If you plan to make large things like tables and cabinets get a #6 or 7 next followed by a #4 – reverse that order if you want to make chairs or smaller objects.

What is a block plane best for?

A block plane is a small metal-bodied woodworking hand plane which typically has the blade bedded at a lower angle than other planes, with the bevel up. It is designed to cut end grain and do touchup or finish work.

What is a #3 plane used for?

This may be nominal, but on a fine finish it's notable. The narrow blade of the No. 3 hand plane gives you great strength behind each shaving, so you can push through any grain with consistency.

Are wooden planes any good?

In terms of flatness, wooden planes stay flat but they do wear too. That said, they don't wear as fast as you might expect and on smooth wood, they wear only minimally. The hardest time for wooden and metal planes is on roughing stock from rough-sawn and riven stock to smooth and square.

What's the easiest plane to fly?

The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is widely considered the easiest plane to fly. While many factors come into play that makes the Cessna 172 so easy to fly, the most influential features are its high wing configuration, powerful engine, spacious & comfortable cockpit, and intuitive and forgiving controls.

How much should I spend on my first plane?

That's because the $25,000 to $50,000 range is your sweet spot. Buying a plane for $15,000 may be much cheaper, but you're also much more likely to have to make mechanical upgrades as well as avionics. In this sense, a plane that cheap may not be what you need.

Is it expensive to own a plane?

The Bottom Line. Many costs factor into the economics of small aircraft ownership. On average, a $75,000 financed Cessna winds up costing $200 per hour, if flown 100 hours per year, with $80 going toward fuel, oil and maintenance. Similar aircraft may be rented for about $125 per hour.

How long is a number 6 plane?

Under the Stanley Bailey numbering system for metal-bodied planes the #6 fore planes are 18 inches (460 mm) long, longer than the #5 jack planes and shorter than the #7 and #8 jointer planes. Historically, wooden-bodied fore planes have been 18 to 22 inches (460 to 560 mm) long.

What is a bench plane used for?

Bench planes are used to flatten and smooth broad wood surfaces and narrow edges. Long bench planes are best suited for smoothing very long surfaces and edges. Specialty planes, such as a shoulder plane or rabbet plane, have plane irons (blades) that come flush with the edges of the tool.

What is the difference between a jack plane and a smoothing plane?

Jack plane is used to shape the lumber to finer dimensions while the Smoothing plane is used to smoothen further out the surface by making it ready to finish.

What is a plow plane used for?

A grooving plane, plow plane, or plough plane is a plane used in woodworking to make grooves and (with some of the metal versions) small rabbets. They are traditionally used for drawer bottoms or rear walls.

Do I need a wood planer?

Most woodworkers know that you need both a planer and a jointer to get the most out of rough lumber (at least for power tool users). The jointer is used to flatten one face and square up one edge and the planer is then used to make the second face flat and parallel to the first.