BEST First Hand Planes for Woodworkers 

Glad you're enjoying it!

Thanks! I'm definitely one of those guys that's been doing this long enough to have a big shop with significant machine/tool investments. BUT, I like to focus on the basic knowledge needed to solve the problems - not "THIS is the best tool, bet you wish you could have one too."

Look up Paul Sellers, he’s exclusively traditional but I don’t know a better woodworker to recommend for beginners.

They’re super handy for just that reason.

I must admit have a number 10 with changeable blades but still go old school

Glad you found it helpful!

Happy I was able to help! There’s a code in the description to save 10%, I don’t get any kickbacks or anything. It’s just for you 😊

Very true. For the best quality work you really wanna sneak up on each joint.

Thanks! 😃

I think so too!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks!

Thanks, I hope so too!

Until you get the feel for it, use a small square against the sole of the plane and the side of the board. I've not used a plane yet, but that is how I would learn. I think there is also a longer version of a shooting board that could help.

It's definitely a feel thing.. after enough time eventually it just kind of clicks. That said, if I know an edge isn't square I have to keep checking and re-checking as I go to bring it square. But once it's close, muscle memory just does its thing.

Chisels are handy too

They make chisels too... but yeah, I know. Like, I'm a straight razor guy. Sharpening is a bridge that's gotta get crossed at some point. If they had a resharpenable blade option too somehow, I think it'd be unstoppable.

@@YouCanMakeThisToo i totally agree. Make a resharpenable version with all the high tech features and that's a killer product.

Tell me about it! I love traditional planes but it took me forever and a good chunk in diamond plates, the veritas jig, and quite a few hours before I had a handle on them. The RALI will have you running out of the box. Doesn’t quite have the same romance, but can’t argue with the results.

Thanks!

It's Wall Control

Nothing. You can skew the blade to help bring an unsquare edge to square.. but it's just a different technique. With the blade square you'd just use hand position, a fence, or tipping the plane. The adjuster in planes is there because it'd take really tight tolerances to index a heavy iron perfectly every time, and it'd also require perfectly square sharpening every time. Without being able to adjust the iron, if you sharpened one side unequally.. now you can't take a full cut and have to go chase square on your stones.

Thanks! Accidentally got a space in there, it's fixed now.

Hand planes and sand paper serve different functions in fine furniture. It depends on what you do. And when you compare ~$100 each for these planes to what you’d pay for a Veritas or Lie Nelson, and then you still need a sharpening set up.. it’s a bargain. Being a bargain still doesn’t mean it’s everyone’s budget though.

Not the beginning of the video, but before I make my case for those planes in particular - I disclose the agreement ( 6:56 ) and why I’m making the video. Everything up to that point applies to hand planes in general, so I disagree I was misleading in anyway. I don’t play games about sponsorships. I agree about the importance of learning to sharpen, set up tools, maintain machines, and many other supporting skill sets. They’re invaluable and if you want to get into ‘fine’ woodworking are absolutely essential. They’re also challenging to learn by yourself, at least for me. My goal is to encourage folks to just be in the shop making and remove anything that keeps them from that, especially early days. To use an analogy, it’s like if you have a voluntary music student any good instructor will have that student doing some simple melodies or rhythms as soon as possible and use the music as the practice as long as possible. The theory, the scales, the exercises that are purely practice.. come after you’ve locked the love of the craft. Though not the fastest way to build skills, it’s a lot faster than quitting will get you. I try to postpone the frustration until one’s interest is definitely stronger than frustration will be. Frustration isn’t fun, and hobbies are meant to be fun and fulfilling. I’m not claiming supremacy in my approach, but it’s mine and I think well reasoned and helpful to many - I accept not all, and maybe not even most. People are too varied for one approach to work for all, there’s plenty of others out there also giving their suggestions on how to approach this craft that’s different from mine and more applicable to their audience. I don’t mean this to be disagreeable, just thought I’d explain my reasoning more deeply since you had concerns, and want to match the thoughtfulness you showed in your comment. I appreciate the conversation

Have you tried it? If not, you just sound like someone repeating what someone else heard

A used plane is a LOT cheaper. Takes more setup/research time but if money is a concern I don't think Rali planes are a reasonable option.

@@kz.irudimen Forgetting the added cost of the sharpening system and time is money most in most cases, and it's also time to learn to use the tool that's going to be effected. So it's reasonable, you're getting a lot of convenience with these, just different trade offs and everyone has to decide which trade off is better for them...

@@ZeoCyberG That's true but you'll have to learn sharpening at one point or another, unless you also want to use Rali chisels, which are also extremely expensive. You can start sharpening with 15€ of sandpaper. Convenience/time saving is definetely an argument, budget is not.

@@kz.irudimen There's a lot more to learn with sharpening a plane iron than a chisel and they don't have to do anything with each other. Like the choice between Japanese saws and Western doesn't have to effect your choice in chisels, similarly the Japanese saws tend to be easier and cheaper to just replace and they have different pros and cons vs the western ones... It's the same with these planes. Like he said, for someone starting out these are just quicker and easier to get to working.

@@ZeoCyberG I don't know why you're still telling me these are "quicker and easier" when I never argued otherwise, I'm only saying they are more expensive. I'm talking about chisels, bcause sharpening a western plane iron or chisel is the exact same process and requires the exacte same material. You're going to have to buy sharpening equipment at some point, it doesn't make sense to say you're saving money by buying Rali planes. Also, you'll need to keep buying blades, which makes it more expensive over time as well. Again, I'm not arguing these aren't easier and quicker, they are. But they cost a TON more money than going with a regular vintage plane.

Perfect screen name.

A plane is basically just a chisel holder. Just comes down to how you prefer to work. Personally I’ll grab a plane over a chisel if it’ll do the job because now I have a mechanical reference instead of just my best efforts at alignment. Definitely agree with him that you there’s lots you’ll see on RU-vid that you don’t need. I’m big on buy tools when you need them. I used to make a lot of small projects and got the tools best for that. But now a 6’ table is a “small” project for me and my shop is outfit accordingly. That’s also why I’m big on going deep on the “why.” The only tool I can think of that every shop should have is a drill… other than that it’s always “what do you make… how do you like to work”

@@YouCanMakeThisToo agree totally