RWW 127 Getting Started with Hand Planes 

Great methodical video for those of us beginning hand work!

Okay, I am an 18 year old kid, and I have a small Bently number 3 or 4, and a stanley number 5. They are straight up ancient. Using just the number 5 and a cheap table saw I built a woodworking bench that has a 6 foot by 2 foot top that was made of 2x6s and the whole thing weighs a little over 350lbs. In my limited experience, if you have access to a few power tools, go to a barn/yard sale and get an old, old stanley number 5. Then get a known flat surface, like a cast iron table or a piece of 3/4 MDF, put some sandpaper on it, then run the sole of the plane over it. In my workbench project, I only had to use a table saw that cost $25 at a yard sale, and a $10 stanley at a barn sale, clamps (although you could use just a set of weights or screws to clamp the boards), and a 1" irwin chisel I got at the same yard sale for free because the guy wanted that table saw gone. In my opinion, you don't need a number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and however many other planes are out there if you have maybe a 5 or 6, and a few power tools if you are okay with using power tools and you are a DIY or hobbyist.

The money shot was at the 10 minute mark where you take the time to get the camera angle to show us how to set a blade compared to the sole. Thank you!

Gotta be one of the best introductions to hand planes I have seen. My intentions were to purchase a #5 or #6 as a starter plane but now with this new information I believe my first purchase will be a #3 or #4. Can't thank you enough for posting this video! Invaluable!!

Shannon, This is probably the best plane tips I've seen or read about. Thank you for sharing this with us.

Excellent video on planes. I’m a beginner woodworker and have learned so much just watching this.

Thank you, very well made video. My Dad was a master cabinet maker/carpenter and now that my Son is starting to ask questions about his Dad's tools, I want to be able to teach him what my Dad knew and could do. It's very appreciated. I inherited all his old tools and I'm in the process of rehabbing many of them so my Son will have them passed on to him.

Great demo! You are a good teacher. And I like your shop set up; it's just the right size with everything available without being cluttered or overwhelming. Opposable digits up!

Shannon Rogers this is one of the best handplane videos I've seen for the less or inexperienced woodworker. Stumbled upon it while viewing LN's stuff.

Wonderful intro to hand planes. I have been very intimidated and confused by the vast variety out there, but you broke it down very simply. Thank you.

wow, and here i am sanding burn marks off my pieces. incredible finish after using the plane. And here I go learning with my old Stanley bench plane and my Mastercraft block plane. I am so looking so forward to using this tool.

That is a great introduction. It makes sense to gain confidence with using planes for smaller tasks. Thanks.

Watched this at the hardware store, and you just saved me a whole lot of wasted purchase! Going to a desktop thicknesser and grabbing block plane! But will keep on watching to learn the art! Thanks for the wise words!!!

1st time viewing any of your videos. OH MY GOSH! What a great teacher! I am excited to get started. Start small so I'm not overwhelmed. Thank you.!

Thanks for the plane intro video Shanon! Informative and practical. Well done

thanks shannon excellent help for a being wood worker glad you took time to this video

very useful advice for anyone new to hand planing. Thank you

Thank you very much for such clear and concise explanation. This video has helped me to think better about what would be the appropriate plane or planes for the type of work I most frequently do. Cheers.

I wanna thank you for this beautiful and useful video, you explained things clearly and in a pleasant way. Regards

Thank you for your helpful and interesting video. I'm like a Plane omnivore, right now, and you've helped me place some order on the chaos. Keep up the good work!

04:14 I'm aiming at 'squaring up' stock with a hand plane, how to use windings sticks etc. and therefore I think it's crucial to get acquainted with planes. Great video.

@wdworking Got that right! I had my first experience with a No. 4 a week ago (after lapping the rusty bottom and re-grinding the strange little four sided blade that attaches directly to the cap iron) and it was wonderful! Even with having health issues that cause severe stiffening of my muscles with even light activity, I couldn't help it. It was like magic how the wood came out in thin little streamers. Cool stuff.

In my opinion, with today's dimensional lumber, 4S or 3S, you only need two big bench planes, #5 jack plane and #4 smoothing plane. I use the jackplane the most when I need to reduce the thickness or to flat a minor warp or bowing from a board. I used it during construction of a carcass or a space frame to make sure everything is flush and square. The #4 smoothing plane is always used for joinery work. I also use the jack plane for my shooter board. Two other useful planes are rabbet plane and block plane. But if you have a good set of bench chissels, you can do without. Of course, if you have the money, you can buy as many planes as you want.

Shannon, dude, you sure took on a big task with this one. You have every new woodworker out there asking you questions on everything there is to know about planes. Good grief. You have my sympathy.

thanks shannon. subscribed and a big fan of your contributions on woodtalk online radio too

Thank you for this video it answered a ton of questions I've had about hand planes. I know that I am going to be using them when I set up my workshop but this helps out allot.

Heino, I'm not picky about block planes and it really depends on what you want to do, but the rabbet block planes are in my opinion the most versatile especially if you can only have 1 of them.

Too late - I've pretty much assembled most LN bench planes and several specialty planes that I'm looking forward to learning how to use! Yep, its an expensive exercise, but they are beautiful to behold.

This is really quality camera work. good job.

Excellent advice there, helped me focus on the plane size I actually need, thanks!

This was a GREAT video! I was really only looking for the basics of hand planing for a bench project, and I got so much more! Looking forward to see where this goes! subscribed!

Thanks for this... I've been interested in learning how to use a plane and this is the best video I've seen yet!

I really like that workbench.

You are right, the longer the sole the flatter the resulting surface. However smoothing isn't about flattening. It is about creating a blemish free surface that is ready for finish. To do this you need a really fine cut and that is harder to take with a longer sole because now the whole surface has to be really really flat. It is just extra work to do it with a longer plane.

I bought a Lie Nielsen low angle jack and a small block plane a month ago. I also bought some water stones and a jig and honed the blades stupid sharp. I am obviously new to this but I am making a oak coat rack with a cedar shelf on top of it. All my wood was rough dimensional. I got everything squared up and fairly flat on one side. BUT I have all these little lines everywhere from the edge of the blade. The cedar is the worst. I tried using the block plane with the mouth set to nothing and the blade pulled way back. Either I got no cut or too much and left a line. Same with the jack plane ( it has an adjustable mouth ). Some of the oak cleaned up really nice, but the area around knots? Forget it. The cedar seems too soft I guess, can you hand plane cedar to a finished surface? So far I have lots of shavings, on the bright side they smell really good: )

This is fantastic. Thanks for the wealth of information.

I loved this video i have always hated sanding i now understand how and when i can use a planer instead. Thanks.

Thanks for a great video. It really clarified the basics.

@marioaleal I have been encouraging folks to hold off on buying all the tools right away. Not all the tools are necessary right away & I show ways to cut joinery w/ several tool combinations. The last thing I want to see is someone spend a lot on tools only to discover they only want to cut joinery by hand or aren't interested in hand sawing. Many folks join up and learn what to buy for their working style after watching the lessons or reading the huge volume of material in the tool library

Very, very informative and helpful! Thank you!

yes the tail vise is the version 1 of the Benchcrafted vise

Intimidating about planes is not only the vast number of different types and models, but the price of these toys. Most beginning woodworkers will not want to spend thousands of dollars (euro's) to get started. You need at least a couple of saws, a few chisels, a serious set of clamps and ... a bench. The question is: what can you afford in a budget and what comes first.

thanks for this, its really answered a lot of questions I had ! lovely video

Thanks so much for clearing this up.

I am slowly getting into woodworking and I don't have the money to get a planner or a joiner. So I was looking at getting one or two hand planes. I would mostly be working on medium sized things I guess. I have planes on building my son a bed, but mostly smaller things for around the shop that I need to have flat and square that my other cheap tools are not super great at. Suggestions?

That's an excellent argument for a smoothing plane to start with. I want to know why or whether you prefer the #3 to a #4. In the USA I would have suggested that somebody start with a #5 because there are so damned many on the secondary market and it can be tweaked to function as a smoothing plane. I am going to better present your idea of starting with bench planes at the smoothing plane stage.

I have a little doubt. I have heard people that wooden scrub planes are great because are light and you dont get tired. Other people say that metal scrub planes are better because you plane firm and strong over the wood. Im near to buy one, because i dimension all my pieces with hand tools and is really often to me plane around 3/8" to 1/4" of material

Thanks very much I will be taking your advice!

Great tutorial, thank you.

dude the best intro music ever

Great video, good info!

I apply finish right after I have smoothed a board assuming I was able to clean it up properly. Sometimes scrapers are needed to tackle the really nasty grain.

Thank you so much for your video. helped me a lot to decide. Cathy

Thank you; I needed that.

Great video. Thanks.

Thanks, very helpful! Nice collection of planes as well. I see that you started with Veritas BU planes trio and then extended it with BD planes. How does Veritas #6 works for you? That is supposed to be used after scrub plane and maybe LA jack plane with toothed blade, right? I'm kind of following your steps, it seems. I have that BU trio, still have some more in them to learn. But I'm considering to master BD plane next and I think I would benefit from Veritas #6 for flattening big pieces or maybe Veritas custom #5 1/2. Want to use it for shooting long grain as well to make square edges. My target is to build big furniture for myself (doors, bed, dining table) and then see where it goes. What can you tell about that? :-)

@marioaleal works fine for me. It could be a buffering issue with RU-vid. Try it again or visit my site directly to watch it as that version works just fine too.

If the other half is complaining about the time you spend fondling your planes, or the number of planes you own then divorce them. With the money you save you can buy more planes. It's been scientifically proven that's it's impossible to own too many planes. Fact.

Is a number 4 plane more versatile than a number 3 plane ? The reason I ask is that I find number 4 is readily available in most tool stores and have never seen a number 3 plane. I wonder if you will make more videos demonstrating the uses of each type of plane. Thanks for this great video.

No there really isn't a difference other than sole length (which is a pretty big deal in how the plane works). Some specialty smoothing planes will make little tweaks in the mass and the frog (what the cutting iron sits on) in order to facilitate smoothing in tough grain, but in its basic form there is no difference.

great video...thanks

The tool cabinet is the final project in semester 1 of The Hand Tool School. The entire build is cataloged there for members. The bench I made and that process is on my blog, just look for it under the Projects tab of my nav bar

Yes it is Ash.

well that was good for a smoothing plane - but I am hoping for a more overall view of the myriad of planes that you have. Maybe a minute on each plane. Can planes be grouped? How many groups? How do you use that router plane? Shoulder planes look like a must - are they? What the heck is a block plane? I have so many questions

Very informative

I just don't get it. When you are adjusting the depth of the blade by turning the adjusting wheel, you are doing it with the lever cap locked down, and are moving the blade up and down over the face of the frog although the lever is locked. The same is true of adjusting the lateral adjustment. You are moving the blade side to side over the face of the frog even thought the lever is locked. Doesn't this mean the blade is not locked very securely if you are able to do this? If the blade is loose enough to adjust it although it is locked how come planing the wood does not also cause the blade to move?

I always thought your first project was to build a workbench and for that you need at least a #4 Stanley/Bailey Pre-war.

I agree, that confuses me too!

Would you apply a finish to that board you just planed or are there any additional steps? Thank for the lesson. Well done.

How do you handle planning a much larger surface than this small board? If the surface is too large to plane in one pass of the plane, how do you do the entire surface such that the stopping and starting of the plane does not degrade the surface?

Well done! I only have three planes but when properly tuned and sharpened they are a joy to use. Is there a way I can contact you without using RU-vid?

Is that true, when they say that wooden planes do not "vibrate" and Stanley planes do?

The only thing you didn't mention that I would have is to turn the board to be sure that you get both ends fully. Of course you need to work down hill if the wood is prone to tear out, but you know...

Very informative video, thanks you for sharing. Is your wise from bencrafted ? PS: only audio on the left channel ;)

I'm a little confused as to why the smoothing plane is so short. I'm not familiar with the numbers as far as identifying each plane, but I have one that is about 13 inches long that I have cleaned up. It seems that the longer the sole, the truer the face or edge will be.

Thanks for advices, wish I can afford your school

The wooden smoothing plane at 20:24 seems great. Is there any modern company that would offer such a product?

RenaissanceWW: Why do you remove the shaving after every pass? Is it obsessive or is there a reason? Thank you.

thanks for the video..

Hi there, I've just built a small coffee table from scrap woods from a decking project. However the legs don't balance and it rocks. What tool or plan do I get to level them? Thanks!

Good

How can I tell if I'm buying a smoothing plane when I buy an old wooden one from an antique tool shop? It could be a jack plane or a jointer plane as far as I know. Also, is it possible to route with a router plane? You suggest it for the depth of the hole but not from the flat surface. Thanks.

good tutorial, you should fix the sound in your video. its only comes through the left speaker.

I just bought my first plane, I was just wondering if there is a good way to take the protective oil off the plane. I tried using dry paper towel, but it doesn't take off very much. is there an easy way to take that oil off?

what angle is the frog on the smoothing plane? is it higher than 25?

What no. plane is the "smoothing plane" that you demonstrated with.

When you talk about heavy pressure and weight, does that mean I've gotta crank on that mother almost as hard as I can? Do I lean on it and get all 200lbs on that beast, or what? Could you describe the heavy pressure it takes a bit better? I'm trying w my pos lowes plane, and it just doesn't seem to shave. It's like it either grabs and stops or does nothing. Sharpen I suspect?

hi your newset subscriber here, i've been using a surform and sandpaper for a while mainly because i have no money and was wondering if trying to make a hand plane on my own could give me better resaults, btw ill be making it with a 24mm chisel and i can get a bigger one if nessecery. thanks

Hello, I am a subscriber of yours from Spain, would it be possible to subtitle your videos in Spanish? Thanks and greetings from Spain (Europe).

how can yo tell just from looking at a board which way the grain goes?

i like the bench. Is it ash?

Thanks Shannon for hitting absolutely the right spot.. the right question that I was always curious to know about planes. You answered 99% of all my questions except for one. (pardon my ignorance as I am a beginner & hobby woodworker) Can you please let me know if there is any difference between a smoothing plane and rest of no 5 and no 7s except for the length of base ?? I could get some hint in your response to "Howard Hagadorn" but thought of re-clarifying. thanks in advance. :)

what block plane will yourecomend

I can not hand plane bloodwood,what is the trick?

May I ask what "rabbeting block plane" that is ??

Anyone know what type of vice he's using?

What's the name of your intro song?

Has anybody downloaded Woody Hyezmar’s Woodworking Bible? He’s making it available for readers to proof-read and the projects look real good!

gimme some of your planes! lol

@peppersvnv drop by my Renaissancewoodworker website and use the contact form on the right hand side.