What a difference a plane makes...

[Michelle_K]

I haven't been woodworking for very long. About two years now. I started off learning guitar making and I have learned woodworking at the same time. So there are a lot of processes I am still getting to grips with. Things that would seem easy and a skill I should have acquired far before ever attempting to make an instrument.
An example, squaring a piece of wood or flattening a face with out using sandpaper on a flat surface.
Usually when I have attempted to flatten something it has taken far longer then I have felt like it should. I am basing time scales on people I watch on YouTube etc. Intially I found I was ending up with slanted surfaces having one side higher then the other. Eventually I realised this was a combination of poor plane set up and incorrect pressure application.
Eventually I corrected this but I still slip every so often.
All of my planes have been second hand rusty old boot fair finds which I have cleaned up and tried as best as I can. I have flattened the soles as best I can on glass with wet and dry and checked hoping all was ok. This has cost me several packs of wet and dry.
Then the other day whilst at college I borrowed a class mates block plane which is new and good quality plane. I was flattening a piece of wood and with only two passes the wood was flat.
I thought it was a fluke so continued flattening several other pieces of wood and within a bit of time each piece was flat. The process was far quicker then I am used to and it was such a pleasure using a new tool. It got me thinking that whilst old planes are great for starting out,eventually it would be lovely to treat myself to some new chisels a hand plane and finally a brand new block plane. I know they will also need setting up but nothing like the restoration and set up of an old plane.
I just couldn't believe how easy it was and how the tool just did what I wanted it to do.
I have since again checked that the sole of my plane is flat and it is and it is set up correctly. It just doesn't seem to perform as quickly as the plane I borrowed!

Cannot wait for the future upgrades. I really like the look of that veritas plane which has the interchangeable frog. As for a block plane I used a lie neilsen once but that is a lot of money so maybe a veritas one one day. I don't know I just want it to be high quality. I had considered the quangshen planes as they are a little more affordable but they are just too heavy. After using one for an afternoon my wrist was so painful. As was my hand. Whilst using the block plane I had to keep stopping to rest my hand. I had great results with it but it hurt my hand to much. O

 

[novocaine]

all of that points to you not having your plane set up correctly, if it is setup well, then it will be as good as any modern plane (assuming you are starting with something of ok quality). I'd also suggest you aren't sharpening your blades as well as you think, as this is what makes the largest difference. perhaps you should see if you can use something of comparable nature to that you have now in order to prove the concept.

the normal lifecycle of a hobbyist is to start with old planes because they are cheap, lose faith and spend the brass on the latest and greatest, sell them after a while and go back to the old ones but with a better understanding of how to setup in the first place. perhaps if there is someone local to you with the knowledge, they could give your plane a once over and see if it can be improved, maybe show you their method of sharpening and teach you a few things too, which is always nice.

 

[ED65]

Usually when I have attempted to flatten something it has taken far longer then I have felt like it should. I am basing time scales on people I watch on YouTube etc.

I wouldn't hold yourself to a stopwatch. Speed in and of itself shouldn't be the goal, it's a consequence of practice and experience. You get faster naturally as you go along but being fast shouldn't be what you're aiming for outside of a production environment. To get really fast at something (esp if you're not doing it professionally) you have to actually run yourself through drills, and where's the fun in that?

You're not being fair on yourself comparing your speed or efficiency directly against a demo you see online. The bulk of the people doing those videos have much more experience than you so of course they're very much faster. I bet you're a lot faster now than your two-years-ago self; one year from now you'll be faster and more proficient than your current self.

Intially I found I was ending up with slanted surfaces having one side higher then the other. Eventually I realised this was a combination of poor plane set up and incorrect pressure application.
Eventually I corrected this but I still slip every so often.

That's okay, we all do it. Shhh, don't tell anyone but even some pros still do that. Some will even admit it.

The difference is experienced woodworkers are working to their marks, they stop and check progress as needed and error correct as they go. It happens so naturally sometimes you don't realise that's what's happening but a lot of hand-tool processes are incremental, with each increment not having to be flawless (just as well given the contrary nature of wood) for the end result to turn out well.

You might find some of the comments on this other current thread a useful read if you haven't seen it, Hand planing help.

 

[ED65]

About your planes and how different the experience was with the one you got to try, I want to say that yours are probably right and you just need to plug away, but to be honest I have a niggling suspicion that novocaine is right and that something is amiss in the way they're set up.

It could be merely an adjustment issue, rather than a physical defect that hasn't been fettled out, although both are possible either separately or together. At least it sounds like their soles are flat enough at this point that you don't need to worry about them!

Not sure if you missed it but in your previous thread on block planes where you mentioned having issues with your rehabbed planes I suggested that we can help diagnose and potentially help rectify any minor niggles they might still have if you start a thread on it. You can do it one plane at a time if you like or all together.

I would as a rule advise against throwing money at the problem. The Veritas plane you mention, my 2p would be to skip it for a host of reasons. The replaceable-frog plane is one of those things, easily argued it is actually a solution to a problem that wasn't really there to begin with. If you're in love with its looks and it has become a Must Have, that's as good a reason as any to treat yourself, but do be aware that many old tools are just as capable, and sometimes slightly more, than a modern-day 'equivalent'. The L-N bench planes for example, fine tools, but any decent example of a standard Stanley (or Record or Millers Falls or Woden etc.) is just as good and arguably a slightly better design in one or two key ways.