Which Hand Plane(s)/Saw to start?

[Sailor]

Good evening,

Without going the L.N. route (not feasible financially) which couple of hand planes would you recommend for starters? Also, I see a few Disston saws on e-Bay for what appears to be a reasonable price, would these be a good way to begin and if so which ones?

I've just retired after being injured and would like to get back into woodworking and have been donated a few power tools and a set of Ashley chisels for Christmas so I have a reasonable start.

Many thanks,

Colin

 

[MixedHerbs]

At the risk of being rebuked, I find a jig-saw more use than a hand-saw. Some years ago, I bought a Disston and am now thinking of putting it on Ebay!

It all depends on what you want to make.

Regards, Peter.

 

[Sailor]

Peter thanks,
That's what I'm doing at the moment but find for longer cuts and thicker pieces, it's a drawn out process setting up guides or having to rotate the work piece!

Colin

 

[bugbear]

Without going the L.N. route (not feasible financially) which couple of hand planes would you recommend for starters? Also, I see a few Disston saws on e-Bay for what appears to be a reasonable price, would these be a good way to begin and if so which ones?

Planes. Easy. If you have time go to car boots, if not lurk on Ebay.

I would recommend buying a Record #04 and #05. Look for planes where the blades have square (not round) corners, which is an easy to spot proxy for age, which is and easy to spot proxy for quality.

Clean and tune. Possibly upgrade the blade later.
http://www.geocities.com/plybench/plane.html

Don't forget to buy/budget for sharpening facilties. Without them a plane is a piece of scrap, LN included (and so are your chisels, BTW)

Saws. Tricky. For bulk work, in the early stages, I'd simply buy a cheap hardpoint (just to avoid climbing to many learning curves).

For joint cutting life gets trickier. The cheap way is to buy and old backsaw (almost any brand) at a car boot and restore/sharpen it. but this takes specialist toolls and skill.

The only "ready to go" tenon and DT saws on the market are expensive.

If you're lucky someone here may be able to help.

 

[aldel]

For planes, look for second hand Record, Stanley or other makes. The main point is that they must be in reasonable condition and not modern versions.
The older ones are of better quality and can be tuned and cleaned to work well. You can always add superior blades at a later date.
With regards to saws, I will probably infuriate the purists, but I suggest buying some hard points. Rip, cross-cut and small fine toothed are all available and will be more than good enough for all but the most exacting work. I believe that it is much better to have a sharp hard-point that cuts well than a dull and poorly set old one.
How many hard-point saws can you buy for the cost of just one LN?!
Regards, Aldel

 

[ByronBlack]

For Planes, I would definitly recommend the following:

(prices are based on ebay)

Stanley or Record block plane - these can be used for end grain, tidying up, and even smoothing small sections. They sell on ebay for around £20

No.4 Smoother - you can pick these up for around £10 - £20 again, look for old stanley or records.

No.7 Jointer - If you are going to be making cabinets, this is an essential took for making wider panels, and for smoothing larger sections, look to spend around £60-80

For saws, I disagree with bugbear, you can get good joint cutting tenon and Dt saws for not a lot of money. Look at the japanese saws on axminster. You'll want a Dozuki for small tenons and DT's and something a little larger for dedicated tenons, prices are around £20 and the quality is excellent.

Also, for your sharpening requirements, I can heartily recommend the 'Ice Bear' kit from axminster, you get a rough and fine waterstone, a nagura stone to clean them and a holder to hold the stones in place. I've got excellent sharpness from this system. Again, its available from axminster.

 

[Sailor]

Thanks,

All the suggestions are helpful and I did think of just a couple of hardpoint saws from our local hardware shop, but wasn't sure if that would be throwing money away which could have been put to a better use!

Sharpening is something I'm not too worried about, I tend to use Wet & Dry and honing powder on a large piece of float glass I had given me which is mounted in a piece of ply. The only problem will be the very narrow chisels, but I should be able to make a jig to keep them square.

Regards,

Colin

 

[Midnight]

Colin... serious question... what types of wood are you looking to work??

Records and Stanleys are fine for softwood, so so on really tame hardwood... if you intend to work anything with some figure to it I'd recommend a plane designed from the outset with a blade thick enough to give the results you're looking for... If L-N is out of the question, consder Clifton or Lee Valley...

Failing that... try to find real old Record or Stanley (pre-war preferably).. toss the blades and chip-breakers and get thicker replacements. I've just upgraded a pair of Stanley planes (#4&#5) with Lie Nielsen blades (0.095" as opposed to their normal 0.125" thick) c/w improved chip breakers... Although the upgrade has transformed their performance, they still don't compare to my Lie Nielsens...

As for handsaws... check these out...

http://www.axminster.co.uk/recno/5/prod ... -23577.htm

I've just completed a project that was made entirely with handraulic tools... all the ripping and cross cutting was done with these... If I didn't have a huge job coming up that requires sheet material I'd be seriously thinking about giving up my table saw...

Short guide for tool purchace is to buy the best you can afford after you've done your research... There's a lot of lemons out there.... don't ask me how I know this....

 

[Chris Knight]

Ray Iles ( http://www.oldtools.free-online.co.uk/ ) sells reconditioned planes by Stanley and Record that are said to be good value. Old ones = better generally.

Since he has taken up making chisels and planes etc. the web site seems a bit wonky but his phone number is there

 

[Sailor]

Evening,
Midnight said

Colin... serious question... what types of wood are you looking to work??

Thanks, that's something I had been thinking about and probably 60% hardwood, balance soft. I hadn't realised it would make quite so much difference.

I'm beginning to think that what cash I can put into this, will initially go into the best planes I can afford and probably make do with a couple of cheaper saws until I can buy better.
That's working on the premise that useful planes would be more expensive to initially buy and also to replace! Also, I've seen mentioned a few times of replacing the cutters etc on older planes which sounds feasible.

Again thanks,

Colin