Wooden vs Metal planes

[Dangermouse]

Sorry, for me old wooden planes are nice to look at but don't like em to use. they are too fiddly to set up. Although some were / are made with Norris type adjusters and that makes them more useable. Now an infill is the nearest i'd get to a woody, unless I needed to something special only a woody could do.

 

[custard]

The problem I find with wooden planes is bench heights. My benches are 37" high because I do all the heavy work with machines so I only use the bench for jointing. At 37" the bench is still fine for light planing, but a wooden plane adds about 4" to the height so it's not really practical any more.

Incidentally, The Barnsley Workshops, the Mecca of Arts & Crafts furniture making, have their benches at 39-41" high!

 

[Corneel]

Buy yourself some of these.

 

[MIGNAL]

There's certainly a learning curve to adjusting wooden Planes. The Plane has to be set up well - in terms of the wedge fitting etc. Certainly a hollow just in front of the blade mars performance. Most people have a few attempts at adjusting and give up. I guess it's a bit like sharpening without using a guide. Once you learn the right technique though it becomes just as easy as adjusting the metal Plane, perhaps quicker than an old Stanley with their significant backlash.
You also have to find the right hold/weight distribution. Going straight from a metal Plane to a wooden Plane without some experience is probably going to be a bit of a frustrating experience. The tendency is to use the exact same technique for both types of Planes. In reality you have to find the right weight distribution between both hands.
I use both types of Planes. I don't see it as a competition between the two types. I use a wooden Plane wherever I perceive there to be an advantage. That advantage is mainly where there is a fair amount of planing to do in relatively well behaved stock. It's simply much less tiring using a wooden plane over a period of an hour or more. You can see how well a wooden Plane glides over the surface in the following video, at around 50 seconds (notice how he adjusts it):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jizJpFsVcOY

 

[AndyT]

That's a good video for showing how to grip a wooden plane for surfacing. The palm of the left hand should be flat on the top of the plane, with the thumb on the left and the fingers curled down the right hand side.
The grip when edging is quite different. This picture (from 'Every Man his own Mechanic) shows what I mean:

 

[jimi43]

I agree with your comment MIGNAL...very well put.

There is no..."either or"...with metal, wood or infill planes...they are different tools with the same general group name.

One may have "evolved" from another but there is certainly a character and attribute separation that is very distinctive.

I "got" infills quite by accident because I found one early on in my woodworking journey and fell in love.

I put up with "Bailey" type planes because they are workhorses but there is certainly no love for those tools...only one holds my respect and that is my old No.4C

Wooden planes are as much art and history as they are tools...almost primitive...ancient...they hold my respect. The people who made/make wooden planes are craftsmen beyond the norm...the true master craftsmen we all strive to be but often never attain.

This....

....is a work of art....

This....

....is a "Henry Moore" in action...

...and this....

....is a 200 year old antique....which in the right hands....can create other masterpieces.

So before throwing "woodies" into the shed to be food for the worms....think for a moment....it really IS about the TOOLS after all! 8)

Jim

 

[adzeman]

Something I cant explain is when you hold a balanced tool it feels right. I have my favorite chisel, hammer screwdriver and plane. If I lost one I would suffer withdrawal simptons. Old tools have this affect and are usually wood but some are metal and some tools like my Record 044 I have never come to grips with. Go into B & Q try a plane out or hammer not good. Go into an old tool/2nd hand specialist store or a boot fair can be heaven/therapeutic. Got to go now the men in a green van wearing white coats has just arrived.

 

[AndyT]

I agree with all that. Tiny differences of handle size, roundness, positioning and balance make a big difference in use. The pictures Corneel posted show how different the positions of handles and iron can be. Add in the variables of the body size of the user and it can all get a bit bewildering - but so nice when the elements are all just right.

 

[D_W]

I'm going to resurrect this topic--strange that google brought it to me when I was looking for 18th century plane eyes not too long ago, and then again today when I was looking for pictures of a stanley 8.

Larry's planes shown above are lighter than most double iron planes of the same size (a try plane would be closer in weight to his jointer), and what I found of a plane that wasn't totally dried up is that the 22-24 inch try/long plane that would parallel a stanley 7 is somewhere around the same weight. I have had them as light as 6 pounds 6 ounces, and some closer to 8.

When I make a plane in the same dimensions as the old try planes with a 2 1/2 inch wide iron, they are always between 7 and 8 pounds, depending on the density of the billet that's used.

Less fatigue with the wooden planes has always been about friction more than toe weight, as I've not done more with a stanley in use other than lift it to reduce iron wear a little - never totally off of a piece.

A topic of interest to me because making wooden planes was something that ended up on my bench because I wanted to ditch my power tools for the most part, and using a lie nielsen jointer or a stanley 8 to do a lot of face jointing is an uninviting task unless you stop constantly to wax.

I surveyed the weights of planes carefully before starting, just out of curiosity. I had a 21 inch chapin plane that weighed close to 9 pounds, and I still don't know why. I guess someone repeatedly oiled it (it was beech with a 2 1/2" iron). It was undesirable to use. Also had a 28 inch J. H. Lamb jointer (2 1/2" iron) that was otherwise a nice plane, but it was over 10 pounds (also beech) whereas another make (can't remember) that had a 2 3/4" iron was about 8 1/2 pounds. In heavy work with that iron width, it actually felt a bit light - especially after using the lamb.

The first double iron plane that I made was a 28" jointer, and it came out at 10 pounds.

(all of the planes I've mentioned are double iron, and the handles are not quite as close to the back of the iron because they are common pitch. AS a counter to the opinion that the plane should rise up without being toe or heel heavy, the hand position that requires that has never been very favorable to me because it puts the mouth further back on the plane, and in use, it feels less like it's at the front of your hand, and more like the mouth is operating under your armpit, so to speak - that's undesirable in heavy work).

I would assume there is plenty of merit to the later double iron format as it cost more to purchase, but eliminated single iron planes on an economic basis (in that you could do a greater volume of work over a period of time).