The oldest style of wooden bench plane has a simple metal iron i. Later wooden bench plane models introduced a chip breaker onto the iron, to reduce throat clogging. And it can be fun. You advance and laterally adjust the iron with some taps on the top and side of the iron, and you set the iron in place by tapping the wedge.
I actually find it quite enjoyable to adjust wooden planes. And they have a great historical look! These handplanes are the most common type of metal bench plane, and relatively affordable.
However, the prices of Stanley Bailey planes have jumped in recent years. But you can still find some good deals. These Stanley Bailey planes range in size from a baby-sized 1 plane all the way up to a monster 8 jointer plane, with some fractional sizes in-between. That refers to the version.
Opinions vary, but most people feel that the quality peaked between type 11 and 13, and that the quality sharply declined during and after World War 2.
You can visit my type study page to see how old your Stanley Bailey handplane is. Bed Rock handplanes were a superior line of bench planes manufactured by Stanley, based on patents from some other ingenious people.
The Bed Rock planes get their name from the solid and smooth machined casting that the frog sits on, which leads to less chance of vibration while handplaning a board. In my opinion this is the most important feature of the plane. This style of plane also features an easier mechanism for opening and closing the mouth; using adjustment screws on the rear of the frog, without having to unscrew the frog, like you do on the Bailey style planes.
The price of vintage Bed Rock style planes are astronomical compared to the Bailey style planes, due to the superior design and the comparative scarcity. However, a Bailey style plane will work great for you. There are a couple higher-end modern manufacturers who produce Bed Rock style planes.
The price tag is high, but not a lot higher than vintage Bed Rock planes. Transitional hand planes are a cross between a wooden handplane and a metal handplane. They have metal parts with a wooden body. You may think that they were the evolutionary link between wooden bench planes and metal bench planes, but they were actually released after the initial metal bench planes. From what I understand, it was to appeal to people who liked the adjustability of metal planes, but missed the wooden soles and bodies of the all-wooden bench planes.
It could also have been a way for tool companies to offer a more affordable line of bench planes. Sometimes I find transitional planes challenging to get tuned up to the level required for a smoothing plane or jointer plane, but the risk of trying them out is low because the price is so low.
A less common vintage bench plane design that originated from Stanley, is the low angle bevel up handplanes. The solid iron simply sits firmly against the low angle plane casting. This style of plane has gotten some traction in recent years as several modern plane makers have tried to resurrect the style. It has some nice flexibility because, depending on how you sharpen the iron, it can be used as a low angle plane for cutting end grain, as a normal bench plane for standard handplaning, or as a high angle plane for planing difficult figured wood grain.
But buying two extra blades can get expensive. The vintage bevel up planes have some design flaws, and are also so rare that the prices are way too high. So I tend to prefer the modern versions from a couple different plane makers. These incredibly well-made metal planes were usually made to very high tolerances. You can opt for a nice infill plane, like the one shown above, that lacks a brand name, which further lowers the price.
As I mentioned earlier, a Jack Plane or a fore plane or a scrub plane is the first handplane to touch your rough-sawn board. I prefer a larger Jack plane or an even larger Fore plane over a dedicated scrub plane. Precise features that may be desirable on a smoothing plane or a jointer plane, like a tight mouth for example, are usually not desirable on a jack plane. See above how the plane has such a wide open mouth to allow rough wood shavings to exit?
In fact, some of my favorite jack planes are the most affordable planes on the market. The antique wooden plane pictured above is my favorite jack plane. Click here to see similar wooden jack planes on Ebay.
Another fantastic candidate for scrubbing are vintage transitional jack planes pictured above , which I mentioned earlier. Just avoid buying a plane that has obvious major problems, like cracked metal parts, major cracks in the wooden body, badly broken totes or knobs, or missing parts, because buying replacement parts are often more expensive than buying the plane itself.
Here are some of the models that I own and enjoy using:. And if you combine them with a good wooden smoothing plane and a good wooden jointer plane, you can keep your bench plane budget under a hundred dollars.
These Jack planes are the most common planes available, and were manufactured in the millions. Stanley was the largest producers of metal bench planes, and this was their most common size.
This is how it can work: When you buy a metal number 5 jack plane, also buy a second iron. Sharpen one iron with an extreme camber for scrubbing a rough board:. And then sharpen the other blade with a barely noticeable camber for smoothing and jointing:. A jack plane can actually work perfectly as a jointer plane, as long as your board is less than three times the length of the jack plane.
Many furniture parts are under this length, so a jack plane is quite flexible as a jointer plane. And the jack plane can work somewhat well as a smoothing plane. However, it would be difficult to get into small areas of difficult grain to smooth it, with such a long plane. When you switch from the smoother or jointer setup to a scrubbing setup, you would just switch out the blade and adjust the frog mechanism to open the mouth to allow the big wood shavings to exit.
A few companies make these low angle jack planes pictured above and below. As you can see, the design is different than the normal bench planes; the bevel of the iron faces upward rather than downward.
I touched on this earlier. Also, the bed of the plane sits at a lower angle. The cool thing about this type of plane is that it can be used in multiple configurations in addition to the main use as a low angle plane. The iron comes sharpened from the factory at a 25 degree angle. Add that to the 12 degree milled bed, for an effective low angle of 37 degrees. This is great for general purpose handplaning.
And if you planned on handplaning figured wood, you could buy a third iron and sharpen it at around 50 degrees, which would give you an effective high angle of around 62 degrees. These toothed irons are especially designed for flattening difficult, figured wood.
The mouths on these planes are easily adjusted so you can open and close it for different planing purposes: a tight mouth for smoothing and a wide mouth for scrubbing. I also find that this type of handplane works great with a shooting board. I personally own two different number 62 low angle jack planes both inspired by the vintage Stanley No. Both of these planes work great. The Lie-Nielsen No. I would recommend against buying the vintage No. Stanley has also made a reproduction Stanley Sweetheart No.
If your budget allows for buying three separate bench planes jack plane, jointer plane, and smoothing plane , then just buy an affordable vintage transitional jack plane or a wooden jack plane, and spend more money on a nice smoothing plane and jointer plane. Recently the metal scrub plane has become popular with hobbyist woodworkers for flattening the faces of boards.
The traditional choice for scrubbing was a Fore plane, a Jack plane, or a smaller wooden scrub plane. I personally like using these scrub planes on the edges of thinner boards, but I find them too narrow for quickly flattening board faces or using on the edge of wider boards. So my recommendation would be to not purchase a metal scrub plane, like the Stanley No. Wooden bodied jointer planes are a good and affordable option if you can find one in descent condition and want to spend the time to refurbish it.
Or you can make a jointer plane. In fact, I created a video with handplane expert Bill Anderson on making a lovely 18 th century jointer plane. I made one pictured above , and love the way it works. And I consider it a family heirloom to be passed down to my kids and grand kids. And just like with wooden smoothing planes and jack planes, wooden jointer planes require a bit more work to adjust, and can be a bit puzzling when refurbishing.
The same advice that I shared about buying metal smoothing planes applies here with buying metal jointer planes. The Bailey style number 7 jointer plane is the most popular option, especially the Stanley Bailey No.
You could also buy a Stanley No. But if you buy a No. Check out my Stanley hand plane age identification tool here. The hot dog shaped handle can be moved to either side. No cracks or damage to the rear. As often found in these planes. Very little of the original nickel finish remaining which does not detract from the usability of this great little tool.
Includes the original Stanley Sweetheart iron and rosewood base. A truly excellent user. An extremely accurate edge rabbet plane, used to work a rabbet up to corner. Also good for bullnose work. Some very light pitting on sides and sole from condensation. No chips or breaks on the corners.
Click on large picture. Cast iron, japanned with rosewood knob. A super plane for small general purpose work. Some paint splashes on the rosewood handle. Cast iron, rosewood handle and knob.
No chips in the throat. General purpose bench plane, great for small projects. Used in the work shop and home. A very useful tool in any workshop. Excellent condition. Old Tools Shop. General Antiques. Great Gifts. Leather Worker. Books on Antique Tools. We also stock a variety of Books on Old or Antique Tools. View Books. How To Order. You will find a wide variety of antique tools at Falcon-Wood that have been selected for collectors, users, and various trades.
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