Planes I True My Wood With

ByPaul Sellers

I think often of how we want a one plane fits all woodworking plane to do all tasks and as a long-term advocate for the very basic, unchanged Stanley #4 without retrofitting a new plane iron of thicker value or harder steel, some might think my thoughts to be different. I use about four or five planes on my bench in any given day. They are all basic planes from Stanley with perhaps a Record version thrown in. They are all English made but no better than their USA counterparts and might be a tad inferior in that the US cousins might have rosewood handles which are very lovely.

We put out a YT video today on the planes I use for truing my wood and having just trued up 400 pieces of oak and walnut of four faces to each all by hand planing only I can tell you that this strategy of mine works like no other. Using my #78 converted iron as a first-level scrub plane hits a new high in easing stock preparation and following on with a converted #4 as a more refined scrub plane transitions nicely in readiness for smoothing and truing and finessing with jack planes and the final level of smoothing planes. This video is to help those who would never or could never and don’t want to ever add a power planer to their end-of-the-garden shed.

29 Comments

  2. I stumbled into a similar system several years ago when I acquired a #5 1/4 junior jack plane. I wasn’t sure what I could use it for until I needed to flatten some boards. Plus I like having the knob on the front when hogging off thick curls.

  3. Thanks Paul. It was an enjoyable YouTube video. When I started woodworking (and watching you) in 2015, I started with a 4-1/2. My workflow mirrors and is influenced by you. If I am starting from rough wood, first it sees a scrub plane with a 3″ radius camber, from there to a No 4 “scrub” plane with a heavy camber. From there to a No 5. Smoothing is done by a No. 3. Happy with this set up.

    The original No 4-1/2 now has a 55 degree frog in it in case I have problematic grain. It is infrequently used. I had straight away in 2015 had bought a No 8. Given the cost and how infrequently it gets used, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

    I am by no means a minimalist tool worker and could get by with either a No 4 or 5 but part of the fun of the hobby is trying different tools for myself and seeing what I like/dislike. Sometimes I am surprised. There are some tools I feel like were a waste of money while there are some others I wish I would have purchased sooner. All good problems to have.

    To make life a little easier on me, I often ,but not always, start with S3S wood. Costs more but removes some of the donkey work.

  4. Hi Paul, I own three planes a Stanley 4 inch smoothing plane, a
    4 1\2 inch sargents plane and a Stanley 5 1\2 inch Jack plane. As you so wisely advised it’s really the only planes you could wish to own. Following your sharpening tuition I can confidently sharpen them and almost all my other tools and hand saws to an ultra sharp edge and they cut beautifully. But there is one tool that has got the best of me and that is the plane jane Stanley spokeshave. I bought it new about 20 years ago and have never got it cutting correctly yet. Please what am I doing wrong.

    1. I doubt it’s the same issue, but I bought a spokeshave about 15 years ago now and always had indifferent results with it. I never spent the time on it until a few years back as it put me off as it was poor “out of the box”. I spent a bit of time (maybe a couple of hours) flattening the sole and completely flattening and polishing the blade and it made a massive difference. Mine was just a cheap thing, a mass produced model, and I’m guessing everything was just way off with it and it was enough to put me off (it shouldn’t generally make a huge difference, since you adjust for the spokeshave generally speaking). It still gives a rattle when you shake it and it’s probably my least favourite tool (it should be the opposite in theory!) as it feels cheap, but it now cuts really well.

      1. Thanks for your comments Rico. I think I have got the same model, am usually good at getting things up to speed as in sharpening and filing things square, but this guy isn’t playing. Maybe invest in a better model and just let it go 😀

        1. I recommend an old Stanley 53. It cuts way better than the newer batch of spokeshaves. The mouths on the new spokeshaves are just too large for a tool used to make fine cuts. One thing I did was get a replacement blade. The thicker blade closes the mouth a bit, but then you increase your cost by almost double.

  5. Several years ago, I was given an old #4 US Stanley plane with a cracked face, where it had been mounted in a vise improperly.
    After restoring the rest of the plane as you did in your video, I was left with the crescent shaped crack on the one face. The crack was tight, and there was no wiggle of the cracked piece, so I ran some runny super glue into the crack, and let it set.
    I figured the glue would chase all the way down into the crack, and set rigid, restoring the compression value of the cracked piece. I finished the repair off by sanding with 400 grit wet or dry sand paper, to remove the excess glue and smooth over the crack line. It is still visible, but not prominent.
    The repair worked like a charm, and that plane is now an everyday plane, although I don’t use it every day.
    But the repair restored the functionality of the plane, at least for this long retired carpenter.

    1. Thanks Kayvan, tried it all. You wouldn’t think I’d been woodworking for nearly 30 years and can not get a spoke shave to work😀. It must be the devil of all spoke shaves. Must have been a bad batch. Will sell it on eBay see if someone else has any luck with it. But the way bought some cheap spoke shaves from a local market years ago and they work great to this day.

  8. I have a bunch of planes all different brands. I tried the thicker blades in some of my Stanley’s and put the original blades back in when I couldn’t adjust the plane without filing the mouth wider. I tried harder steel blades but it takes me much longer to sharpen them. I don’t notice any advantage of a blade supposedly lasting longer, only that I work harder trying to break the wire edge. But you learn by doing things on your own even if you were given good advice and ignored it. What a great hobby, one that you will never get tired of, the more you learn and advance the more fun it is.

  9. I have been using a Stanley 26 transitional for scrub plane along with a Sheldon copy of Stanley 4 size. Seems pretty good so far. Couldn’t bring myself to putting big arc in my five, which was my only hand plane for a couple decades.

      1. Number 26 and sheldon 9 inch are working fine and on hand. Plus don’t have to change over blade.

  10. Doing a quick online search the first option to come up for a replacement 78 / 078 blade gives 2 options, a Stanley for £9 and a 01 one for £19. Assuming that they offer the 2nd one because it is a lot better, I assume. Would it be better, cheaper even, to buy a second secondhand plane (that lacks the fence etc) and thus have a dedicated scrub version.?
    When would you use a 7 or8? I have never used one as my largest is a 51/2. But I have heard others advocate a basic set of a 4,5 and 7or8?

    1. I’d prefer a dedicated plane but some might not have that access so a blade would solve the issue. I never assume everyone is England or the USA, as we outreach globally. In all of my working I have never relied or even used a 7 or 8 for any length of time. Because they are unwieldy and so long, they never stay true, flat or straight. It’s people making them that sell their efficacy, and people just like owning more planes, mostly. A 5 and 5 1/2 has handled everything fo six decades almost so why fix what ain’t broke.

      1. thanks for taking the time to reply.
        When i first saw you demonstrate using a 78 as a scrub, I did wonder if a wooden rebate plane could do the same job. I often see them for sale in different widths, and some with skew blades (which obviously wouldn’t work).i imagine that their longer length would be an advantage over a shorter metal version. I have so far resisted the temptation to buy one, although the temptation was very high for one that had a nicker, depth stop and fence with very nice brass fittings. But I have my 078, so resisted. My concern over using a wooden one would be the lack of a handle making it harder to handle for heavy work.
        having seen a Woden78 equivalent with a wooden handle in the front cutter position I have contemplated making one for my 078, but not sure if the threaded hole is substantial enough to hold it.

    2. I have a wooden no. 7 which is great, I think I’d struggle to use a metal number 7 for any length of time. The wooden one is easy to keep flat, as I can just plane it if it gets out of flat. The no. 7 is useful for tabletops and benchtops, otherwise it’s a 4 or 5 for pretty much everything. My curiousity keeps pushing me towards a no. 6 for some reason, mainly cause they’re not that popular, but I’ve managed to resist so far!

  11. spoke shave should work if
    – the iron is sharp;
    – the bevel is down;
    – the bedding is flat enough;
    – the cap-iron works as a lever to apply pressure near the edge.
    Start with very fine shavings and most importantly, work with the grain.

    1. The other thing is to sight the blade along the sole of the spokeshave to ensure that both sides of the blade project by the same amount.

      I always find curved spokeshaves more difficult to use as you need to change direction when you reach the point where the direction of grain changes. Also the whole of the sole is not normally in contact with the wood so you need to control the tilt to get a good cut. Don’t attempt to increase the depth of cut when it is not cutting due to the angle of tilt being wrong. This will result in the spokeshave juddering rather than cutting cleanly.

  12. Hi Paul,
    How do I find details on how to make the beautiful rocking chair, please.
    Alan.

      1. I am still working on completing my bench and haven’t gotten far enough along to subscribe to your master classes. I remember you putting out a video about a toolbox that was going to be a build on there and you said that you took apart and restored the old one as a reference. Any chance of creating a video on how you restore antiques (like the toolbox) to remove the old joinery without destroying it or does one already exist? Thank you for the knowledge that you share!

  13. Dear Paul,
    I very much like information on this issue given that I have no jointer etc.
    Two open issues:
    1) What is a good alternative for the 78er? Any particular scrub plane suggested? 78er not available for a wider audience.
    2) You did not show the other side – how to avoid tear out on the other side on the edge facing away from you when planing laterally over the edge?
    Keep going with this short videos please!
    Thanks Christian

    1. If I recall correctly, Paul recommended the 78 only because a the typical Stanley scrub plane is not widely available outside of the USA. Both work well for the task.

    2. Christian,
      I usually plane a bevel around the edge down to the thickness that I’m working toward. That has prevented most of the far edge tear out.

  14. Paul,
    I had a great success yesterday! My favorite plane; a copy, no name, bailey #4 broke the tote screw at the top of the raised socket. Tried to drill out and extract the broken bit with no luck. Finally, after bidding on a good looking Stanley #4, I went in and corrected the angle of the drill, chipped out the bits, reversed the screw and it came together successfully! So much easier to use than my transition jack and the Stanley #6, both of which I love.

  15. Paul,

    I have several planes with corrugated soles. I can’t see any reason why this was done, and I can’t tell much difference when using them. Was this just a marketing gimmick by Stanley?

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