with a hand plane, I stink at it. I had so much fun finally getting some hand planes out and making shavings the last few days. I live in an apartment so don't have a workshop, I borrowed a friend's garage to work in. My "workbench" is a 12 x 12 I got off a construction site they had put in a dumpster. It's about 7' long and I use Irwin squeeze hand clamps as my vise. All very makeshift, but works fine for me. But I did realize it does take alot of practice jointing edges for glue ups. It's not something, at least for me, that I can do not so often and expect to be any good at it. Just about the time I got the edge at 90*, I had a hump in the middle lengthwise. When I got to using stop shavings to make a "slight' hollow in the middle to have a spring joint, I took too much off and had a gap rather than a shaving or two. Then lo and behold, the edge was out of square again, geeez. I did realize that I need to true up the sole of the plane, a 22" wooden plane I got for a few dollars. Sharpened the blade and it works like a charm, just needs a little more fettling, I think, and a lot more skill on my part.
All in all, I figure that any day I get to make shavings is better than a day without it.
All in all, I figure that any day I get to make shavings is better than a day without it.