Which hand plane is best for this use?

[Rwe2156]

Casey, IMO none of those planes are worth buying. Stanley's market changed years ago from carpenters and professionals to handymen and DIY'ers.

So anything newer than the 50's is the era of what's commonly called the "Stanley downgrade". There is more information than you'll ever need about Stanley tools on either hyperkitty.com or the blood and gore stanley site (supertool.com).

The good vintage Stanleys & Baileys are around - occasional garage sales, flea markets, Ebay, etc. IME they are almost always sold as collectibles and way overpriced, usually in need of some restoration, but definitely stay away from Ebay. There is a guy on Lumberjocks who sells refurbished Stanleys at very reasonable prices and has lots of information @ timetestedtools.com.

All that said, although a #4 plane is the first one you should by, it is not the plane of choice for flattening a board over 12" in width. For this, a #6 can't be beat.

If you don't want to go the vintage router, IMO the best bang for the buck on a new plane is WoodRiver. I've gotten ribbed for promoting them, and yes, I know made in China, and yeah, maybe they're a rip off of Lie Nielsen, but LN's are copies of Stanley's, right? But they are good tools, I would say arguably even comparable to Lie Nielsen or Veritas.

 

[Chris C]

To be less common than most of the bench planes I see #6's fairly often. They do tend to cost a little more.... but bargains can be found.

 

[Caseykasem]

Okay awesome thank you for the advice. I think I’ll try Ed first, tell him generally what I’m looking for and see if he has anything I could buy that he would recommend. Thanks again guys.

 

[Mike Davis]

To be less common than most of the bench planes I see #6's fairly often. They do tend to cost a little more.... but bargains can be found.

I never paid more than $40 for any plane until I bought my compass plane. It was $120.

 

[AAAndrew]

I agree with the vintage #6.

And if I may give a little plug, if you're anywhere near Durham, I am having a big garage sale tomorrow (Nov 7) and cleaning out my workshop. I have a #6 (by Miller Falls), a #7 (by Sargent), and a bunch of #4's (Stanley, MF, Sargent). Along with a ton of other hand tools. Good prices right around what Mike pays. Here's the original thread. Blow-out hand tool garage sale - Nov.7

 

[Caseykasem]

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I agree with the vintage #6.

And if I may give a little plug, if you're anywhere near Durham, I am having a big garage sale tomorrow (Nov 7) and cleaning out my workshop. I have a #6 (by Miller Falls), a #7 (by Sargent), and a bunch of #4's (Stanley, MF, Sargent). Along with a ton of other hand tools. Good prices right around what Mike pays. Here's the original thread. Blow-out hand tool garage sale - Nov.7

I saw that and I’m mad that I can’t make it!! I work 8-330 in DT Raleigh. And I’m pretty sure if I remember correctly you had the hours 730-330ish listed.

 

[AAAndrew]

Sorry to hear that! The hours are 9:30-3:00. Can you send someone with a shopping list? I'll help them find good stuff.

If I still have enough left over, I may run some hours on Sunday. Check the garage sale thread, just in case.

 

[Caseykasem]

Sorry to hear that! The hours are 9:30-3:00. Can you send someone with a shopping list? I'll help them find good stuff.

If I still have enough left over, I may run some hours on Sunday. Check the garage sale thread, just in case.

I will definitely watch that forum! Thanks!

 

[Chris C]

My limit is $20 for planes and $15 for eggbeaters...but I will pay more for one I need or really want. I paid up for the mint Miller's Falls 24 but I try to stick to the limits. Before the covid I passed on way more than I bought.

I always enjoyed giving away some of the bargains I've picked up. I've met some good people doing that. Maybe I should start that up again.

I never paid more than $40 for any plane until I bought my compass plane. It was $120.

 

[Mike Davis]

My limit is $20 for planes and $15 for eggbeaters...but I will pay more for one I need or really want. I paid up for the mint Miller's Falls 24 but I try to stick to the limits. Before the covid I passed on way more than I bought.

I always enjoyed giving away some of the bargains I've picked up. I've met some good people doing that. Maybe I should start that up again.

I have given away far more than I own.

 

[mpeele]

You said you wanted to "get a hand plane just to flatten boards 2-4ft in length after they are mostly flat from the jointer".
To flatten parts I start with a hand plane and then go the jointer/planer to finish flatting a part. After that it's sandpaper by hand/machine or if I want that hand plane look it's a scraper plane.

I'll throw out a couple of thing I do to flatten stock:

First I never flatten/joint a "board", I cut a rough board into pieces sized in length and width for each part I need. Doing this usually eliminates a lot of twist and warp. Might waste a little material but I have never been able joint/flatten a 8' 4/4 board and end up with 3/4 thickness end to end. 2' or 3' flat and useful every time but never 8'. There are people that can but I'm not one of them.

After parts are cut to rough size I use my table saw and a plane. I don't think plane size really matters because you are doing spot removal to create a support surface for the next step(jointer/planer). I start with the concave side. Put it down on table saw and find high points by doing the rocking thing. I remove material with a sharp plane from 1 high spot and do the rocking thing again. Sometimes removing from a high spot creates another high spot, if it does that's usually where I plane next. After all rocking has been removed then its on to closing up the gap by removing more material.

After rocking has been removed and enough gap has been removed it's on to jointer/planer finish the part. Most of the time I use planer because stock is wider than my jointer.