The Good the Best and the Ugly | Choosing a Hand Plane

When Buying a hand plane should I get a new or used plane? what should I look for in anew plane, and what price point is best for a new hand plane.

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[theeddorian]

The original Stanley irons are perfectly functional with the mouth and cap iron properly adjusted. Vibration is usually the result of the frog being poorly seated. I discovered that restoring a "restored" Bailey. The "restorer" had painted the entire interior including the bedding surfaces for the frog. Cleaning the paint off those surfaces, especially the bits stick in it, made the difference between awful and excellent. Also adjusting the frog forward helped a bit.

[haroldschultz]

Great video brother, nice breakdown . Due to present Covid restrictions the flea market near me has been canceled . This forced me deeper in the woods to scour for tool sources and what a blessing it was . I discovered an old man out in the country who sells tools out his old barn . I stepped in to it and nearly fainted . All I could see was wall to wall old tools . Long story short, I bought a #4, 5, 6, 7 Stanley all in great shape for $20 each . Your videos are the best man . I've learned a ton from you. Bless up Brother !

[coreysheets]

Still a great video. I agree completely. Ive actually been using some antique Craftsman planes made by Millers Falls. They work beautifully. After restored of course. I hot rodded mine with new custom D2 irons, new mahogany totes and knobs, and fresh paint jobs. I found that I love to bring old planes back to life.

[rossanctuary]

How does Spear & Jackson Planes stand up in ypure Opinion?

[myrawright]

You forgot one of the best aspects of getting an antique plane...you get to go antiquing! Oh yay! 😊🤣❣️ Better yet...go with your boys! 😊

[deezynar]

A couple years ago Stumpy Nubs did a video on making a Harbor Freight plane into a scrub plane. I thought that was a great idea and went ahead and did that. I'm very happy with it in that role, and the price is perfect.

[scottswineford]

After searching the local market for a fixable couple of planes I bought a pair of grizzly planes. The #4 needed very little setup, maybe a half hour, the#5 needed substantially more and I use a scrub iron in it for the most part. Both have performed adequately in the tasks I've put them to. Oh, bought a small set of the narex chisels, what a joy to play with! Now if I can just figure out how to hold my ancient 1/8" chisel to hone it consistently I'll be a happy old curmudgeon. Hope your mother in law is doing well and all of you stay safe.

[robertroyse]

Vintage Dunlap and Craftsman planes can be found on Ebay that are very nice and affordable. I have a few and are great to use.

[robinalexander]

A note. high end plane Clifton out of England I have them and they are very good. But hell I am just a person on you tube, so open your mind and have a look at them. In context I collect planes wooden right through metal 50 ish hand planes from many makers veritas, Lie Nielsen, Falcon popes, Stanley's period planes to modern, Luban Muginfang, etc. cheers from Tasmania

[brenthuxford]

i purchased the custom veritas about a year ago with a high angle frog. That thing is worth every penny.

[jeffmclowry]

A watch out for those Boat Anchors!

I busted up laughing when you said that hahaha

[jayempress]

A few years ago when I had almost no money, I bought a Harbor Freight $12.00 stanley knock-off. I couldn't get that thing to work. Diad all the things everyone said to do to set it up, no shavi hs of any kind, not one. Several tube makers showed many of the fUlts with this plane, and showed how to fix them. But they used $10, 000 equipment and Ll I had was sand paper and a granite block, and a heap Rotating sander. Did what I could. Over a couple of years, I put about 300 hours into this plane trying to make it work. I succeded. It took its first shavings last weekend and when it did, it was then time to move up and geta better plane. I just received it today. Over 3 hours into set up and it was whittling down the crookedness of a 2×4.


I chose a Taytools #5 for its versitility. The price from Taytools was $99. Amazon wanted $119.00. There isn't a whole lot of descriptio on this plane. It's a bailey platform with the screw on the lever cap i stead of the snap down lever. It has a 2" wide blade like a #4 so blades are interchangeable.

Because I speent so much time rebuilding the hf #4, I was sensitive to the many aspects of a plane. With a critical eye, I addressed each issue I found.

Back ip a bit..it was beautifully packaged. Double boxed and the plane rested on a bed of memory foam. When I removed the lever cap, it was thick and heavy! The lateral adjustment has some heft, too!

It did have some sharp, jagged edges on different parts, but it doesn't any more! Areas that should be flat, really are, now.

The sole was flat. I didn't have to do any work on it. The sides 90° from the sole. The sides were hollow, they aren't any more. The edges were nicely rounded. But the blade...omg was that thing pathetic! Hollow from tip to tip along the edge. It took forever to get a sharpenable edge. I Even had to resort to an oil stone for the first time ever...but first, I had to flatten that! Then had to give everything a bath with a scrub brush to cut the oil co tamination on the diamond stones. You know how things can cascade.

It's done, works beautifully and I can't wait to see what she's like with some premiere blades and chip breaker.

Most people wouldn't do the work I did, but I didn't want to skip anything and have to troubleshoot a mystery such as with the hf.

"Tae" is beautiful, functional, inexpensive and appropriately priced for her class. And yes, "Tae" is her name. If you get a good blade from the start, the setup time will likely be a whole lot less.

I've never seen nor used a premium plane such as lei neilson/veritas so Ll I can compare with is sow's ears and a few stanleys. Tae has the potential to be an excellent plane with a new dress and some tlc.

[daw]

the stanley plane is probably the best long-term user of the bunch. The modern premium planes are a bit overweight and the perfect milling of the sole makes the friction from them quite a bit worse.

[Rwjudy]

I started using hand planes several years ago and restored three Stanley planes: two #5s and a #3. Your comments about the time commitment to getting these planes on working order is accurate: it takes hours for each plane. None of mine had sides 90 degrees to the sole even though the soles are flat. I have been looking for a shooting plane and ordered the Taytools #4 after viewing this video last week. I had tried one of the cheaper versions previously — lots of quality issues and unworkable. I returned it. Same thing happened with the first Taytools’ #4. Decided to give it a second try, requested a return and replacement, and the second one I received is as good as the one in your review. After only having to flatten the back of the blade and hone the edge, the plane did a marvelous job on a piece of maple. Looking forward to years of use. Thank you for a very helpful review.

[JamesSmith-suoz]

Ok my no 33 is my scrub plane from the start. Tay tools are renranded to grizzly tools, I have a grizzly jack that I love. Took some prep work but it works and feels good in the hand. One sorce of older planes you did not cover was sargent planes, lower cost compaired to have and were made in the same plane count as stanley. Yes I have a sargent 24" plane that was at $100. to my door just saying. Good video.

[clemoniii]

not sure if your still monitoring this void, but last week my Veritas CUSTOM 41/2 hand plane arrived. I ordered it over a year ago, and the only reason I didn't cancel the order after 6 months was THE DAMN FENCE shipped three days after the order! My first plane was their bevel up Jack. I went Veritas since I really didn't know squat about hand planing, so why on earth would I handicap my learning with a tool that might not be "right". Glad I did because understanding sharp, blade alignment, mouth opening, taking fine shaving vs "making verneers", etc. would have driven me back to power tools a LONG TIME AGO!
I'm becoming a STAUNCH believer in buying the best quality you can FIRST.

[chrisdunham]

There are a world of high quality hand planes built around the world, Clifton from the UK and H.N.T Gordon from Australia are superb and worth every cent.

[grumpyoldsodinacellar]

I was gifted some 1950's Stanley number 4's but I wanted some new planes which didn't require a second mortgage. I settled on some faithfull's. I fully agree, comfort in the hand is so important, so although the handles (totes) are clunky, I spent some time with some engineers files ranging from bastard to fine. Just recently, I had to spend a couple of days with my scrub plane, a very cheap no name number 4, well used and discarded onto ebay. When I finally got to use one of my Faithfull's oh the difference, the difference !!! It was like, "where have you been" ??? So definitely, I would recommend tak8ng a rear handle off (tote) and spend a little time, sitting comfortably somewhere, with a cloth over the lap, and just file to the shape of your hand, well worth the investment of your time. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧👏👏👏👍👍👍🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[Swarm]

I inherited two planes when starting my woodworking hobby (two jack planes from my dad, a Craftsman and more modern Stanley Bailey) and after watching Wright videos and Paul Sellers videos started to look for a small smoothing plane. Got super lucky without realizing it and found a used #4 vintage Stanley hand plane, in basically perfect shape. Came with the box and only needed a bit of cleanup to get flat/shiny. Lovely tool and got it for a steal. I was recently given a modern "blue" Stanley Bailey Jack Plane which seems to be pretty poorly made, but even that worked well as a scrub plane with a wider mouth and dedicated curved iron.

At this point I would love a large jointer but I've never seen them for sale locally, and they are quite expensive new. I think getting another smoothing plane would be a good idea, but just need to figure out what brand to get. Honestly the new Union X-Plane 4 1/4 seems like it could be a great choice, and unique. The only thing is I may want a smoother with a wider iron though. Always another tool one needs to get!

[ihadabadday]

Would love to see you make a new tote for your #62.