I am about to start a couple of woodworking projects and I am looking for recommendations on hand planes and spoke shaves. Anyone with any recommendations? I am on a bit of a budget but I am completely willing to spend a little extra for a quality tool.
woodworking ?
- Thread starter lingo
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
like all tools, you get what you pay for.
lie- nielsen makes arguably some of the nicest planes and spokeshaves. i have one of their bronze chisel planes and it's just a sweet tool
http://www.lie-nielsen.com/
however, lee valley tools makes some awesome stuff that's reasonably inexpensive tor the fantastic quality. i have a few of their planes and their spokeshave set. really nice stuff.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/index.aspx?c=2
made this bass for my kid..shaped the neck with a lee valley spokeshave
lie- nielsen makes arguably some of the nicest planes and spokeshaves. i have one of their bronze chisel planes and it's just a sweet tool
http://www.lie-nielsen.com/
however, lee valley tools makes some awesome stuff that's reasonably inexpensive tor the fantastic quality. i have a few of their planes and their spokeshave set. really nice stuff.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/index.aspx?c=2
made this bass for my kid..shaped the neck with a lee valley spokeshave
Last edited:
stanley spoke shaves are not that bad for a newbie
you can also get by with older stanley planes and just upgrade the blades. lee valley also sells really high quality, thick plane blades for many different planes. will really make a difference. if u buy a lower cost plane, make sure u bring a straight edge and a square... a plane thats out of square or not flat just sucks ass.
Cruise craigslist and eBay for used Stanley planes, sometimes you can find some bargains. Then upgrade the blades, and get a GOOD system for sharpening them. The best plane in the world sucks balls if the blade is dull.
What kind of projects do you plan on getting involved in. Knowing what you want to do will have a great effect on the advice you recieve. A Lie-Nelson #3 might be too much for some and leave others wishing for a vintage Speers infill.
And you don't necisarily get what you pay for, with hand tools, a lot of vintage tools will cost less than new and preform better but you need to know what you're looking for.
Dave (Journeyman Patternmaker)
And you don't necisarily get what you pay for, with hand tools, a lot of vintage tools will cost less than new and preform better but you need to know what you're looking for.
Dave (Journeyman Patternmaker)
i think you're absolutely correct, but as you said, you need to know what you're looking for...... but more importantly, with vintage tools, you need to know exactly what you're looking AT. that's why i gave him two that are quality and pretty much come ready to use right out of the box.
with your experience, i'm sure you can tell crap from treasure with one quick glance. a little more difficult for a guy new to hand tools. know what i mean?
Last edited:
Actually I don't, and here's why: I love my L-N stuff, but for what they cost I can afford to make a few purchasing errors several times over. I think that for someone just getting into hand tools, buying L-N off the bat is akin to installing lockers and a 4” lift when you’re just wanting to try wheeling to see if you like it. Also for the price difference, even if there’s no life left in a plane’s iron, you can get a replacement blade (or other stuff) cheap enough. I collect tools, so yea, I do evaluate stuff at a glance to see if I’m interested from a collecting standpoint, but there are a lot of usable tools to be had out there that don’t require anywhere near that level of knowledge and there are a lot of FAQs out there to help out.
By looking at completed e-bay auctions, you can get a sense of current values. For user qualit tools, watch out for cracked or repaired casting, loose parts, rough or missing totes and knobs, and iron’s with little life left (less than 1”) Don't worry about percent of original finish, repainted is fine as long as there's no red rust You can educate yourself as to basics in an evening with the search engine of your choice.
So lacking more specific info as to intended use, for general bench work I’d recommend the following:
Bailey # 3 or # 4 Smoother Plane ($30 - $50)
Bailey # 5 or # 5 ½ Jack Plane ($40 - $75)
Bailey # 7 Jointer ($80 - $120)
# 9 ½ Block Plane (The only tool I’d buy new from Stanley)
If any of these have a C after the number, that is fine, it means the sole has been grooved to reduce friction. All the Baileys are from Stanley, it’s an omage to the inventor of the mechanism. For simplicity, stick to these models (there are variants but that’s going to muddy the waters) and to planes with wooden totes. (By the time they went to plastic, the quality went downhill)
I can’t help with spokeshaves without knowing the intended use.
- Thread starter
- #9
Thank you guys for your responses. I am building a strip built kayak. This, hopefully, won't be a one off project. I hope to build a few and sell them. Once I have a few under my belt I intend to build myself one once I am better at it. I already have a sales outlet locally. I am fairly well versed in tools. However, I don't have any experience with woodworking hand tools. I have almost convinced my self to just buy stock in sandpaper but I don't think that would be time effective. Where can I find good info on what makes a #3 different from a #5 etc... One day I would like to work my way up to building a Chriscraft style boat. One step at a time.
Sorry for the delay in following up.
Here’s a good place to start. It’s old (can’t believe it’s been that long since I first read this wanting to build a strip canoe) http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~alf/en/antique-tool-faq.txt or http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~alf/en/htfaq.txt . For more detailed information on Stanley planes, try Patrick Leache’s Blood & Gore page at: Patrick's Stanley Blood & Gore Profit Warning
As to building a striper, I’d forgo the #7 unless you need it to build your stongback, in which case it will be essential for getting it straight. Go with a #3 instead of the #4. You will need an excellent block plane, so I might just go with a Lie-Nelson #60 ½. The low angle can be made into a regular angle by honing a steep secondary bevel onto the iron. For your intended application, you may wish to consider a compass plane, either a #113 or the smaller #20 ½. These can be finicky to use so you might wait until you decide you absolutely need one of these. A fairing block and sandpaper will get you there too and you’re less likely to encounter tearout. Get some high quality scrapers and learn to tune them by hand (it will end up being faster than using the numerous crutch devices that are available). You will be using them a lot.
You’ll want to read up on making shooting boards and other jigs. If you can find a copy, pick up The Complete Woodworker published by Ten Speed Press. It was originally written over 100 years ago, back when these tools were used daily and it has a lot of useful tricks and jigs in it.
Lastly, I’m assuming that you’re going to be doing a bead and cove stripping. You don’t need to buy the special router bits that are being marketed. Any matched radius will work and a larger radius is actually more preferable. You can do this with hand planes and a shooting board as well but you’ll need to find a matched set of bead and cove planes.
Depending on what level of production you’re after, this is definitely doable with hand tools.
Here’s a good place to start. It’s old (can’t believe it’s been that long since I first read this wanting to build a strip canoe) http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~alf/en/antique-tool-faq.txt or http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~alf/en/htfaq.txt . For more detailed information on Stanley planes, try Patrick Leache’s Blood & Gore page at: Patrick's Stanley Blood & Gore Profit Warning
As to building a striper, I’d forgo the #7 unless you need it to build your stongback, in which case it will be essential for getting it straight. Go with a #3 instead of the #4. You will need an excellent block plane, so I might just go with a Lie-Nelson #60 ½. The low angle can be made into a regular angle by honing a steep secondary bevel onto the iron. For your intended application, you may wish to consider a compass plane, either a #113 or the smaller #20 ½. These can be finicky to use so you might wait until you decide you absolutely need one of these. A fairing block and sandpaper will get you there too and you’re less likely to encounter tearout. Get some high quality scrapers and learn to tune them by hand (it will end up being faster than using the numerous crutch devices that are available). You will be using them a lot.
You’ll want to read up on making shooting boards and other jigs. If you can find a copy, pick up The Complete Woodworker published by Ten Speed Press. It was originally written over 100 years ago, back when these tools were used daily and it has a lot of useful tricks and jigs in it.
Lastly, I’m assuming that you’re going to be doing a bead and cove stripping. You don’t need to buy the special router bits that are being marketed. Any matched radius will work and a larger radius is actually more preferable. You can do this with hand planes and a shooting board as well but you’ll need to find a matched set of bead and cove planes.
Depending on what level of production you’re after, this is definitely doable with hand tools.
I have built 3 woodstrip canoes, boats are a fun fullfing project. We used a lot of scrapers and planes. We also cut all our own strips and then used a router to bead/cove them. The woodworking was easy till fiberglass time 
I would peruse garage sales and craigslist. Try and get older stanley models.
I would peruse garage sales and craigslist. Try and get older stanley models.
Last edited:
lingo, just go get a new spoke shave from lowes or homodepot.... test it out on some sticks, boards, etc. Get a feel for it, sharpen it, try it again. sharpen it again... learn how to sharpen it..
- Thread starter
- #16
WarDamnEagle
SILVER Star
Lingo, since you're in Atlanta, go over to Highland Hardware and do some window shopping. They have everything and really cater to the old style craftsman that still build mostly with hand tools.
- Thread starter
- #18
I am in there fairly regularly. I hang out at the bar next (George's) door quite a bit.
