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The reason I ask is I am trying to gather some tools for my first build. I was able to get 2 planes that were passed down to my dad from my pap.

I raided his basement and came up with a Sargent No. 408 which he tells me is the same as a Stanley No. 3 smooth-plane and the other is a Stanley No. 5 1/2 jack-plane. Both I believe are pre-WWII era tools. I am planning on restoring them and maybe buying some new blades. I may also try to get a pre-WWII era block plane. He wouldn't give me one of his block planes.

Can somebody explain to me their planing procedure for thicknessing B/S and tops? What size plane do you use for what step? Will these planes I have do the job? Should I add another size too?

I was reading in the Cumpiano book about using a blade with slots first then a smooth blade. Does anybody use this method? If so what size plane do you use for it?

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Brad

A 5 1/2 would be great for planing tops, you need a toothed blade, and you have to make it yourself, with a triangle file. You may have to de/re-temper the blade to file the tooth gaps. And a good scraper.

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I

Old planes work as well as new planes. The key is knowing how to tune, the beds plates and frogs, how to sharpen and use them. Most of us would loove to get our hand on wwII era planes and spend the time to true them in to prim condition.

Brad, the Stanley 5 1/2 has two different cutter widths, 2-1/4" or 2-3/8". Lie Nelson makes a toothing blade for their 5 1/2, which I think is 2-3/8". I would purchase one from them if it will fit your plane before I went through the hassle of converting a blade. Hock doesn't have them on their website, but I'm sure it could be custom ordered.

I have a Bailey 5 that I thicknessed several sets with. While it worked I found myself wanting a smaller plane. Because the 5 is so long, 14", its easy to plane the plate into a wedge if you aren't paying attention. I've picked up a 3, which has an 8" sole, recently that I need to clean up and adjust. I'm not fond of the handle on it, but its a no name plane, so if I whack off the tip so I can hold it more comfortably, no one will care. After holding the 3, I think I may pick up another Bailey, probably a 4, maybe a 4 1/2.

Popular Woodworking has a good article on planes, their sizes and uses.
http://www.popularwoodworking.com/artic ... ch_planes/

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Aoibeann

You don't need a toothed blade. I think it would be detrimental.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

This seems to be a toothed or grooved blade made specially for sculpting soundboards but looks to only be available for a Nos. 9 1/2 and 60 1/2 block planes.

http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/Merchant/merchant.mvc?Session_ID=7bf3376f54c7142b1c10ad4c25827b35&Screen=PROD&Store_Code=toolshop&Product_Code=MS-RIBPTOOTH.XX&Category_Code=TR

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Brad

Howard, C&N advocated using a toothing blade to thickness plates, especially for the novice plane user. You are only going to cut so deep, 1/64" before the blade bottoms out. Then a regular blade is used to plane off the furrowed pieces. Its obvious when you have gone past the depth cut by the toothing blade. It is easier to end up with a uniform thicknessed plate using a toothing blade in theory, as long as the plate was uniform to begin with.

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Aoibeann

My favourite plane for thicknessing tops is a Stanley WWI vintage #5 1/2 with a 2 1/4" Hock blade + chip breaker. If you're only going to use it for softwoods the stock iron is most likely adequate. I rely on a straight edge and calipers to monitor my progress while planing, so I never felt the need for a toothing iron for this.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

And might I add, read the Cumpiano book. They explain in detail the procedure they use to hand thickness plates. I did a top with my Stanley #4, no toothed blade, and It's good. Just take your time and pay attention. Also recommend doing a search online for Top thickness dial indicator set ups. Don't know if I found them here or not, but pretty simple to make one.

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Rob

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I think those are both good size planes. I'd probably choose the #3 between the two for thicknessing a top. And I'm with Howard - You don't need a toothed iron for it, especially for a top. What's most important is that you learn to sharpen and use a plane well. Just my 2 cents.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

my 2 cents (based on 1 set of B/S thicknessing)

I thicknessed my top, back and sides with a 1960's-80's era Craftsman #6 remake of the old Stanley-Baileys (considerably low end in my opinion). I got it at a flea market for about $20 and just used the stock iron with no grooves in it. It worked fine after some tuning and a lot of practice sharpening.

I think the 5 1/2 and #3 are probably great planes once tuned up (like others said, there is tons of articles online or go sit in Barnes and Noble for a couple hours and look at their tool books). I wish I had a nice Hook blade, but as I didn't I made it work with the cheap one.

You can make almost anything work as long as you understand the tool, it seems. Just take the time to measure a lot to be sure you aren't going too thin on the edges and watch for grain direction because you will notice a bit of tear out if you don't. Oh, and I think a nice straight grained wood is probably a good choice for a 1st guitar... ie Indian Rosewood or something.