Official Luthiers Forum!

If you had some discretionary funds burning a hole in your pocket, which plane would you find more useful in guitar construction? I'm looking at the Lie-Nielsen low angle/bevel up versions of these tools. The plane would be used to shoot joints and thickness plates. Is the jointer overkill?

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sweat the small stuff.

I'd go with the jack. 14" is plenty for jointing guitar plates, and if you're going to use it for thicknessing, it'll start to feel real heavy after a few minutes...

What Dennis said. And the L-N LA jack is a beautiful plane. I love mine.

Steve

Personally I find my Lie Nielsen 62 low angle is my go-to tool for most things - jointing, flattening, straightening, etc,
I have jointers as well. But I only use them for things like flattening a workbenches, or similar big jobs.
I would use the money saved (vs buying the jointer) to get a another couple of blades, one for a higher angle and a toothed blade if you intend thicknessing plates with it.
P.S. I'm sure Dennis meant the jointer would start to feel heavy and I agree. Even my no 6 did (got a wooden jack for that now)

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I used to use a #5 for jointing center seams but now I use a #6. Early on I used a #4 because that was all I had but once I got a #5 the extra length was much better. That is why I kept an eye out for an inexpensive #6. I do like the length of the 6 better for that task but it isn't necessary. I wouldn't think a true jointer (#7 or #8) would be worth it for back and top lengths but I would probably get one if I were making furniture. As Dennis points out, the weight would be a consideration too.

You'll probably want to go ahead and pick up an old Stanley #5 and set it up as a true jack (cambered iron and wider mouth) to get the bulk of the work done if you have a lot of thicknessing to do. I have to admit that I use a thickness sander so I don't have the tool chops for true thicknessing with handplanes. But I often use a jack across the grain to get me in the neighborhood and save some sanding time. A jack can really hog off a lot of that material fast.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

That's probably better advice than I offered. I have a Stanley #62 that I really like but it just doesn't seem right for thicknessing (again note my lack of experience). A high angle and toothed iron would probably be a welcome addition.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

For the price of either hand plane you might find a good used 6" power jointer. I use mine for everything from jointing backs and tops, to tapering neck blanks, to rough profiling sides. I have most sizes of bench planes (2,3,4,5,6,7) and a number of specialty planes, but use the power jointer most often.

I'd get a good #5 jack or a #6 fore before a #7 jointer. IMO the 7 is a specialty tool that you don't use very often.

And to be completely honest, I'd choose use my power jointer for joining. Once you get a good jointer & you get it dialed in, it's a pleasure to use.

Hey, guys! Thanks for all of the responses! I actually have a really crumby #5 from Grizzly that I've been using for a few years now. It's mostly gotten the job done, but I'm itching to spend some money on a nice tool or two. I have an 8" jointer and a Performax 10-20, as well. I love both tools, actually. And now I'm talking myself out of spending the money... Hey, that wasn't supposed to happen!

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sweat the small stuff.

You know, I almost talked myself out of forking out for the LN-62.
And I'm so glad I didn't.
Discovering the difference between a TSO (tool shaped object) and a real tool was an epiphany.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

FWIW I have about 9jack planes. For newbies an excellent buy is a chinese taiwan style jack plane abt 14 in loong with a HSS blade .The red sandalwood ones are 40-50 $ on e bay from sellers I also purchased an oak one for $10 if one is on a budget , trueing the sole and sharpening the plane they both make excellent luthier tools.What I like is the dowel that is used to push the plane , makes it way easier to use than a western plane.It can also be pulled towards the user as well. the HSS steel blades are user friendly in a variety of hardwoods and softwoods . Most of the jacks are bedded at 45 deg . there are smaller rosewood mujingfang, bosi and other makers planes bedded at 60 deg more suitable for scraping EIR and ebony. For western planes craigslist and ebay have loads of used planes , and lots of tutorials on refurbishing. No budget L/N or L/V low angle jack , I bought a seperate blade from L/N with 40 deg microbevel for planing rosewoods , and ebonies /and osage orange.

I sold my LN #5 to get a #5 1/2 and I'm glad I did. It's heavy enough to be heavy without being heavy.

You can consider WoodRiver for a less expensive option. Check the YouTube reviews for more.

" I have an 8" jointer and a Performax 10-20, as well. I love both tools, actually. And now I'm talking myself out of spending the money... Hey, that wasn't supposed to happen!"

So you don't really -need - the plane.... but you want it..... and you have the money.....
There are certainly worse things to waste your money on. Unlike a bottle of good scotch or some borderline illegal substance you can have it, use it, and admire it for a lifetime.

I do all my plane thicknessing and jointing with a 9" ECE smoother. 50 degree blade and a tensioner that always has it under tension no matter which way you turn the adjuster. It really feels like a Cadillac. One of the most used tools in the shop.

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Pat

Hey Heath, if you're ever interested, you can come handle my #5 1/2. I also have the low angle block plane and violin maker's plane. If I had a #4 or #4 1/2, I'd feel like I could conquer any task.

Most of the Vintage Stanley planes are really nice once set up. You can buy both for a lot cheaper then Lie Nielsen Plane.

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https://www.instagram.com/fostinoguitars/
https://www.facebook.com/PuraVidaUkuleles/

Exactly! I would, of course, like for it to be as much use to me as possible. Not just a trailer queen. A real driver. But, also beautiful to look at!

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sweat the small stuff.

Thanks for the offer, James. We're going to have to make that happen one of these days. What would be REALLY cool is if LN had a hand tool event nearby and we could go handle ALL of their tools.

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sweat the small stuff.

That would be dangerous.

I had problems with older Stanley #5-6 planes. I got really nice old Stanley #7 and a Miller's Falls #7 and spent a long time getting them back into shape and sharp. I haven't had any difficulty at all since, which is good because I have very little room for error with several of my ebony and rosewood back sets. Highly recommend. I have a collection of #4-9 now all got on Ebay for under $100 each and a few for around $30 on occasion. Can't beat that with a baseball bat.