Learning about planes

[hescores]

I know that this is extremely subjective and I can probably get a million different answers with this, but for a complete newbie to hand tools, what is a good reference (book, online, whatever) to learn about the different planes, how to use them, how to maintain them, etc.?

[TDHofstetter]

Here's THE REFERENCE for learning ABOUT planes:

www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan0a.html

There will definitely be a million answers for the rest... I could write a chapter myself about it, or Jer could, or any of a number of others. I don't know of an online or printed reference, though. Somebody surely will.

[Beamer]

That's it ... Patrick's B&G is it.

There's also another one I like a lot that goes more into techniques:
www.cianperez.com/Wood/WoodDocs/Wood_How_To/INDEX_How_To.htm

I Derek Cohen is quite descriptive of various techniques, though might go a little beyond the Newb stuff sometimes

[TDHofstetter]

Good GAD - THAT is a PAGE, that is!

[mapleman]

The Handplane Book - by Garrett Hack. available at Amazon and a host of other places. It gives basic info on a huge range of planes. Blood and Gore is focused on Stanleys --- which is fine. But sometimes you want to know about infills or about euro style or japanese pull planes.

when i finally bought my copy, i darn near slept with it under my pillow. it is a great read - once you finish just browsing the pics

no matter what, have fun with it
john

[sawduster]

I've got a couple or three pages on my website that might be helpful. Plane Confusion is a somewhat tongue and cheek guide to the myriad different planes for all sorts of different purposes with a little info on set-up of the more basic bench planes.

Several years back we had a regular at the old place who did a few write-ups on wood working techniques, particularly hand tool stuff. His name was Dano. With his permission, I posted a few of his tutorials on my site. The intro to those tutorials, Dano's Primers has links at the bottom to the tutorials. "Plane Basics" and "Back on the Block" are the ones about hand planes.

Enjoy, and welcome to the world of the neanderthal. Won't be long before your knuckles begin dragging the ground. ;D

[hescores]

Hmmm, looks like I gots some readin' ta do. Thanks gentleman. Now that my night classes are almost done for the semester, I planned on getting all my chisels sharpened (new and in boxes) and learning about planes during the month that I'll be off school.

I do have a couple planes already, but they're also new and still in their boxes. I already know the basic concepts behind them and have used other peoples' before, but I know that certain planes should be used for certain applications. Plus I figured I should probably learn about them first before I start using mine and either a) screw something up or b) doing something wrong which causes it to be more difficult and then I get frustrated and don't want to use the tool any more.

Jerry, I doubt my knuckles will ever drag the ground because I do like my power tools, but I certainly know that their is a time and place for everything and when it calls for it, I'm certainly not going to refuse to use my hand tools.

[lexrex]

I printed out the B&G when I was just starting and read as much as I could. Also x2 for the Hack book, that's a very good resource. You are also going to want to learn how to sharpen irons or you will be frustrated right quick. Sharpening is a world of its own.

[hescores]

Well, I've been reading a bit from the links provided thus far and have also purchased a book and video through Taunton Press (for my visual learning side). My final class was last night so I have about a month to dive in, absorb some information and get my chisels and planes sharpened. With the holidays and such, I'll probably just get about 20 hours worth of time in those 4 weeks - if I'm lucky. Hopefully that will get me a good start. Wish me luck.