thicknessing back and sides with hand tools - recommendations?

[Simon Magennis]

Here's what I have been doing.
For tops I use a combination of a nice wooden wood plane (ECE) (size like a 4 or 4 1/2), a block plane with a toothed blade, a regular block plane and a cabinet scraper. For rosewood and European maple the wooden plane sometimes digs in. So I end up using the the block planes and the cabinet scraper but this takes a long time. This is what I want to improve. The small planes are simply too narrow to take enough wood away on a big surface.

Everything points to a traditional solution using a plane in the 4 -5 size range with both a standard blade and a toothed blade. Plus the cabinet scraper. I have narrowed it down to basically three choices:
1) 4 or 4 1/2
2) 5 or 5 1/2 (with complications of getting a low angle or a normal angle ....)
3) Veritas scraper plane (112 size)

Choice 1 is the easy one but is it the best?

To recap, this is for hardwoods such as IR and European maple - I'm all set for softer woods - and I am usually going from about 5mm down to around 2mm.

My plane collection includes a no. 7 so I am all set for jointing as well. (might be a reason to eliminate choice 2).
Regarding choice 3 - I've never had a scraper plane in my hands so I don't know how much wood it can remove.

I am panning to buy something in the next few days as I am starting a couple of new projects. Suggestions welcome.

[Clay Schaeffer]

You might try to find a couple of decent Stanley #4 planes and set one up with the toothed blade and the other with a regular blade (adjust the frogs as necessary). The #4 1/2 planes might have a bit more weight but the wider blade off sets this advantage some and they usually cost a lot more.

[Bob Gramann]

I bought a Wood River (from Woodcraft) #4 plane a few years ago. It is my favorite plane. It cuts much nicer than my Stanley #4. I consider it well worth the money.

[Simon Magennis]

The Wood River looks like the Quangsheng planes that are sold under various names with slight differences. I have one of the small block planes - its very nice. I ordered a no 4 today and spotted a scraper plane on the local ebay. Looks a bit rusty and will probably need a new blade --- but if the price is right.

[Roderick Jenkins]

Simon,
In the days when I just used maple (I started on lutes and viols) I was happy using a No.4 smoother and a 9 1/2 block plane. These didn't work for me on rosewood guitar back and sides so I use a Stanley No.80 scraper plane. I've also got a Lie Nielsen 212 which I have used on some bubinga lute ribs, but the bulk of the thinning is done using the 80. When nicely adjusted and sharpened it takes a proper shaving. It is hard work, I'm told it's good for me.
Cheers,
Rod

[Simon Magennis]

Thanks Rod. I am currently looking in to scraper planes in general. I will investigate the 80. I have a bid on a 112 on ebay at the moment. It's a bit rusty so I won't go very high on it.

[ThomD]

It is pretty common for people to experience better results using block planes on fairly large scale items, than using bench planes. When I started out over 30 years ago, I remember refinishing my parent's dining table with a block plane, even though it is very much out of place in that kind of work. Any heavy work should be done with a plane that allows powerful use of both hands. And while there can be a learning curve, it has never been easier to get into bench planes than it is today given the abundance of tools that come from the factory ready to cut, or second hand tools that are sold in usable condition.

Removing 3mm of material is roughing down, and should be undertaken with tools that will make quick work of the job. For starters many people own thickness planers, and these tools should be able to remove the first 2 mm down to about 3mm remaining on co-operative woods. Many guitar woods are not that co-operative, or are too valuable to wing it on, but the common place thickness planer can play a part if you have one.

First choice for a hand tool is a jack plane, used across the grain with a curved blade. This plane will make quick work of roughing duties. It will leave a scalloped surface that is reduced with a bench plane in the smoother range, probably with a somewhat open mouth, and a very close set breaker. A plane without a breaker is preferred on woods that present little risk of tear-out. This process could require several pases depending on the cut taken with the Jack. The Jack will remove about 75% of the material with the high points being reduced to flat by the bench plane. How coarse one can cut in a single pass will depend on the wood, and the skill of the worker. Blowing away big cuts is a lot more efficient, once one gets the hang of it. In the past luthiers often did massive reduction jobs with tools like violin planes, rather than breaking out a guttering adze and a roughing compass plane. But as more techniques are recovered from the past, this kind of thing is no longer necessary.

Final finishing can be done with a more tightly set smoothing plane. Idealy, the two smoothing plane types would have blades with progressively less agressive cambers. Modern hand tool users tend to boast that they can finish any wood right off the plane. Which yields an appealing surface, and speeds up the work. Luthiers, however, may want a surface on their instruments that engages with glue and finish. And modern luthiers are likely working with a playbook developed from sanded surfaces. Also, hand planed complex wood surfaces often do not look as even as sanded ones. So the point is that what exact method you use to get the final finish/last .5mm off, will likely depend on what sort of surface you want. Scrapers are slower and more work than planes, but if you want to take a couple of quick passes with sandpaper anyway, they may be a safer choice, or easier for some.

[Charlie Schultz]

Hi Thom and welcome to the forum. Thank you for your excellent points. Please note that we require the use of real first & last names on this forum, so if you will kindly PM your name to me (or one of the mods), we'll fix up your registration. Thanks!