A Not So Plain Plane - Which Bench Plane to Go For?

By David Savage

The last 10 years have seen great improvements in the design and manufacture of bench planes. A quick look through my catalogue of tools shows 103 different kinds of planes. But what we are looking at now are bench planes. Most of the people in the workshop start off with the number six, this is a plane that is large enough to do most jobs but not too heavy for most people. If you're a relatively lighter frame try a number five or 5 1/2. The numbers on the planes are just a notation of lengths, a number four being short and number eight being very long.