# Woodworkers - help me with my hand plane! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 28, 2007, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodworkers-help-me-with-my-hand-plane/424283 "2007-10-28T00:26:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodworkers-help-me-with-my-hand-plane/424283/61 "2007-11-06T01:12:05Z")
I don’t have time to read the thread, but I had to post this. Sorry if it’s out of place. I work in a store where we buy and sell “things.” We have a customer who ‘deals’ in antique tools. Evidently, a ‘plane’ from the mid-1800’s was purchased in an auction in Ohio earlier this year for $500. Many of the primary buyers weren’t there, as it wasn’t advertised. It just re-sold over at the main antique tool auction in PA? in the last week or so for something like $40-50K. I have no more details than that at this time. [Hijack off[/] ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodworkers-help-me-with-my-hand-plane/424283/62 "2007-11-06T01:44:16Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] I don’t have time to read the thread, but I had to post this. Sorry if it’s out of place. I work in a store where we buy and sell “things.” We have a customer who ‘deals’ in antique tools. Evidently, a ‘plane’ from the mid-1800’s was purchased in an auction in Ohio earlier this year for $500. Many of the primary buyers weren’t there, as it wasn’t advertised. It just re-sold over at the main antique tool auction in PA? in the last week or so for something like $40-50K. I have no more details than that at this time. [Hijack off[/] [/QUOTE] I didn’t know anything about this stuff until, like, three weeks ago. Imagine my shock to find out that some of the rusty old tools my grandpa had might have _paid off my mortgage_. ETA - I know, prolly not - what sells is the rare and the old. But still, ya never know. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodworkers-help-me-with-my-hand-plane/424283/63 "2007-11-06T02:07:56Z")
No you don’t… But try not to dwell on that 🙂 Read this… [http://antiquesandthearts.com/AW-2005-01-04-12-56-12p1.htm](http://antiquesandthearts.com/AW-2005-01-04-12-56-12p1.htm) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodworkers-help-me-with-my-hand-plane/424283/64 "2007-11-06T02:29:24Z")
[QUOTE=FordPrefect] No you don’t… But try not to dwell on that 🙂 Read this… [http://antiquesandthearts.com/AW-2005-01-04-12-56-12p1.htm](http://antiquesandthearts.com/AW-2005-01-04-12-56-12p1.htm) [/QUOTE] While that link was from 2005, I remember that the plane I mentioned was described as “ebony.” Now it all makes sense. And they would have been sold into OHio quite a bit, as the tool company was in Sandusky. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodworkers-help-me-with-my-hand-plane/424283/65 "2007-11-10T22:02:14Z")
Sigh. Woodworking is one big cup of disappointment, so far. I got my happy package from Lee Valley and followed the instructions on the smoothing plane. (Which at least there ARE directions, but I think some expert woodworkers wrote it, not expert teachers. Kinda hard to follow, and I did a couple things wrong and had to backtrack.) Well, I finally got it set up and understand all the controls, but I still ruin the _hell_ out of wood with it. I guess hand planes are my machines for turning nice smooth boards into nightmares. I’ll continue to play with blade depth, which I think might be the problem. It surely isn’t the plane; even I can tell these are real quality tools. It just seems like it either takes nothing and just skims over the wood, or it sticks. I was about to give up in total frustration and go get Guitar Hero 3, but then I said, hey, might as well set the block plane up - aaah, finally, I got something to _work_. God, it was so damned refreshing! Although that bit in the advertising about “fits the hand well” begs a damned gender discrimination suit. It fits the hand well if you’re Paul Bunyan. I have long fingers (but narrow hands), and it’s a pretty big stretch. Small complaint, though, for a tool that I can make _do what it’s made to do_. Going to take a lot of practice learning how to plane end grain with it, but at least I can _do_ it. Two questions about the bench plane - am I _supposed_ to have to loosen the screw that goes through the lever cap every time I need to take it off? With my jack plane there’s an actual lever instead of a knob, and I never had to touch the screw, but to get the lever cap on the Veritas one to slide down into it’s hole I always have to unscrew it. Is that just because I’m not very strong, or is it supposed to be that way, or am I doing something wrong? Also, I feel like I should know this already, but are you supposed to start planing a board _on_ the board, or are you supposed to cut into it at the edge? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodworkers-help-me-with-my-hand-plane/424283.md?page=3)