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I'm looking to get away from the sandpaper routine, what is the difference in handling, workability of these 2 stanley planes, the #5 and #6 ? Will a 5 work just as good?

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I

And maybe the 6 might be too long and possibly awkward if you are space limited. I know I am. As for the length, I managed to get pretty god joints with a pathetic wooden 10 inch plane - but it takes a fair bit of work to do that. I think i remember Al Carruth said he shoots with a number 4 and I thought wow, i am not the only one

That being said, I just ordered a Veritas low angle jack for shooting (with a spare high angle iron for smoothing). I wanted a LN actually but the veritas has a couple nice extra features, and this way I don't scrap LN planes off my basic tool list. I'll get a #4 bronze smoother in the future

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Build log

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If your shooting the plane along the edge to joint, the #5 is lighter and will give better control over the short 20 odd inches and is more than adequate over this length. On the other hand, if you are shooting the edge along the plane, ie; plane clamped on it's side and shooting the plate over the sole, then the #6 is a far better proposition.

Either way, a well tuned plane with a freshly honed blade is the main ingredient for success. With one well prepared tool you can achieve so much more than you ever will with a vast arrangement of neglected rubbish.

Cheers

Kim

I`ve actually joined plates just fine with a low angle block plane.I think more important is to have a dead on straight edge when setting up a shooting board.Although I now use a # 5 Veritas which works exceptionally well.It takes just a few minutes to get a perfect fit.Hesh had a real good tutorial for setting up a shooting board.That`s pretty much the way I do it.Of course as others have said ,there is no substitute for sharp tools.
James

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

I use a #7 plane clamped upside down in my vise with a homemade fence on it. Kind of like a joiner with no moving parts...

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If you clamp the plane on it's side to the edge of a bench and slide the plate across the surface of a flat smooth piece of whatever, ie melamine etc, you don't need a fence.

Cheers

Kim