Official Luthiers Forum!

Have any of you guys tried the D'Angelico Plane from LMI? Looks really cool.

I've bought one but haven't tuned it up or used it yet, so I can't offer much help.
I did notice that the bronze casting was not that 'fair'- it's really shiny but not very smooth- similar to a lot of the offshore castings in the boat world. I plan to do a bit of work on the base, which shouldn't be necessary, considering the price.

You might want to consider the LeeValley small plane with curved base as an alternative.. though it may be too big.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=57205&cat=1,41182

Sorry about the clumsy link- part of the improved software package here...

Cheers
John

I like the Schneider plane from LMI - we're inseparable!

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Had one, didn't like it, sold it. Too little sole in front of the blade, mouth way too big.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Anyone have a recomendation for a good plane for joining tops? I have a couple of small planes that I use a lot in boat construction but they don't seem to be doing to well for joining tops. Is my understanding that the longer the plane the better it is for joining tops correct?

Seems I have seen the LN 5 1/2 recommended as a pretty good joining plane, as well as a smoothing pane.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

i've not used the d'angelico plane, but i am very fond of the schnieder.

my favourite plate jointing plane is a no 5. one doesn't need the width of the 5 1/2 nor the length of a 6 or 7. think the longer ones are just too much tool. too heavy and cumbersome.

while i can't deny the allure of the l-n tools, i only have one, a 212 scraper, and it was a solstice gift in 2006.

the balance of my planes, about 11 or 12, are mostly stanleys, with the odd sargent or millers falls in the mix, found at garage sales, flea markets and auctions. yes, they usually require work to get them to work like a l-n does straight out of the box, but that is was you pay the l-n price for. your time has to be worth over $100/hr to make paying them to do the work a bargain, unless the l-n you are considering is one which is in the stanley collectable category, like the 212. the last one i saw auctioned went for around $800, which does make the l-n a bargain at $145 or so.

Actually, my post was based on the versatility of the LN 5 1/2. Without anything but a blade touch-up, you have a heavy, stable, very fine adjustable, plane with a sole that is square to it's sides. It can be used for most functions of a bench plane, and with the extra blades and frogs, there is a lot of versatility. I didn't say it was a cheap solution. The last older plane I worked to get to a usable state, took me a whole day to get square and flat enough to use. I have actually been using a Bailey 27 to do my jointing, planing, and it works pretty well, but the mouth is a little large, and it takes some fiddling to get a good blade set for a clean run.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I've been using this plane for about 7 years and absolutely love it. Not only do I use it to carve archtops, I also use it for brace shaping and many other shaping tasks. I have schneider and IBEX planes. While they work well, they hurt my hand much quicker than the dangelico plane. In my opinion, it's worth the money.

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Don Sharp
Got Brazilian?
http://www.sharpguitars.com

That's good to hear. Which size did you get?