Old school hand plane vs. a cheap electric planer - guess which one gave me a smoother finish

I tried to save some cash on a shelf project last month and grabbed a 30 dollar electric planer from the hardware store. It chattered like crazy and left gouges I had to sand out for two hours. My grandpa's old Stanley hand plane, which I sharpened for 15 minutes, gave me glass-smooth edges on the first pass. Anybody else ditched power tools for old-fashioned ones on certain jobs?

2 comments

2 Comments

nancy82011d ago

That 30 dollar planer sounds like the same one I borrowed from a neighbor once. It walked all over the board and left a finish that looked like a beaver chewed it. You got the chattering too? Mine did that on poplar really bad, which is supposed to be a softer wood. Did you try running it on a lower setting or was it just junk no matter what?

uma_baker8811d ago

Tightened the blade screws and swapped to a lighter grip. Helped a ton.