Planes Grooved Or Smooth ?

[topper]

Im looking to buy a few new planes (sizes 5+6), but was wondering about the different uses for both grooved bottom planes and smooth ones ?

Thanks.

[jay5]

I think the grooves are to provide less friction but Im not 100%.

[Doc]

If you go online there are a bunch of sites devoted to tool wackos who pay ungodly amounts of money collecting tools. They also have great histories of said hand tools.

The Lie-neilson sie has some good info.

The grooved planes were an attempt to cut down friction. At least this is what I've always heard and read.

You haven't lived until you've dressed a boaut 100 board feet of walnut or cherry using a 3ft long Stanley jointer plane.

The really awful thing is that a surface that is just planed instead of being sanded is unbelievably slick. No swirls or fuzzy places.

I've got a couple of old Stanley's and a couple of Lie-neilson's and I use them when I can.

[sexybeast]

If you go online there are a bunch of sites devoted to tool wackos who pay ungodly amounts of money collecting tools.

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I know this is not useful, but that's funny as hell. Too many dudes are all sexual about tools.

[tdog]

If you go online there are a bunch of sites devoted to tool wackos who pay ungodly amounts of money collecting tools.

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I know this is not useful, but that's funny as hell. Too many dudes are all sexual about tools.

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HA!!!!....That is great!......But, Remember that your tools will never cheat on you.

[Doc]

How do you know what they're doing when you're not in the shop?

[thedoctor]

My tools play hide-and-seek while I am gone and they ALWAYS forget who is "IT".

[n8rofwyo]

The only difference I have noticed in the fluted sole planes verses the solid sole planes is that it is so much easier to lap the soles of the fluted planes. But other than that, I just hit the sole of mine with wax paper to slick em up before I use em. So I dunno... I guess a sharp, well tuned plane is about as good as you can hope for regardless of the sole being fluted or not. Just my opinion, though.

[topper]

Ok thanks, i just got a old stanley no.6 with a grooved bottom for £23 on ebay. Thanks for your thoughts on this, i was worried that it was a mistake buying it.

[Myka Guitars]

Are we talking grooved blades or grooved soles on the bottom of the plane?

Tjhe gorrves soles are definitely for reduced friction.

The grooved plane blades are so that when you are thicknessing a piece of wood (an expensive spruce top for eaxample) you can see where you already planed and make even passes over the whole board. It also makes easy work of figured woods. You clean up the wood with a smooth blade. This was back in the days before thickness sanders.

~David

[Devon Headen]

The grooved blade planes are nice when carving the inside of arched top instruments. He's talking about the plane sole, not the blade, I'm pretty sure.