Time to buy a shoulder plane!

[SubGuy]

Been looking at them. Got 18 tenons to trim a bit. Current considerations are Veritas, Woodriver, Stanley. Looking for other options as well and ideas on which size has been most comfortable/useful.

 

[marinosr]

I had a beautiful old Record #311, prettiest tool in my collection. I just sold it on eBay because it turns out I never used it. The tenons I cut were never big enough for it to be useful... It's hard to register a big heavy plane on a shoulder when the tenon is only 2" long. I found I got better results with a wide bench chisel or just sawing carefully​ with a ryoba. I read a while back that Paul Sellers also finds them of limited utility, but that guy has lots of cranky contrarian opinions so take that for what it's worth.

 

[SubGuy]

1/2 of my tenons will be 4" with 1/2" shoulder. It's alot to bite off ($$), but I don't want to spend two days just tinkering with the shoulders to get them all true.

I had a beautiful old Record #311, prettiest tool in my collection. I just sold it on eBay because it turns out I never used it. The tenons I cut were never big enough for it to be useful... It's hard to register a big heavy plane on a shoulder when the tenon is only 2" long. I found I got better results with a wide bench chisel or just sawing carefully​ with a ryoba. I read a while back that Paul Sellers also finds them of limited utility, but that guy has lots of cranky contrarian opinions so take that for what it's worth.

 

[marinosr]

I will say that I bought a Stanley before getting the Record and had to send it back because it was useless. The iron was a few hundredths narrower than the sole, making it totally unusable. I confirmed with Stanley that this was by design and then decided that Stanley needs some engineers who will actually try to use the tool before making them en masse. I assume you're talking about a new Stanley... I'm sure the old ones are serviceable.

 

[SubGuy]

You assumed correct. Well I will strike that off my list.

 

[jlimey]

I would recommend the medium Veritas. I like the pivoting knob as it allows flexibility in holding the plane. It is narrow enough to fit into a 3/4" dado, which can be useful in trimming the bottom of the dado (though a router plane gives depth control). The quality of machining is excellent and the blade can be ready to go in a hurry.

 

[plcrawfo]

I have both the large and medium shoulder planes from Lie Nielson. I started with the large, because like you I had several large tenon's to trim 1/2" shoulders and 3" cheeks. My father gifted me the medium version, and while I thought I was fine with just the large, I've come to put the medium on smaller work because it's easier to register on shorter cheeks. As jlimey points out, it's also useful for cleaning up a dado. I think either size gets the job done, so I would recommend going for the size that most matches your scale of work.

They're not tools I reach for often... Especially in the smaller work where I mostly saw a square shoulder and then under cut with a chisel... But I wouldn't want to be without them on larger work, or for the occasional errant saw cut. I haven't used the veritas, but owning several of their tools, I feel like it's just down to looks and preference for the knob when it comes to veritas vs LN.

 

[Jeff]

+1 to the Veritas medium shoulder plane. With an 11/16" w sole it's middle of the road for most large and small tenons.

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=48430&cat=1,41182,41192,48430

 

[KenOfCary]

I have a couple of record shoulder planes but use the Veritas most often. I have the medium and the large as well as the little miniature version that has been remarkably useful. I bought the mini on a whim but find the 1/4" blade very useful getting into tight spots like the bottom of a dado. Probably use the medium Veritas the most. I usually make tenons slightly larger than my mortise and then use a shoulder plane and chisel or rasp to sneak up on the perfect fit.

 

[Roy G]

Zach, I don't have a shoulder plane. I use a wood file to clean up the tenons. As long as the cut tenons are close to final dimension, the file gets them to the right size fairly quickly. Also the file doesn't cost as much as a shoulder plane.

Roy G

 

[JohnnyR]

I have the Veritas Medium and highly recommend it, However, for your wide tenons a rabbit plane might be better especially if the wood isn't tight grained.

 

[TENdriver]

Zach, I started with medium Veritas and then bought the large.

I ended up liking the large over the medium for the tenons I was doing but I would recommend the medium for general use unless you know you're going to be doing larger tenons.

FWIW, I chose Veritas for the PM-V11 blades and some design improvements over others out there. Zero issues with them.

 

[SubGuy]

So I went to the local Woodcraft and picked up a Woodriver. Main reason is I wanted to try and see if I liked the method of using it. If I do, I may order some Lie Nielson or Veritas and return the Woodriver or sell it. I also looked at the Stanley Sweethearts and was disappointed. Iron doesn't match the body and slop in some of the adjustments. Maybe just that one but you buy what you see there so... Well I will be putting it to use today or tomorrow. Will let you know what I think

And for the woodfile, I took a close look at those and thought on it hard. I may end up switching over to that method if I don't like this one.
I have always just used sharp chisels before and been very careful. With this design, if one tenon gets cut too deep, it will show quickly in the shoulder fit and I am using Ambrosia Maple which is "soft" but this batch has not been as soft as I am used to. We shall see. Thank you everyone for the input!

 

[TENdriver]

Zach, Sounds like a good plan. Woodcraft gives you 90 days to decide.

I have a few Woodriver planes and like them but I did a get a dud once. The 90 day thing made a difference on the exchange.

 

[KenOfCary]

Zach, I don't have a shoulder plane. I use a wood file to clean up the tenons. As long as the cut tenons are close to final dimension, the file gets them to the right size fairly quickly. Also the file doesn't cost as much as a shoulder plane.

Roy G

I have also used a rasp to fine-tune tenons but the thing you have to be careful of with a rasp is digging into the shoulder with the edge of it. If you had one without teeth on the edge (maybe Roy does) it would be easier to avoid that problem - just one thing to watch out for it you go that route.

 

[cyclopentadiene]

I have the Stanley and have never seen any issues. If the cut is not perfect on the shoulders, I clean up with a bench chisel. All of the tennon is hidden and the glue will fill any issues.

I also have a lie Nielsen block plane that has an iron all the way to the edges. If the tennon is longer, I use this plane as it is a single pass.

However, since purchasing a Festool domino, I rarely use anything else for hidden joinery as this is very strong and simple.

 

[Mark Johnson]

I have a medium veritas as well. Good tool.

 

[Gofor]

I have the Stanley Sweetheart, but have not been able to get it to work like I want, as well as it is uncomfortable to my hand.

I have "made" a tenon tongue rasp by sticking adhesive-backed 80 grit to a squared length of wood. Advantage is that you can make the width to whatever suits the tongue length, and there is no abrasive on the side to damage the shoulder. A thin strip of the adhesive paper on the side works for the shoulder if needed, but I usually drop the grit size down to 150.

Go

 

[JimD]

I have a Stanley 93, the 1 inch wide one. The blade was VERY rough when I got it but after sharpening, it is nice steel and the plane works well. I think the blade is flush with the body but if I had a plane that wasn't I could make it work by shifting the blade to the side I wanted to use - but that would be a hassle.

I tried other methods of trimming tenons but I find the shoulder plane to be well worth the expense. I make big tenons on my RAS with a dado cutter (1/2 inch, that's all it can handle). I cut them a little over size and quickly get them to fit with the plane. Tenons in smaller pieces are cut on the table saw but I still cut them a little large and trim. Trying to cut to final size too often gets me an undersize tenon on at least one piece. Planing to fit work a lot better for me. Sometimes the shoulder needs a trim. Works for that too.

 

[garymuto]

Another Plus whatever for the Veritas Medium shoulder. It worked great out of the box.

I have a Stanly No. 92 that I got working OK aftersome fine tuning. The blade bed wasn't flat and the blade needed flattening and sharpening prior to honing. I would highly recommend the Veritas over the Stanley. The Stanley does make a nice little bullnose plane though.