I won't comment one way or the other on my opinion of buying "ready to go" or buy "cheap" and fettle. But I will make a few comments on what I have personally experienced with planes....
I started WW in 1972 with hand planes as that is all I could afford and several were given to me by relatives. They all worked fine and got the job done.. I added a jointer about 5 years latter and it worked fine and got the job done.
I currently have the original Stanley block and low-angle block I purchased long ago. I have a LV medium shoulder.. LV low-angle smoother.. Anant #4 smoother.. Anant #5 jack and an Anant Kamal #7 jointer. I sold a LV #4 1/2 and a LV #6 to get the Anant #4..#5 and #7. I had to add a $45 Hock blade on each with the exception of the #7 Kamal which comes with a thicker iron.
The LV's are great planes out of the box and only require honing at that time. The Anant's are a much cheaper made plane that requires considerable work out of the box. If I counted my own labor at $20 and hour and added the cost of up-grade irons I would only be slightly under what I paid new for the more expensive and better quality LV's.
But.. I don't count labor and the difference allowed puchases that were needed outside hand-planes. And after hours of fettling (the Kamal had a thicker iron but the engineer forgot to open the mouth wider to accomodate for it.. daaaaah) the Anant's perform as well as the LV's which I absolutely love.
I rolled a 5 HP TS off my pick-up yesterday to replace a 3 HP I sold as I need the 5 HP with what I do. But... but.. I started with a Shopmate (J C Penny) circular saw under a 2 x 4 ply sheet with a piece of angle aluminum secured with C clamps in 1972 and used it for 3 years.
The bottom line is I made furniture with both. The larger equipment gets it done much faster but there aren't many days that go by that the hand planes I mentioned don't get used as they have capabilities that can't be reached with power. So... I find both in-dispensable in my current mode of work.
So... if you want and feel a need for hand planes and have the money... LV and LN are excellently made and basically ready to go. If you want and need hp's and can't afford those... their are much cheaper alternatives that will do the same job if you don't mind fettling which is obvious in my case as I sold a few LV's to do so.
Enjoy your plane if you get one or more.... even with large power equipment they still have a place in my daily life in the shop...
I started WW in 1972 with hand planes as that is all I could afford and several were given to me by relatives. They all worked fine and got the job done.. I added a jointer about 5 years latter and it worked fine and got the job done.
I currently have the original Stanley block and low-angle block I purchased long ago. I have a LV medium shoulder.. LV low-angle smoother.. Anant #4 smoother.. Anant #5 jack and an Anant Kamal #7 jointer. I sold a LV #4 1/2 and a LV #6 to get the Anant #4..#5 and #7. I had to add a $45 Hock blade on each with the exception of the #7 Kamal which comes with a thicker iron.
The LV's are great planes out of the box and only require honing at that time. The Anant's are a much cheaper made plane that requires considerable work out of the box. If I counted my own labor at $20 and hour and added the cost of up-grade irons I would only be slightly under what I paid new for the more expensive and better quality LV's.
But.. I don't count labor and the difference allowed puchases that were needed outside hand-planes. And after hours of fettling (the Kamal had a thicker iron but the engineer forgot to open the mouth wider to accomodate for it.. daaaaah) the Anant's perform as well as the LV's which I absolutely love.
I rolled a 5 HP TS off my pick-up yesterday to replace a 3 HP I sold as I need the 5 HP with what I do. But... but.. I started with a Shopmate (J C Penny) circular saw under a 2 x 4 ply sheet with a piece of angle aluminum secured with C clamps in 1972 and used it for 3 years.
The bottom line is I made furniture with both. The larger equipment gets it done much faster but there aren't many days that go by that the hand planes I mentioned don't get used as they have capabilities that can't be reached with power. So... I find both in-dispensable in my current mode of work.
So... if you want and feel a need for hand planes and have the money... LV and LN are excellently made and basically ready to go. If you want and need hp's and can't afford those... their are much cheaper alternatives that will do the same job if you don't mind fettling which is obvious in my case as I sold a few LV's to do so.
Enjoy your plane if you get one or more.... even with large power equipment they still have a place in my daily life in the shop...
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