Wayne Cattanach says use a Stanley 9 1/2 or clone plane and I have seen that Harry recommends them in his series. However, what's the difference between the 9 1/2 and the 9 1/4 ? Also there is a whole series of Stanley planes in the 6-7" length and 1 5/8" width, why is the 7" one better than a 6 or 6 5/8" one? Also, what's the deal with the manual adjustments on the 247 and 253 compared to the 020 and 920? (Larry Puckett)

The key to making a plane work well for our needs as rod makers is that the front foot must be adjustable. The front foot is that portion of the sole in front of the blade. By loosening a screw and sliding a lever, the gap can be narrowed or widened depending on the task at hand.

I can't tell you all the differences between the model numbers you mention, but can say for sure that the 9 1/4 doesn't have the adjustable front foot. It's okay (only okay) for roughing out, but isn't suitable for final planing, taking off only a few hairs of bamboo per pass. You might enjoy studying Patrick Leach's Blood and Gore Stanley tool pages on the web, but I don't have the url handy right now. Perhaps someone will chime in with the address. (Harry Boyd)

Thanks for the info on the planes. I found Patrick Leach's site and will look it over. At this point I am starting to get the tools together and learning more than I ever wanted to know about planes, scrapers, etc. Unfortunately winter is a bad time to look for flea market bargains so I am having to resort to eBay and they don't tell you much in their descriptions. (Larry Puckett)

Please keep in mind that very few out of the box planes, will have the throat filed so that the blades does not sit at an angle. If the blades is tilted any at all, it's like tilting your plane while you are planing, & that will create a triangle that in an equilateral! I worked with my Stanley 9 1/2 forever, finally made it OK, then bought a Lie-Nielsen high angle plane, that I did not have to work with at all. It was just fine right out of the box. (Jerry Andrews)

I used block planes in rodmaking for years, believe me, it is a lot easier using a bench plane and clamping the strips down in the forms so you can use two hands with the bench plane. Keeping the plane level is easier, and your wrist, elbow and shoulders will thank you. (Darryl Hayashida)

P.S. I use a 2 and 3 size bench plane.

All you really need to keep in mind is you want a high angle of attack for the pane iron edge because too low an angle slices too fine and will lift the bamboo while too high an angle reduces the slicing but increases the force needed to plane, like everything you're looking for the right compromise. If you don't have an adjustable throat you can't control the length of the chip as it passes through the mouth of the plane after it's been cut without moving the frog the plane iron sits on. Some planes don't allow frog adjustment but even when they do it's a hassle so the adjustable throat is the best. There is a direct relationship between the depth of cut and the width the throat should be set to. Too fine and the throat clogs, to wide and the chips are allowed to pass too far before they are forced up and broken forming curls which allows the chip to run too far ahead of the cutting edge causing tears no matter how sharp the iron is nor how fine you have it set.

Darryl Hayashida is correct in saying a bench plane is superior for rough planing. The job is done much faster as the iron is set at the right angle for along the grain planing (block planes are made to plane across the grain thus their plane iron low angle) and you can use both hands, as a result and as this is only rough planing you can go a lot longer before having to re sharpen the iron.

Just as an aside, I made a high angle block plane with the iron set at the same angle as a Bailey and with an adjustable throat. It works great but you need to have arms like Popeye and fingers of steel with a grip like a vise to use it even with a freshly sharpened HSS cutter. (Tony Young)