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Good Wood Plane

Do I have to spend $300 to own a good wood plane? I'm trying my hand at making cbgs; I have 15 boxes, and I have 4 necks that are ready for some shaping. My goal is to make really nice looking necks (radiused, shaped, fretted, fret markers, etc). I'm prepared to spend a little money, but I don't want to be ridiculous about it. I'd like to make an informed decision if possible.
I don't know the difference between a $20 Stanley and $300 Lie-Nielson....
Any suggestions for someone that wants reasonably priced tools that will allow him to do good work?

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Permalink Reply by Richard Wilkins on June 30, 2016 at 1:47pm

Hi Wayfinder, I'm leaning towards hand tools at the moment as well.... but that 1" belt sander sure sounds handy!

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Permalink Reply by JL on July 1, 2016 at 2:11am

my power tools by use:

#1 benchtop belt sander

#2 bandsaw with a 1/8 x 14TPI blade

#3 drill press

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Permalink Reply by Richard Wilkins on July 1, 2016 at 8:44am

Ok, that's it, I need to take a field trip to Harbor Freight.

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Permalink Reply by Charlotte Henry on July 3, 2016 at 1:54am

When it comes to necks, you are better off getting a really nice rasp. I now have a collection of rasps and I can shape the back of a neck in about 30-35 minutes including sanding. This doesn't include the time for the transition area where the neck blends in to the peg head because I do a portion of that on a spindle sander. As far as planes go, I got a very nice Wood River #4 plane from Woodcraft and it was about $160. I got a cheap plane from Home Depot or Lowes and it works just fine. You also might want to think about making your own plane and just buy the iron.

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Permalink Reply by Titch the Clown on July 5, 2016 at 1:01am

There are specialty plane makers who make works of art that are tools you would be proud to hand down to your grandkids.

I have one of this bloke's spokeshaves ans it is gorgeous and a perfect finishing tool.

http://www.hntgordon.com.au/gidgee-bench-planes.html

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Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on July 5, 2016 at 4:05am

If you're talking about shaping the back of the neck a plane isn't really needed. It would be used for flattening the fretting surface. Here's how I shape necks using inexpensive hand tools mostly from yard sales with the exception of the Dragon rasp from Stewart McDonald.

https://youtu.be/TsgUdEOCwPM

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Permalink Reply by Jim Saraceno on July 6, 2016 at 1:46am

Before I was building CBGs I was building bamboo fly rods. There is a lot of very precise planning involved with tolerances of a few thousandths of an inch being critical. I bought a pair of well used Stanley planes Ebay for under $30 and they worked just fine.

I did find the blade was as important if not more important that the plane. I bought a Hoch blade that made a huge difference in the planing process. Of course it actually cost more than the planes but it was worth it.

Some of the newer Stanleys have Hoch type blades and if I had to do it over again I probably would have gone with a new Stanley.

I just can't imagine anything in cigar box guitar building justifying the cost of a Lie-Nielson plane unless you just really like top of the line tools and don't mind paying top dollar to get them.

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Permalink Reply by Richard Wilkins on July 7, 2016 at 1:03am

Hi Jim - bamboo fly rods? That's really interesting! Would like to hear more about your experience with those. Well, I received my two old Stanley planes the other day. Not only are they nice to look at, they work great! Will have to look into Hoch blades. Thanks for adding to the conversation!

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Permalink Reply by Jim Saraceno on July 9, 2016 at 1:44am

Yeah, my fly shop is a great hangout place and one day a buddy of mine said "Bill and I are going to build a bamboo fly rod this winter, want to join us?" And of course, I hopped right on that. At our first meeting I asked "So just how do you build a bamboo fly rod?" and the answer was "We don't know, we haven't red the book yet." So I got a book and every week we would read a chapter, discuss it and try things out. By spring we each had a very fishable rod.

I made 4 others after that, I kept three, sold two others for cost of material and now I have all the bamboo rods I need. I'm kind of doing the same thing with cigar box guitars, built a couple, built a few more and sold them for cost of material (so I could practice on someone else's guitar). The difference being after three rods for myself, I had all the rods I wanted but after six guitars for myself (acoustic, electric, acoustic/piezo, fretless, a beater for camping trips, and a resonator) I still have many things I want to try so I know I won't be stopping after a dozen builds.