Two planes are better than one.

Well, duh….of course they are! (especially if you have a hand tool ‘problem’  like yours truly?)

Veritas DX60 on the left and the Lie Nielsen 102 on the right.

But seriously, having two planes, in this case two block planes set up at different depths really saves time while working through a project. I’m back into the plywood edging, this time for the second part of my latest commission- a large armoire. It’s made up of two parts, a lower base cabinet with two large drawers and an upper closet area with a second bank of drawers for added storage. The lower base is solid cherry with mortise and tenon joinery. It has two large dovetailed drawers using all solid wood throughout. The top closet portion of the cabinet has two frame and panel solid wooden doors but the large carcass panels for the top section are made up of plywood. This plywood is the from the same lot as the ‘habinet’ was built and will stand next to the already installed  ‘bed in a box’ in my clients home in another couple of weeks.

So back to the plywood and the solid wood edging; I have two block planes set up at different depths. The first, my small 102 low-angle bronze from Lie Nielsen. This plane doesn’t have an adjustable throat so it makes sense to use this one for the heavier cuts. I follow with my Veritas DX60 low angle block which has an adjustable throat and in this case I’m making the final passes bringing the solid cherry edging down to the plywood while trying hard not to take anything off of the thin cherry veneers. Having the two planes really saves time and lets face it- who has enough of that?

If you’d like to read more about edging plywood read  back through my post Working (ply) Wood.

Cheers!