Thanks Shannon. That was very informative. As a hybrid woodworker, my use of planes is limited. But there are some applications where they are by far the best choice, and this helps recognize which is the best tool to use.

I'm watching some of your older videos again and find myself still learning from them. Thanks Shannon.

My favorite feature on the bevel up planes i own, is the adjustable mouth. It's SO MUCH easier to adjust the mouth than to take the blade out and adjust the frog position.

I'm pretty sure that I watched your video years ago, after my local wood/tool supplier talked me into a new production Stanley low angle Jack plane. You really did a thorough job of going over the differences in the plane types in this video, which has helped me use the plane. I don't know why there aren't more views and likes over the years.

Finally… Finally! A clear look at both of these planes… Thank You so much! Excellent!

Excellent Vlog. By explaining the differences between the two, you actually covered a lot of ground on how each works, probably better than I have ever heard it explained before.

Good video, thanks for taking the time. I'm fortunate enough to own and use quality examples of both BU and BD. I agree with most all the points in the video, including that for entry level a BD is probably best, for these reasons: 1) cost of entry is lower - BD Stanley #4's (where everyone should begin) are plentiful and relatively cheap, 2) Spare blades/chip breakers are cheap (current stock Stanley blades work just fine), & 3) BD blades are easier to maintain and wear longer between honings. The #1 thing for entry level is to learn how to consitently get a razor sharp edge on a blade. #2 is get the sole flat. #3 is patience: time and practice - the more a plane is used the more things start to fall in place. Many seem concerned they will "outgrow" a common #4 Bailey style plane - I still use the 1st plane I bought - Footprint #4 - out of the 40+ planes I have. A premium LN, Veritas, or whatever is not required (but they are really sweet to use). I do find my Veritas LAJ indespensible for shooting board work, panel/table top end grain, and final smoothing - but these are not "entry level" areas. I define entry level as learning how to tune a plane to consistently do what you want - and the biggest challenge is nice thin fluffy shavings on face and end grain (heavier cuts are easy after this point - adjust the blade out a bit). I find a BU is just better for smoothing because of the higher blade angle capability and the ease with which the angle can be accomplished vs backside blade bevels or expensive extra frogs for BD. The low angle capability of BU, while not absolutely necessary, is really nice in dealing with end grain. The wear bevel for BU planes is a downer - I get less life from an edge honing on an A2 BU blade than a stock Stanley BD blade. For this reason I use BD for "rougher" work, and save BU planes for end grain, smoothing, and jointing (I have a Veritas BU jointer, with the very accurate fence it makes jointing easier and more accurate than with a powered jointer). As for adjustability - for "rougher" work, I find the BD planes a little quicker to adjust, but for finer work adjustability is about equal. BTW, on the BU plane it's not a Bailey style adjuster, it's a Norris style. One point I disagree with for BU: "creating a steeper microbevel to deal with difficult grain is all that is needed". My experience is that about half the bevel of the Veritas BU blades needs to be at a steeper angle to get the benefit of the steeper angle. A 25° primary bevel with a 48° micro bevel with tear out sooner than a blade with a 43° primary and 48° micro bevel.

Nice thorough explanation. I listened in car but one point I don't think you emphasized at that point in vid, BD planes don't need less than 45 because you can skew (doesn't help end grain on shooting board).

The second point is that my low angle Veritas is amazing with a shooting board. There, now I will get off and stop filling up your board. Thanks for your videos Shannon.

Usually 27 min woodworking videos have about 2 min of useful content. This was refreshingly not the case here. Your experience lines up very closely with my own although I am a professional highbred woodworker. My old #4 bevel down is what I use 90% of the time. I would like to get a new version or at least a new blade but I can cut out a lot of sanding by removing mill marks on both edges and surfaces. My Veritas smoother is really my only premium plane and it got me past the hump of starting.

I've always wondered how to go about them, thanks Shannon! I'm closser to using hand tools today than I was yesterday

Wow !! before this video was going full bore bevel up !!! But now after you pointed out some of the benefits of bevel downs ability for adjustments while using ( very helpful ) I am now considering more the bevel down as the main use plane. This video is very helpful in making me consider more closely what i should look at before i buy a plane. Thank you

Leonard Bailey really knew what he was doing. He drew on centuries of plane technology and applied it to the new materials and methods of the industrial Revolution.

Great video Shannon. Thanks for comparing the 2 styles. I don't have any bevel up planes at the moment, except the block, but I want to try them. Thanks for the info.

Friggin nice! I swear EVERYTHING I know about hand planes is because of you! And I love using them now that I know what I know!

Nice episode! I just purchased the LN LA Jack, for the versatility of it.

I like them both. Bought myself a Stanley-62, but lateral-/blade depth adjustment on my Stanley-no.4 is no big deal at all. Handle of the latter is significantly smaller than the jack plane's. Good job, Shannon.

Great vid Shannon. I'm glad you reposted. This is the most comprehensive BD/BU comparison I've ever seen. That includes vid and print. James Crane stated, "Usually 27 min woodworking videos have about 2 min of useful content." In the interest of brevity I will just say, "Ditto". Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us.

Skewing the plane doesn't actually lower the cutting angler. Skewing the plane provides a leading edge so that the nominal force of the cut does not impact the whole length of the edge at once. In effect it stream lines the cutter allowing for less resistance and a trimmer profile as it were.

Thanks for reposting, tho answered a lot of questions I've had!

If you are going to swap out an iron regularly then you'll set it up with its own chip breaker. If you really need to swap all the time between a fine cut and a rough cut one is more likely to get a second hand #4 or #5 and set it up as your, side by side, roughing plane. (Scrub plane). Thus has always been common from the times of wooden planes until now. If one is really worried about chatter then get an aftermarket thicker iron. They are readily available and not overly expensive. I prefer the bevel down for so many reasons except certain specific instances. It is no coincidence that the bevel down chip breaker model has been so popular over the centuries. Whatever plane you get and use is guaranteed to need some serious setup before you start using it. Perhaps some of the premium models have had that done for you. If so you pay for it. Setting up and tuning a hand plane really improve planing technique as one begins to understand and feel all of the variables as the plane moves over the wood.

Maybe bevel up and bevel down planes should be seen more like backing each other up rather than a BU vs. BD battle... I don't see why i wouldn't have both for different tasks.... And again, you can get a fine BU plane, say Stanley no 4 for $30 on ebay so, IMO, the price isn't the problem if one wants to acquire both. BTW. I really like your show a lot! Keep up the good work!

The wonderful thing about being a newbie is that I have no opinions formed, I’m a true tabula rasa ready to be influenced.

I say "although I am a professional" not condescending to you, but as a comparison since few professionals use hand planes. Two things I would like to add which I'm sure you agree with. First is that on a bevel down plane, the slightly lower angle followed almost immediately by a chip breaker does seem to have an advantage over even a higher angle bevel up plane. I guess it is almost a 2 stage process compared to the bevel up single stage.

Sounds like a most definite maybe :) May be I need both.

Thanks for the video, does the frog change the cutting angle (re: 6:35 approx).

For me a Backbevel on a BD works great. I have a second blade with a attached chipbreaker so the switching between blades is the same as it would be with a BU. I don't like my bu jack. The lateral adjustment is fiddly, the blade bevel needs to be point on (free Hand sharpening for BD is more forgiving) and the adjustment knob is crappy. Maybe a veritas would change some points but still. On point. I think chipbreaker breaking chips is a myth...

Shannon - many thanks. As others have already said, the best summary of BU/BD pros and cons. So balanced, that it leaves me in more doubt than I had before watching it. At some point in the next two weeks I will need to make a decision ;-) Two questions if I may: this was originally filmed 7 years ago or thereabouts. 7 years on, do you still find yourself favouring BD planes and using the BU ones mostly for specialised work, or have things "rebalanced"? Secondly, has the feared wear on the bottom of the BU blade materialised? Thank you very much again (and best belated wishes for a happy 2018!) Davide

you talk about the problem with the bevel-up blade-edge rounding over, is it because we don't lift the blade away and just drag it back over the work?

Thanks for this it's very informative. As one music major to another I'm not very good at math either. What instrument were you?

You are actually my first comment ever on any KZfaq video. Exceptionally helpful video which I felt strongly I should Thank. Thank you so much. One question please, if I may. No body online on the bevel up/down issue seem to answer whether the cutting quality and the ability to avoid tear outs are the same with bevel up/down(assuming of course the same angle of attack)? Not plane-wise, actual cutting-wise- is there a difference?

Veritas made by Lee Valley make a 40 deg frog.

What instrument did you play? I am also a musician, and I am just getting started with hand-tool woodworking.

Hey, great video but what about counting 3/4 time or maybe 6/8 time?

One word amazing!!!!!!!!!!!

For someone not familiar with planes it would have been very helpful if you started by explaining what a bu or bd means. Then go into the advantages of each. It’s amazing how many Videos on KZfaq don’t explain that.

voice and piano

24:08 *Yes* - there is. Veritas customizable line let's you choose [the frog] between 40°/45°/55°. See here: www.feinewerkzeuge.de/custombenchplanesparts4.html