I did not mean to fall in love

[Tony Z]

It happened so innocently, just hanging around there for maybe six or eight years. A few glances and then a month or two ago, a brushing touch turned into a lustful grip and finally slip sliding away!

My 5-1/2, where have you been all my life? Is there nothing we can't do together?

[Admiral]

They are highly underrated, along with the #6. Plus, 5 1/2s aren't all that common out there.

[TraditionalToolworks]

I will admit that I don't have a 5 1/2, but I wouldn't mind having one.

I find that with the No 62 I don't really feel I'm missing anything. I find that a really versatile plane with the high angle, low angle and toothed blades. I use that plane for a lot of stuff...

Alan

[bandit571]

Mine sits in the til, right beside a No.6c...

   

   
Afraid I didn't like them painted handles...so I removed the black paint..

[Timberwolf]

It happened so innocently, just hanging around there for maybe six or eight years.  A few glances and then a month or two ago, a brushing touch turned into a lustful grip and finally slip sliding away!

My 5-1/2, where have you been all my life?  Is there nothing we can't do together?

.....................
The 5 1/4 is pretty sweet also, Tony.......

[Tony Z]

.....................
The 5 1/4 is pretty sweet also, Tony.......

I also have a 5 1/4, Jack, but that 5 1/2 just felt perfect! Had a bit of heft to her, but she moved like a ballerina! Didn't have much anything sparkly on her, but she was smooth and perfectly rounded in all the right places. She left a sweet trail of discarded, see-through thinness behind her as she did my bidding...

[Bill Lyman]

I believe David Charlesworth once wrote that it is the first plane to buy and if you only had one plane, it should be the 5-1/2. I have two, one with a 45 degree frog, the other with the 55 degree frog.

[JohnnyEgo]

I pretty much do only have one plane, and it's an LN 5 1/2. (I also have an LN block plane, but not sure if it counts.) For what I use it for, which is mostly follow-up after machine work and minor trimming and fitting on the shooting board, I haven't felt the need for anything else. I swap between the stock iron and a PM-V11 that I cambered, and they both produce paper-thin shavings for a good chunk of time between sharpening.

If/when I do get another plane, the big boy #7 is probably next, because every now and then I joint something long enough that I wish I had that extra bit of sole.

[Tony Z]

I pretty much do only have one plane, and it's an LN 5 1/2.  (I also have an LN block plane, but not sure if it counts.)  For what I use it for, which is mostly follow-up after machine work and minor trimming and fitting on the shooting board, I haven't felt the need for anything else.  I swap between the stock iron and a PM-V11 that I cambered, and they both produce paper-thin shavings for a good chunk of time between sharpening.  

If/when I do get another plane, the big boy #7 is probably next, because every now and then I joint something long enough that I wish I had that extra bit of sole.

I have an old Hock carbon steel blade that sharpens beautifully in mine. Now (from the basement), which of your firearms is your current love?

[JohnnyEgo]

That is like asking which one is my favorite child; it's not that I don't have an answer, it's just awkward to say it out loud. There are many I love, but two have a lot of sentimental value, even though they are not the most valuable of the collection. Perhaps the simplest way to pick which one wins is to say that if my son or an eventual grandchild were to liquidate the lot to pay for ballet school or some such thing, my custom Delta Elite is the one I'd hope would be retained and passed on.