No. 6 plane: What's it good for?

[Bill_Houghton]

In this area on California's North Coast, settled by Europeans starting in the early 19th century and with growth in the early 20th (and more later, but that's not as relevant), I find 6s far more often than 5-1/2s (in fact, I'm over my normal limit of two planes of given size, by one, on 6s).  My first one came from a friend as thanks for helping him clear out a basement room.  Not much, an early Craftsman with the swoopy logo, made by Sargent; but a decent plane.  I've used it mainly as a big jack plane, and always feel very Hulk-like when using it.

[EricU]

I broke out the 5 1/2, 6, and 7 last night to do a comparison.  The 6 and 7 didn't seem significantly different, although the 6 is a lot easier to handle.  The 5 1/2 is a lot less substantial tool.  It was really well hidden on a shelf, but it seems like it can be useful.

[BaileyNo5]

One of my favorite and most used planes.  My old Stanley with a beech handle doesn't look like much, but it's a great tool.  Perhaps my Woodnet handle should be StanleyNo6 instead of BaileyNo5.  
  Really handy for jointing long edges, and making spring joints for glue-ups.  Way better than a power jointer, I never could use one of those properly and sold mine.

[hyperlinx]

After a quick wire-brushing to remove any dirt/detritus from storage, I use my #6 to remove the fuzz from rough saw-milled lumber, leaving an almost smooth, but not necessarily flat surface.  This allows me to first see the grain and hopefully any defects before I mark out for cross and rip cuts.  With a slightly cambered blade, I consider it one of my 'coarse' tools, in a 'coarse, medium, fine' tool system. 

Its not everyone's favorite, but if you're not familiar, here's a link to an article:

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/wp-con...umFine.pdf

[Snipe Hunter]

I use my six for jointing smallish stock.
I buy and sell planes locally and to be honest, I usually pass on the Sixes unless they are either real nice, real old or real cheap, preferably all three. I have a heck of a time reselling them

[AHill]

As many of you know I restore hand planes and what is available to me today, Admiral wouldn't even look at but move on. And I doubt if Ahill ever goes rust hunting.

Tom

As I said, this was my experience.  I don't go rust hunting anymore, and I haven't for several years.  Once I pretty much filled out my plane suite, I found no need to.  Perhaps I'm in the minority, but my experience when I needed to go looking for vintage planes, was I found more No.4's, 5's, and 7's than 6's.  Since I'm a user and not a seller, I never really spent a lot of time hunting.

FWIW, I checked the first 5 pages of Swap-N-Sell and found 21 vintage bench planes for sale.  Not a single No. 6.  Lots of 4's, 4-1/2's, 5's, a couple of 5-1/4's, a couple of 7's, and even a No. 2, but no 6's.

[smoothjazz27]

I can't say enough about how useful my #6 is for flattening and joining.  I find myself always reaching for this plane whenever I am truing up wood for projects.  As mentioned, works great with a shooting board.

Scott

[rwe2156]

Its the most used plane in my shop.

What's it good for? Everything - jointing short boards, face planing, shooting, flattening panels.

[Bill Wilson]

FWIW, I checked the first 5 pages of Swap-N-Sell and found 21 vintage bench planes for sale.  Not a single No. 6.  

May be because everyone seems to love theirs and no one is willing to sell them. 

[Admiral]

Oh, I've sold at least 3 in the last few months; one is in process of cleaning and tuning and will be offered shortly, a pre war 6C . . . looking very nice so far. . . . .