: Getting ready to start my first kayak. Any ideas on inexpensive planes? The
: only use it would get would be on strip building. I know that some tools
: are not worth economizing on, (like my Bosch sabre saw and Fein sander)but
: for my uses, if a cheap plane would work, I'd rather save the $ .

I use two planes on a regular basis. The Record low angle block plane gets the nod when I'm taking off a fair amount of material on wood that's not prone to tearing out. When the Record doesn't cut it, and for finish work, I switch to my favorite tool, a Lie Neilsen small block plane. The narrower, thicker iron is much less prone to vibration than the Record iron. The superior steel holds an edge much better, too. Despite the lack of an adjustable throat, the LN is less prone to cause tearout than the Record. The downside is that it's very expensive.

If I were going to purchase a replacement for the Record, it would probably be the Veritas low angle block plane (you can see it at www.leevalley.com). It appears to be a much nicer tool for not much more money than the Record. Veritas also make a very interesting spokeshave, though you can buy two Records (flat and curved) for about the same price.

The downside to most cheap planes is that they require a lot of tuning out of the box and their irons are thin and don't hold an edge for long. By the time you tune them up and install a better iron, you could have just bought a better tool in the first place.

Regardless of what planes you buy, the most important thing is to get them extremely sharp and keep them that way. Use a honing guide and either diamond hones or wet/dry sandpaper on glass for roughing and fine finishing, then a 6000 grit waterstone for final polishing. The sandpaper method is MUCH cheaper than diamond hones and probably works just as well. The water stone will produce a keener edge than either diamond hones or sandpaper alone.