At 11:34 AM 6/12/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Good afternoon.
>
>I'm in one of those dilemmas that we would all like to be in.  SWMBO
>said " your birthday and Father's day is coming up.  Since your going
>past your favorite tool dealer on your next trip why don't you pick your
>present."  I enjoy woodies and have some H&R's but no plow.  So I was
>thinking of a plow.  Then I got to thinking of a 45 or 55.  Does any one
>have any ideas?  What should I look for in any of these?

Carl,

Whichever you choose, it sounds like it will be a great Father's day.  To
give proper advice, the first question is "what do you want to do with it"?
 A wooden plow plane will work great for plowing grooves.  The #45 will do
that as well as rabbeting, T&G, dados, reeds, beads, etc.  Do you have any
wooden match, dado or beading planes or a rabbet plane?  If not, the #45
may be a good choice for you, as it would greatly expand your options.

To muddy the water a bit...if you want to do alot of cross-grain work, you
may want to look at a #46 as an option.  You lose the molding capability.

Generally speaking, I would not recommend the  #55 to anyone who hasn't
already used the #45.  Even then, the #55 is so complicated and heavy, it's
hard to recommend it as a user tool.  I know some people use them for
moldings, etc., but in my opinion, it's more of a collector's tool.  It's a
real neat piece of engineering if you are into that aspect of tools.

Bottom line...if the #45 will give you some capability that you don't
currently have, then go for it.  Otherwise, the wooden plow will be an
equally good choice.   My website has the #45 & #55 manuals on it & a bunch
of other information (type studies) on combination planes if you want to
investigate them before making a decision.  If you do decide to go for a
#45, try to get a later model with the screw-adjustable fence.  It makes
setups a little bit easier.

Have fun,

Stan

Stan Faullin
faullin@c...
Visit my Old Tool Webpage at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/faullin