Hi Roger, the longer plane body makes for a "flatter stroke," and is not that much more work overall since you are only going across the grain at an angle and have less contour issues than if going with the with the grain. I would also point out that with a very sharp plane (and good to excellent band sawn timbers) there is little effort with the long stroke planes than one would imagine. At this point I have probably over 50 hand planned frames (at least?) and facilitate well over 100 with students and the like. I have even had very small and slight female students prefer the longer stroke planes for "clean up work" such as Ron is attempting, as you are taking very little off and the mass of the plane works to your advantage. With this system you are left with a traditional finish and no need to sand.

I will agree this is a personal choice, with much subjectivity, so Ron will be the ultimate decider.

Roger have you ever done a entire frame in oak that is hand planned using a jack of jointer size? What do you think might have been so fatiguing? It could be approach modalities and technique. I would say size (I'm 6'3" and 200 pounds) but I have see, as said, small folk gravitate toward long stroke planes as the plane does most of the work and your arms less. What do you think now, after this description, I would be curious of your experiences and concepts.

Warm Regards,

j