Had to pick between a hand plane and a power planer for my barn door project

I spent two weeks going back and forth on whether to buy a Stanley No. 4 hand plane for $45 or grab a cheap power planer from Harbor Freight for $30. Went with the hand plane because I figured it'd be quieter and I could use it on other stuff. Three hours in and I'm still flattening that oak board, and I'm starting to wonder if I made the wrong call. Anyone else regret going the manual route on a big job?

2 comments

2 Comments

wilson.claire19h ago

Bought a power planer for my first big gate and never looked back, saved me hours of work.

walker.michael10h ago

Hold on, is planing a gate really that big of a deal? I've built a few gates with just a hand planer and some sandpaper and it was fine. Took maybe an extra 20 minutes per gate, not hours. People make it sound like you're building a deck or framing a house. A power planer seems like overkill for something that's basically a big door. I get it if you're doing production work, but for one gate? Just seems like another tool to store in the garage that you barely touch.