u/Alex_55555

A question to hybrid woodworkers who use both power tools and hand tool. I see a lot of people on different forums and youtube recommending # 5 1/2 for flattering and even smoothing and # 7 for joining. But why nobody likes # 6? It’s one of my favorite planes for jointing ~3’ long pieces. And I don’t really use hand tools for jointing longer boards. I do have # 7, but I rarely use it. I also don’t get the obsession with 5 1/2 - not really that long for jointing, and takes too long and too mush effort to smooth a large panel. I don’t really care if a thin side panel that expands and contracts is not perfectly flat. I much prefer #4 and #3 for smoothing large and medium size surfaces. Are any of you using # 6 plane?