Advice on planes

[schmed]

I am new to the woodworking and therefore new to using hand tools for woodworking. I own a block, #4 and a #6 plane. My question is should I buy a #7 or #8 or just use my #6 for jointing edges?

[rhull]

Depending on exactly what you plan to use it for, I would think the #6 would suffice for most of your needs without needing a #7 or #8. More is definately better, though. :P

[Sawduster]

Can't ever have too many planes.

Like Rob said, the #6 should suffice for most jointing needs. Regardless of the plane you use, jointing with a hand plane requires a bit of finesse. You sorta have to have a pretty good idea of where the high spots are and work on them while keeping the plane parallel to the imaginary plane which will be the final straight coplanar edge. As you get the humps worked down, then it becomes more and more an issue of just letting the plane slide over the low spots and only removing wood from the high spots. A longer plane requires a bit less in the finesse department.