Man, you're on a different level than the other youtube content creators even within the woodworking subcategory. There are some amazing educational woodworking channels on youtube. The content you make, the way you present everything, it's better than i could imagine. Thank you for doing what you do. I'm so happy to have found your channel, and i look forward to the results of your plane research.

@chadjazeera9960

3 жыл бұрын

100%! There are some other woodworking channels that I really admire, but, as a novice, it can be very frustrating with how quickly they cover a subject or assume you know exactly what they are talking about and move on. Been watching Rex for several months now and have never gotten frustrated or confused. I've learned a ton and gained confidence. I am actually finishing projects and accumulating tools and different types wood. This channel is my favorite! Thanks Rex! 💚

@teaCupkk

2 жыл бұрын

You can tell Rex is on a whole 'nother level just by the way he has to wear hearing protection during hand planing (8 minute mark). Jokes aside, I do love him to bits. Down to earth, pragmatic and cheap (in a good way).

@vitalsteve1

2 жыл бұрын

those are headphones🤣

A breath of fresh air. Clear, articulate and watchable. Thanks Rex.

Thanks for the tool review and for all the patrons who's support allows you to do these great works. 💝☀🌵

since you said the chip breaker has a lot more curvature than it needs, you can put it in the vise and flatten it quite a bit. that makes it longer and moves the notch backwards so maybe you can still use it as a smoothing plane.

@robertthomas7644

4 жыл бұрын

This is exactly what I was thinking soft jaws so the chrome looks good this would have worked but to late know

@taitano12

4 жыл бұрын

That's exactly what I did when I bought my Great Neck plane from Home Derpo.

@JasperJanssen

4 жыл бұрын

I think it’s not so much that the angle is wrong, it’s just that the curve is far too big. So if you just flatten it, you end up with a chipbreaker that is too flat.

@peterdickason9147

4 жыл бұрын

@@taitano12 Buck Bros. Home Depot, 35 bucks. I'm guessing they change names once people catch on about these pieces of fine machinery. lol

@ve1708

3 жыл бұрын

@@JasperJanssen recreate the curve will be not a big issue.

So I bought the Buck Bros bench plane (same Co. Come to find out) I was able to fix the chipbreaker issue by flattening the curve on the breaker thereby extending the reach of the adjustment. After re adjusting the curve and flattening the bevel on the breaker I was able to get full thin shavings on some soft pine and some black walnut. This is the first plane I have ever used and with some albeit major adjusting I was able to make it work pretty good. Thank Rex for showing me how and what to fix on this almost good cheap plane 😉

@peterdickason9147

4 жыл бұрын

I was wondering why this ugly handled plane looked exactly like my Buck Bros plane. May I ask how you flattened the curve on the breaker? I have been futzing with this plane ever since I bought it and thought I was doing it wrong (Why in the hell isn't the blade coming out?) I'm so glad to have come across this video for if nothing else then scrub plane it is! thx all

@EMWoodworking

2 жыл бұрын

Looks a lot like my Kobalt

@ottopjm

2 жыл бұрын

@@EMWoodworking I was thinking that too, but the mine didn't have this problem, it was much better out of the box then my #5 from Tay tools, which cost much, much more.

I have to agree with Kitsurubami- you are on another level and its a pleasure to watch and learn from you. Ive only watched 2 of yours so far, but im looking forward to seeing what other content you're doing. There are so many useless channels, but yours is exceptional, you're a natural. Thanks !

Since I started watching you, I have come to learn that I enjoy doing woodwork all by hand instead of using machines and I have learned that even without machines, I can still do everything that I need to be able to do. You have also inspired me to buy my own hand planes. I don’t have the most money so I decided to get the cheapest possible one I can get. I ended up buying a $13 AUD block plane. It doesn’t have any chip breaker, depth adjuster, and it doesn’t have a lateral adjuster. I have to do everything by hand. I also had to spend hours on the wet stone to get any edge on it and I just gave up and used a strop. Even though it is no where near the best possible plane, I have managed to get it to shave the wood very nicely.

Rex, thank you for another great video. I learn a lot watching your channel and can honestly say you have saved me quite a bit of money. As a retired pensioner that really is appreciated. Looking forward to the rest of this definitely "not" plane series.

@RexKrueger

4 жыл бұрын

I'm delighted that I've saved someone some money. It's really what I'm here for!

Thanks for the review. It helps knowing what the plane can do well. I have a similar one myself and I think using it as a scrub plane is a good idea.

Another great video Rex. Keep up the good work!!! Cheers from Canada!

Looks I need to get into planes after all. And I even got some that might thrive with this treatment! Thanks for sharing, Rex!

Can't wait for the new series! Thanks!

I have an identical hand plane with the same problem. I managed to fix it by gluing some additional aluminum on the depth adjuster, therefore, extending its range.

Nice to see a channel that looks out for the majority of woodworkers on a budget. We all know premium tools are great and most channels review them with great results (obviously) but they are also expensive and if you are new to woodworking this channel will be a lot of help to get you to build your skills with good tools at a reasonable price (most people are not looking to drop $2k worth of Veritas and Lie Nielsen chisels and hand planes to get started). Keep it up! Thanks!!

Rex your videos inspired me to take up the hobby, Based on your advice from previous videos I bought and set up a Buck-Bros-9-in-Bench-Plane(link below) from home depot and addressed the sole and steel as you taught us. I spent about 2 hrs sanding that sole flat by hand on a marble tile working out the low/high spots around the mouth of the plane. I tested the plane right out of the box and compaired the chips after all the work and noticed the huge difrance in the preformance of the plane. Funny thing was after all that work spoke with my neighbor like two days later and he gave me a no 3 baily and a no 4 stanley that was his grandfathers the steel in the #4 was already shaped for scrub plane Both of the planes he gave me need to be sharpened and a good cleaning but lucky no real rust issues on them. My next plane im seeking is a longer jack plane to join larger rough cut slabs. Thank you! Keep up the good work and the content comming! www.homedepot.com/p/Buck-Bros-9-in-Bench-Plane-120C4/100351888

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

Man that's some luck! For your neighbor to have those planes and just GIVE them to you. Crazy.

It's a bummer it didn't work out! But I've been looking for a scrub plane too, and I didn't want to ruin an heirloom, so this just might do the trick, thank you :) I'm looking forward to the rest of the series!

Been watching a lot of your videos over the last few days, and I decided to search up my particular plane that I bought at Home Depot years and years ago and came across another video of yours! Mine is branded "Buck Bros.", and I've done a lot of these fixes (had to file down the lateral adjustment as well) and I just can't be happy with the thing. I should have just cried once and sourced a quality, vintage plane. Definitely loving the content!

I got a Bench Dog brand #4 bench plane for about $60. It's one of the newer Indian made bench models & have been very happy with it.

That reminds me of when I visited my friend in Chile, in Puerto Williams, the southernmost city in the world, he wanted me to make him a little holder for bird bands (he's an ornithologist), and we had some rough wood and some basic tools, a plane among them, but this was the cheapest, crappiest no-name plane I've ever seen. The chip breaker, for instance, was just a bent piece of stamped sheet metal, it was't even ground to fit the iron. Chips just went right under it and jammed up instantly. But I did have a file, so I filed it down until it fit properly and then it actually worked. It's pretty satisfying when you get a decent shaving with a tool like that.

I have a harbor freight windsor design #33. Now it's a scrub plane. Works well for that job.

I was going to buy a plane just like this, So this will be a awesome watch, Definitely got me on the edge of my seat!.

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

Makes a good scrub!

Inspired by your other videos, but having missed this one, I bought a Buck Brothers 9" bench plane from Home Depot and had a go at tuning it up. It looks _exactly_ like this one. The blade angle adjuster fit into the slot of the plane blade, but protruded above the top of the plane blade, providing a high point for the chip breaker to rest on so the breaker/blade assembly would not lay flat on the frog. I ground that down until it would. I also smoothed down the frog so the bed for the blade was mostly smooth and flat. Fortunately, the blade advance lever of my plane would, in fact, advance the blade edge below the sole of the plane. The front knob needed to be beveled around its base to a circular ridge on the plane body and sit flat on the plane body. On first use wood chips jammed between the blade and chip breaker. I sharpened the chip breaker so it had a sharp edge that pressed tight against the blade. But maybe not tight enough; I still need to set the edge of the breaker back from the blade edge 1/6" to 1/8" to keep wood out from between the blade and breaker. At this point the plane seems to function, although I still want to flatten the sole. Now I need to spend some time learning to use it. I set up a scrub plane from a Harbor Freight Windsor Design Number 33 bench plane. Between the two of them I was able to clean up the face of a chunk of 2x6, so I think I'm ready to have a go making the low bench. I also tuned up a Buck Brothers block plane I've had sitting unused in a drawer for maybe 20 years or more. It seemed to be more promising than the bench plane for end grain cleanup.

Something you might want to mention for woodwork for humans: A hacksaw as a dovetail/detail saw. Even places with only a local hardware (no big box, no amazon) store should have them. And it's one tool to do more than one thing - wood and metal. Especially useful for cutting the heads off of nails, and some have a way to adjust them sideways so you can flush/infinite depth cut easier.

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

Just introduced a hacksaw in the video I'm shooting right now!

@mydearriley

5 ай бұрын

​@@RexKruegerwhich video was this?

Hi Rex, I had the same problem with a no name plane. I knocked out the pin on the wishbone(?) of the adjuster put it in the vice and gently gave it a slightly greater angle, that got me going with the chip breaker closer to the edge

Thank you so much for this video. Srub plane it is. I bought one of these and have been futzing with it ever since. I found yothis video and eureka! Move the breaker back a quarter-inch and now it works wonders. I think I created a monster tho. It's all like "ARRRRGGG!!! FEED ME WOOD...NOW!!!!" Seriously, this thing can now chuck wood as good as a woodchuck could if a woodchuck could chuck wood. You rock!

I recently got one of these to set up as a scrub plane, and it looks like they've addressed some of the issues here

I bought an irwin plane, its pretty much a no. 4. It had the same issue with the blade not being able to come out when I set it up for smoothing. I just did exactly what you do with a wooden plane, and hit the back of the blade with a hammer, and it worked perfectly! You should seriously try it!

Wish I had seen this before I bought it. I've been working part-time to try to make it work, and now I've learned it isn't me! Will now try to convert it to a scrubber. Thanks.

Now I kinda want to get one of the GN ones and get it to work. I managed to get a horrible freight working decently with the exception that on coarse fiber wood, I someone manage to get wood fibers up there and foul it even with a near knife edge and backside bevel on the chip breaker.

Since my woodworker supply store is closed for the coronavirus. I picked up an Irwin Record #4 plane from Menards for $19.99 plus tax (regular price). It worked well right out of the clamshell. The bottom was surprisingly flat. It almost has the same adjustment problem with the chip breaker as this Great Neck, but I was able to get perfect shavings with no chatter on red oak, so I am very happy with it.

I picked up an older Great Neck plane a while back, with plastic totes...Cleaned it up a lot and immediately lost one of the frog screws when wire-wheeling the threads clean. Found a temporary replacement, but need to find another one at some point. It is an adequate plane that doesn't have the adjuster notch defect yours does, so that must be a newer thing. Mine has a traditional latch for the lever cap as well, instead of the knob style on that one you have. I wonder why they took such a step back with the terrible adjuster notch position. Thanks again for the great video.

Rex, started watching all your planning videos (great vids. Easy to follow) and was like ok I can do this......If only I this video had come out before I bought this same plane😡😡😡😡 I thought it was me not doing something right, I kept going back and watching to see if I missed something ¡NOPE! and while $37 bucks won't break me it sure left me disappointed and feeling dumb! OH-WELL!! some times we have to learn the hard way...... KEEP THE VIDEOS COMING!

thank you Rex

I have an older Great Neck...box looks like it's from the late 1960's early 70's.....same problem with the adjustment notch!!! Glad I watched this...now I know what to do with my plane...lol

@RexKrueger

4 жыл бұрын

It's honestly a GREAT scrub plane. I love it.

Would forging the chipbreaker flat and re-establishing a slight downward bend at the front gain you enough length? Would need to be done nicely. Filing out the adjustment slot backward and silversoldering a bit extra into the front might also work, a finicky job as well. Keep 'em coming while thinking outside the box. 👍😎

Good info, great video.

Drill some holes a little further up the chip breaker?, then square them off with a file?

@dlevi67

3 жыл бұрын

If it's off by 3/16 or thereabouts you will end up with the two notches running into each other... which means a lot of slop in adjusting (and may mean you can't adjust back without removing the iron)

Nice video. Good information. I had looked at the Taytools number 4 but they are now $80. I had wondered about the Kobalt smoother that Lowe's sells being a possible cheap option for a smoother. Looking at it again the chipbreaker is chromed so it is probably the same maker, but just rebranded. I wish you good luck finding a useable Bailey style plane for cheap. Keep up the good work!

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

I might get the Tay even at that price. It sure looks nice.

Mine also had that brown lacquer on the handles. I didn't care for the slick feeling when my hands are sweaty. I sanded it off and applied linseed oil.

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

Seems like a good move.

I like these videos. I might have tried modifying the depth adjuster. Great stuff, Rex!

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

I would love to mod it, but it's cast pot-metal. Very fragile.

@upsidedowndog1256

5 жыл бұрын

@@RexKrueger A machinist could easily lathe a custom adjuster. Might cost more than the plane unless it is a buddy.

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah, there's not going to be any custom machining on this cheap plane!

@DG-zl6ml

4 жыл бұрын

@@upsidedowndog1256 A new one could be easily made in the home workshop from mild steel, using hacksaw, files and drill. But it's a lot of work for a plane this cheap. And anyway a much easier fix is to modify the slot in the cap iron.

Fantastic! I've been wondering why no one has done a comparison of inexpensive hand planes.

Great video. Thx for sharing! : )

I have the kobalt #4. And it's pretty good it's not as good as my Stanley #4 but I do really like it

Hey Rex. Try out a Kobalt 9.75 inch Bench Plane from the big blue box store. It was my first plane. Pretty cheap, not perfect, but a totally functional smoother after some tuning.

@jefffalls

5 жыл бұрын

I second that. My Kobalt is still my go to smoother, because I'm cheap.

@robertlunsford1350

5 жыл бұрын

I was going to make the same suggestion. They have block planes as well.

The home depot plane might be the one you want. I have had it a while and it works pretty good and with you tuning it should be great

oh hell ya rex!

So this is exactly what I ended up doing with the great neck that I bought as my first plane. I might add that it's not an incredible scrub plane either because of the thin blade but for the price it's workable.

Keep your eyes out for BuckBrothers planes. They are carried at Home Depot. Kobalt planes are carried by Lowes. All cheap...likely in both senses of the word. Looking forward to seeing your videos this summer!!

@christ3737

5 жыл бұрын

Arnold Kotlyarevsky I picked up a HD hand plane. I followed Rex’s advice on how to fine tune it, and it cuts pretty well. As good as a Veritas? Probably no, but good enough for what I need to do.

@richandersen7079

3 жыл бұрын

Glad i went to Menards and picked up the Irwin Record instead

I was thinking you would lightly hammer the end of the chip breaker to lengthen it since you said it was too round.

I like your summer plan(e)s! Above and beyond what any other person would do.... Excerpt maybe project farm, but he doesn't do hand planes. 😉 Again, great video

Great info, and way to walk the path of "I bought it and I'm going to use it for something." I to think you could fix the chip breaker with some blacksmithy goodness. Maybe even do it all cold

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

I could, but many of my viewers lack the tools, so I don't think it would help them. Hell, I could MAKE a new chipbreaker.

Have you thought about putting another notch in the chip breaker in the right place so that the adjustment screw can work properly?

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

I just don't feel like this plane deserves that kind of effort. I'd rather find something that doesn't need a heroic fix.

So Rex, I wanted to give you somewhat of an update on your cheap plane idea. I bought a Kobalt from the blue box store recently, found out that it appears to be identical in manufacturing as your Great Neck. In fact, it is likely the same factory, but just got a different cap iron for Kobalt. As such, I ran into identical problems that you encountered so I decided to take my Stanley #4 apart and compare it, apples to apples. What I noticed was, the chip breaker that you discussed in the middle of your video isnt necessarily cut in the wrong place, it comes down to the angle of the end near the edge of the iron. I found that it was far too steep and with the cap iron tightened down, it forces the chip breaker to slightly push on the iron in a way that makes it bow. To resolve that, I took the chip breaker out, brought the angle down by pressing it in my vice slowly until it matched the height of my Stanley, then I deburred the edges and BAM it worked! It went it properly and the blade came out. It is ALL the cap iron angle at the end.

I had this happen on my Home Depot plane (FootPrint Tools) recently. It was a real surprise that I had to place the chip breaker so far back.

@DG-zl6ml

4 жыл бұрын

This can be improved or solved if you need to Chris. Various solutions are mentioned throughout the comments here, by me and others, my favourite being deepening the slot to allow the leading edge of the cap to come close to the cutting edge. You then need some sort of fill put in to return the slot to around the same size it was to begin with (a bit tighter than originally can be good).

@terrylecroix4745

4 жыл бұрын

Also the frog has two screws under the plane iron that allow you to push it forward. That worked for mine. (the Buck Bros Home Depot version)

Rex. There are two screws on the frog that allow for adjustment. The Buck Bros plane I got from home depot is exactly like this plane. I moved the frog forward and the iron reached well enough.

@RexKrueger

4 жыл бұрын

Yeah, that's just going to close the mouth opening, it won't affect how far the blade can reach. I'm not trying to be a know-it-all here, but I own about 100 planes and I'm pretty familiar with how they work.

@terrylecroix4745

4 жыл бұрын

Rex Krueger Opps, I can see how that may have been implied by my comment. 😳 Sorry about that. I was a little too excited that my cheapo plane was finally taking shavings. Unfortunately I think now the blade has slightly less support and may chatter. Anyway please chalk it up to me being an enthusiastic novice.

Love it. Have the same problem often with my cheap planes since I'm a poor beginner. My background is a farm boy though and I manged to get my kobalt, taytools, and stanley 12-960 blades to breach the mouth by moving the depth adjuster all the way back then move it to about 90%. Then set the blade in and push it as far forward as you can. I think the issue is that the depth adjuster is loose moving forward and backward in addition to side to side. How flat is the sole on this?

This video diagnosed my crappy Kobalt that put me off of planes for years. Same chip breaker issue. Looks like I’ll have a scrub plane by next week

What if you were to make another notch in the chipbreaker? Should be able to do it with a starter hole followed by some filing with a triangular or square file.

I would love to see you try and review a stanley handyman #4. It gets a lot of flack from, well everyone. Funny thing is no one tries it. And they go for about $10 on ebay.

I can attest that this plane works fantastic as a scrub plane. I've got the exact one here (except with a Buck Brothers logo) - same ugly handle and everything. It absolutely devours some of the gnarliest knots and grain I've thrown at it with no problems. Mine actually did okay-ish as a smoother. I didn't have the problem with the chip breaker slot as you did here. But I needed a scrubber....

@MrBwschwarz

3 жыл бұрын

That was my experience too, except the yoke broke about a week after I got it all tuned up. No easy replacement part and shipping it back to Buck Bros would cost me more than I paid for it, so there warranty is essentially useless. Got some practice in sharpening the iron, but that's about it.

@r.parker1933

3 жыл бұрын

Since that first post, I've actually been able to make this into a decent smoother. I needed a different iron and chip breaker, but it has really been a good one after all.

You said there was too much curvature on the chip breaker. Could you squeeze the chip breaker length ways in a vise to remove some of the curvature, while at the same time extending its length the few millimeters you need?

Have you considered the Irwin Record #4 plane? Just picked one up from menards for 19.99. Looks like a solid candidate.

Hey Rex, nice video. I was just thinking more about one of the problems you mentioned at the top, that the chip breaker had a bit too much cuvature on it. Did you consider hammering out some of that curve? Wouldn't that make the chip breaker slightly longer, and alleviate some of the problem caused by the location of the slot for the depth adjuster? I don't know how repeatable that would be for your viewers, but the thought occured to me when I was watching.

I have been interested in learning more about planes. I love working with wood. My Dad was a pretty good carpenter, but my grandfather made his living in carpentry. I have the different planes they both used thru the years and have been saving them to use when I retire. I am now semi retired and have been woodworking to a degree. Nothing that involves planes. I believe that true craftsmanship does not rely on expensive power tools, but in manual hand tools. Yeah, it may be easier to get desired results, but true craftsmanship, IMO, comes from working with your hands. One of the planes in my Dad’s tool box was one of my grandfathers’. It was completely constructed out of wood except for the blade. My best guess is it is from the 1920’s to 1930’s. My Dad had some vintage Stanley’s as well as some others. This will be my next step in woodworking experiencing this vintage planes. My wife “encountered “ me to sell these 15 years ago. But I held on to them, knowing in retirement that they would live and create beautiful projects again

On other planes to include in your testing lineup, I see someone beat me to a mention of Faithfull, those are definitely worth being on the list if they're available widely enough with your viewer base that you feel they can be included. I have two Faithfulls and I lucked out as they're both absolute champs - zero work needed on their soles and after some basic fettling they were up and running taking excellent shavings, and they've worked well for me since. Either one can take shavings you can read through and the irons hold an edge well so their heat-treat is good. Unfortunately I forsee a problem with this review, just recently I heard through a friend about a batch of Faithfull low-angle blocks where every one was really bad (unusably bad was the report). This is an issue across the board in this sector of the market, where the proportion of problem planes and outright lemons is higher. So I wonder if it means a blanket recommend of any of the cheap ones is viable?

Thanks

Was the adjustment notch in the breaker too out of place to drill a new notch? (i.e not enough material or a new hole would interfere with other features)

Pretty sure I have this exact plane. I was struggling with it this morning.

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

Stop the struggle. We'll find something better.

I bought a smoothing plane a couple years ago that looks almost identical to that one, or as far as I could tell. It’s a Robert Larson plane. It worked pretty well right out of the box aside from needing a little sharpening done to it. I think I paid $50-$60 for it. The only thing that I’m not a big fan of about it is that instead of a lever cap it has cap with a screw or bolt that creates the pressure to keep the blade in place.

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

I don't like these screw mechanisms either.

Review the Harbor freight no 4 Jack and mini plane set. Around here its 13.99 and they are always throwing 20% off coupons and free items at you

@RexKrueger

4 жыл бұрын

Eh, I don't know. I think we all kind of know how good those are. (Generally salvageable, but not great, even for the price.)

I bought a Kobalt smoothing plane at Lowes and cannot get the blade to go far enough out the mouth without pushing the chip edge so far away from the blade...very dumb - glad you addressed this in the vid, thank you

Just picked up a 2nd hand Bailey No.4 [UK £16.00]. Just honed up the iron and its fine - needs more clean up and fine tuning but after watching your breakdown, and overhaul vids I purchased with confidence and got a bargain, I believe. The seller said it was a Stanley but the red label on the lever cap says Record. The bed has Made in England cast into it and that lever cap is chromed too.

@DG-zl6ml

4 жыл бұрын

Lever caps, irons (both the cap iron and the cutter) are very commonly switched between planes. Usually it's between planes of the same brand but you see hybrids like you bought on a semi-regular basis. In case you haven't heard of this yet planes made from mixed parts are often referred to as Frankenplanes :-)

@negotiableaffections

4 жыл бұрын

@@DG-zl6ml Thank you DG. I'm always dubious of 2nd market but price got me here. I was worried it wouldn't be in good condition. Actually its functionality is fine and [with recently gained skills] I managed to hone a great edge, so its all singing and dancing. Shame its a frankenplane, which explains the deal I got but at least it works. Cheers mate.

@DG-zl6ml

4 жыл бұрын

@@negotiableaffections Any good car boots in driving distance of where you live? If there are you should be able to find an all-original plane in due course should you want one..... and you could reasonably expect to pay less for it than for a decent cup of coffee these days! Vintage chisels are another thing well worth haunting car boots for, plenty of them about and they often sell for just a quid or two each. Oilstones too if you like them or want to try them on the cheap.

@negotiableaffections

4 жыл бұрын

@@DG-zl6ml Funny enough, we've just been preparing to pay a long overdue visit to our local 'boot sale'. I shall have my eyes peeled. Cheers

I have an Axminster Rider No 4 that almost has the same problem of not getting the cutting edge to protrude without setting the chp breaker back a bit, say to about 1/8" - this is supposed to be a mid-range plan! I have trouble in getting the blade to centre too, despite tweaking the frog. I have a really old Stanley that works so much better.

I can't wait for the plane shoot out, been looking for affordable smoothing planes for my niece and nephew. great video Rex.thanks

If the chip breaker sticks up to much... Why not flatten out the hump a little bit. That will give the breaker more length, and might allow for proper adjustment.

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

If you have the equipment to do it evenly (like a good machinist's vise) then that would probably work. But if the chip breaker edge gets a curve to it, then you're going to get a lot of jamming.

@jameshaulenbeek5931

5 жыл бұрын

Ahhhh... very good to know. Thanks!

@nicolastousignant9160

5 жыл бұрын

Also, i expect that if you flatten the hump out on the chip breaker, enought to get the lenght needed, it will likely loose too much rigidity

@richcooke9241

5 жыл бұрын

I was thinking the same thing while watching! Rex, with your skills & ingenuity, I'm sure you could make that work. Thank you for the great content!

@gnarthdarkanen7464

5 жыл бұрын

ACTUALLY... I was thinking of a Dremel and a Mig Welder... First, take a stone-tip with the Dremel (or similar rotary "hobby tool") and grind off the chrome around the adjustment hole. While you're at it, go ahead, and dabble at roughing the surface IN the hole and around it on the "under-side"... just to be sure you've got good clean metal there to work with. Don't forget to wipe down and remove all the dust... clean, Clean... CLEAN... Then, without too much skill or hell to play, hold up the face mask and jab the mig probe into the thing... Just "gorilla weld" it full of hot metal... jab-spatter-jab-jab... pfft... nothing special. Okay... for those who are concerned... It's worth pointing out that you SHOULD absolutely gob some "nozzle jelly" into the tip of the mig-welder for every job. This prevents the wire from getting melted down in the nozzle and while it does make a bit of mess in the work, it ALSO prevents you from buying up every stupid nozzle fitting for a wire-feed welder in the county. Trust me, there's nothing more irritating than not being able to work because you've welded your welder shut. (been there, done it, hated every minute of agony) Next, just as the descriptive suggests, jab at it in short bursts... Take the extra time and patience to gob in small bits of hot metal, so you build up the filler... AND finally, no. It really doesn't take a whole lot of skill at welding for this kind of thing. You load the thing up with metal, and go back to the Dremel again... Worst case of overloading (you'll notice before you're there) only means you may want or need to borrow an angle grinder and a disc (the discs cost about a dollar a piece) to shave away the excess. Mostly, you really ONLY need to be as flat as possible on the "under-side", where it mates with the iron... so you actively prevent chatter. The outside, just needs to be flat (ish) enough to allow the cap to press everything down. SO finally, we're back at the Dremel, and after "cleaning up" (smaller tools make smaller headaches in clean-up...btw)... You can fit a metal cutting bit in the thing (yep, they take small drill bits nicely, too.) and after marking out the hole in the new position, attack it like a mortise in wood. drilling a series of holes INSIDE the layout, and then using the stone bit(s) as necessary or even resorting to needle-files to "join" those holes together to make one large "shapely" hole... perfect for fitting to your adjustment doo-dah... Not that I'd recommend running out to buy a brand new tool just to gob the thing full of hot metal and run angle-grinders and dremels all over it just for kicks... but... you do what you have to do with whatever you get. ;o)

Has the adjustment toggle that connects the adjustment screw to the slot in the chip breaker been put in upside down?

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

No, although that would be a good solution!

What about making a new hole in the chip breaker?

Have you checked out the Kobalt bench plane? I actually kind of like it, and it’s only $30

Could you have ground back the iron until the chip breaker could be used?

Rex, would you say the Handyman 1204 is any better?

I'm currently waiting for UPS to deliver the Grizzly 14 inch smoothing plane i ordered two weeks ago (on Prime nonetheless) that cost $34. I figured it would be worth checking out. The reviews were surprisingly decent.

@JamesSmith-su3oz

5 жыл бұрын

Mine hit the door yesterday and Im inpresed with it so far.

@cbrowning762

5 жыл бұрын

@@JamesSmith-su3oz prime decided to completely screw up my order so bad that they took it upon themselves to cancel it and refund me. Reordered it and God Willing it'll come tomorrow. Any criticisms so far?

Could you put in a new chip-breaker, or modify the chip breaker? What if you enlarged the slot and brazed on a metal plate on to effectively move the slot?

@RexKrueger

4 жыл бұрын

Way too much effort for this thing.

Can you review the new Stanley 4-1/2 that they sell in Amazon?

Thank you for these reviews, Rex, and your commitment to Woodwork for Humans. A while ago you reviewed what you called a Chinese Jack Plane -- seems like it's somewhat inexpensive, Ali Express ships to most countries, and you liked it ... Why not use it?

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

If you recall that review, I had trouble using that plane and it doesn't have adjusters. I'm looking for something with all the features I use.

Great video. Would it not be possible to drill and file a new slot at a better location in the chip breaker?

@AlipashaSadri

5 жыл бұрын

and potentially fill the other hole (if they touch) with resin.

My number 4 Buck Brothers plane seems decent given the price. I still go to my No5 Stanley mostly but still decent.

Drill another notch further back into the chip breaker possible?

Is there no way to modify that chip breaker to function properly? Perhaps flattening the curve to interface better with the blade edge? Or backfilling the hole with jbweld (or an actual weld) and redrilling it? Or, a call to the company asking if perhaps you got a mis-cut chip breaker?

I bought a No 4 plain branded Silverline for £13.67 (about $17) from Toolstation in the UK. like many cheep tools it works, but could be better. the main problem it clogged with wood chips and shavings. Look forward to more videos on this subject.

@DG-zl6ml

4 жыл бұрын

Clogging should be solvable Etienne. It's usually down to one of two things. The first is the front lip of the cap iron that needs to be fettled - it has to press firmly to the flat of the cutting iron with zero gap, which most cap irons don't do straight from the factory. It takes between 5 and 20 minutes of filing or rubbing on honing stones to sort out depending on how badly off it is, it takes a while because you have to do a bit and check, do a bit and check because if you remove too much metal it won't work right. The second is easy, move the frog back. Many woodworker have their frogs set back in line with the rear edge of the mouth and never move them from there (I'm one of those, I have never needed to move a frog forwards on any plane in 5 years to get it to work properly).

@etview

4 жыл бұрын

@@DG-zl6ml Thank you for your answer, i will try your suggestions.

Hey Rex, I’ve got a cheap alternative to test out. In the Netherlands it’s called: ‘silverline 50mm handschaaf’ it’s 15 euro’s and it is the bailey style.

@RexKrueger

4 жыл бұрын

They don't sell them in the US. Drag.

Hey Rex, I have been all over the place looking for planes and I finally found an antique shop near me that has a few. Thay all need some TLC but seem like they could be up and running quickly. The thing is they are not in the $10 to $20 range they are more like $35 to $45 range. The one I thought of spending that much on was a Stanley Bailey no.5 and they want $39 for it. Is it worth it or should I spend that much on brand new Grizzly planes?

Good video as usual Rex. Sucks about the slot in the cap iron being positioned incorrectly! Not the first plane I've heard of that has this problem. Just to mention though, the slot can be filed to increase the adjustment range in whichever direction is required, and if it needs to be 'moved' outright the slot can be opened right up and then the excess gap top or bottom plugged by filling with a suitable epoxy or by soldering in a small piece of mild steel or brass.

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

That's a lot of work for a plane this cheap.

@DG-zl6ml

5 жыл бұрын

@@RexKrueger Yup, totally agree. I mainly wanted to mention it for the occasional time the problem shows up on a decent vintage find fitted with a 3rd-party cap iron.

My very first hand plane purchase was a pair of Groz planes for $50 US. One is a smoother and the other is a jack. I could never get them to work at all. They are total crap. I thought maybe hand planes just weren't for me, but I bought the most inexpensive expensive plane I could find, which was the small brass Lie-Nielsen standard angle block plane. That changed everything and I realized that cheap planes aren't worth the savings. I just stick to Lee Valley (Veritas) and Lie-Nielsen planes, now. But to your point, I did turn the Groz jack plane into a scrub plane and I actually do use it quite a bit. I have never found a use for the smoother, though. It's been sitting in a box somewhere for more than a decade. Basically, you can buy one crap plane and get something useful out of it.

You should do silverline hand plane it seems good but I couldn't get it to take nice shaving but maybe you could.

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

I can't get them in the States, but I think they're just one brand of Indian-made plane and I think I can get the same plane under several names here.

@aleksamaker8118

5 жыл бұрын

@@RexKrueger thanks good luck fixing it rex

Has he posted a video yet comparing all affordable smoothing planes? I am starting a hobby shop and love these videos! Does anyone have a suggestion for a smoothing plane to buy as a first. I dont mind sharpening and honing it considering i would need to learn eventually. Thanks in advance for the advice, this is channel is the best

@tlw3857

Жыл бұрын

Maybe he never posted it. I can't find it even years later.

Could you just flatten the chip breaker curve, eg in a vice or press? That would give you the extra 3/8” or so needed, I’d have thought?

What is the light brown piece under the blade? Mine did not have that. Did you add that? If so I would like to know what it is because that blade surface is really bad. It was not even and twisted the blade and made it impossible to get an even shaving. I ended up filing the mouth surface until the blade made even contact along the mouth. It cuts fairly well but still lacks good thin shavings. In my judgement it still lacks something. Any thoughts?

My #7 is a Faithful, which was under £50 and it’s surprisingly good. I have seen video about the #4 and #5 and they too are supposed to be good. I don’t know if you have Faithful in America but it’s well worth giving one a try. A great video as always.

@mcswordfish

5 жыл бұрын

I've been thinking about buying a Faithful No7 so it's good to hear positive things about it. Did you have to flatten the sole at all? I can't imagine that's easy on a plane that long.

@viktorfrohmiller6165

5 жыл бұрын

I second that. Got myself a Faithfull #4 and #5 for dirt cheap. One has to put some elbow grease and thought into making them decent working planes, but I didn't find a better option if you live in a country where almost no vintage Stanley is ever to be seen and are on a budget. They've got decent weight, a working adjustment mechanism, a decently flat sole out of the box and a blade which is not pure crap. After 2 or 3 hours of work it was possible to get consistent paper thin shavings from the #4, the #5 also works fine after some work. I also got myself their #3 since it was on discount last week - on first look it is the first disappointment from Faithfull since it seems to be impossible to advance the frog to a point where the mouth opening is appropriate for a smoothing plane. But I will take a second look at it, probably there is something one can do to work around that shortcoming.

@markharris5771

5 жыл бұрын

Richard Keel It did take a bit of work to flatten it, about 20 but I started on 80 grit and worked up from there right up to 2000. I have a lot of upper body difficulties due to some nerve damage that’s shutting my lungs down. Even I can say it isn’t hard work, because the plane is so big and heavy it does the work for you.it creates its own momentum and the weight on the paper makes it easy. I’d go for one knowing it needs work doing, but once it’s done that’s it forever. The blade is ground to about 30° so you don’t have to re profile it but it’s rough and needs flattening on the back and effort to polish it up, but it holds its edge really well. It’s obviously not my most used plane, but it puts a smile on my face when I do use it. I’ve just looked up how much I paid and it was £37.83 off eBay! Wow, even a better bargain than I thought.

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

@@markharris5771 We can't get these in the states. Bummer!

@markharris5771

5 жыл бұрын

Viktor Frohmiller I’ve not tried any of their smaller planes. I saw a video by someone who loves their planes and he warns people off the block plane. He said it’s totally unworkable and he hates it. My #7 blade is fine but I'm thinking of getting Ron Hock blades for my smoothing #4, my #78 and my iron Jack plane. I know it adds about £30 to the cost of each plane but I believe it’s worth it.

Wouldn’t hammering down the curvature on the chip breaker solve the problem of the 1/4 inch?

@RexKrueger

5 жыл бұрын

Maybe, but you'd need it stay flat and level at the edge.

Try the Buck Bros plane from Home Depot. Looks like it's similar to this one (no stupid double adjusting screws) but maybe it's made better.