Anant and the credit crunch

[PerranOak]

OK, I'd like to buy a smoothing plane for 300 quid but ... it's not gonna happen.

I bought an Anant plane but sent it back.

I'm not sure if I am at fault or the plane.

What do people buy?

 

[matthewwh]

You pays your money, you takes your choice!

Clifton No.4's are £195 new and the least expensive of the three main high quality manufacturers.

Mujingfang do some excellent woodies if you are into them, as does Philly - a very nice looking coffin smoother for £100.

Stanley are apparently about to launch a range of veritasesque high performance planes and the rumours are that they will be about half the price of Veritas and LN - I'll keep you posted on progress with getting them in the UK.

The other option is to go for secondhand, there are som beauties that pop up on ebay from time to time. Be prepared to spend some money for quality and allow yourself some time/money for getting it working properly. Another secondhand option is to give Ray Iles a ring at the old tool shop and ask him for one that he has reground.

Hope this gives you a few more mid-range options.

Cheers,

Matthew

 

[joiner_sim]

Okay, now.... I have a No.4 stanley smoothing plane. Yes, these are usually available for £40 and are the "cheap" option. But i do not see anything wrong with my stanley no.4 smoothing plane. I have used it on timber for normal use, and also for planing up lippings to veneers. I will say it has taken me ages to get the plane "just right" but for £40 who can complain. My point is, the price shouldn't really matter. Just get a highly recommended plane.

 

[Racers]

Hi,

I have loads (6) of Stanley/Record N04 I could let you have one for £15 plus postage all tuned and sharpened.


Pete

 

[Oryxdesign]

Hi,

I have loads (6) of Stanley/Record N04 I could let you have one for £15 plus postage all tuned and sharpened.


Pete

A snap at that, you can't go wrong.

 

[wizer]

I have a record No.4 1/2 that MarkW tuned up. It works very very well. Put a bit of work into an old one and it will pay you back. Go to a boot fair, you might pick one up for a fiver.

 

[WellsWood]

I have a record No.4 1/2

Yeah, you wish :wink: It's a No. 4 mate, I'm afraid - a 4 1/2 wouldn't have been given away quite so lightly.

You're right though, it's quite surprising what you can wring out of some very cheap tools. The thing is, often you don't know whether decent performance is acheivable till you've made a considerable investment of time and effort. If it turns out that no matter what you do you've still got a dog, you'll quickly wish you'd spent the cash and bought a Clifton or similar. This is particularly true of Ebay purchases IMO- DAMHIKT :roll:

 

[wizer]

What's 1/2 between friends?

 

[bugbear]

You're right though, it's quite surprising what you can wring out of some very cheap tools.

The difficulty is telling the cheap tools tools with potential (bargains) from the cheap tools without potential (junk).

BugBear

 

[lurker]

Hi,

I have loads (6) of Stanley/Record N04 I could let you have one for £15 plus postage all tuned and sharpened.

Pete

Knowing how well Pete tunes em, I'd snap this offer up pronto.

THEN you have time to look around boots for one to do up yourself.
With patience you can get a bargain. At a fiver even a lemon is worth it for the parts & practice.

PS my "personal best" is six planes for a tenner from a garage sale :lol: :lol: :lol:
3 X Stanley No 4s
1 x No 102
A "rubbish" all brass smoother (for parts)
Stanley bullnose

 

[Tierney]

My first plane was a Stanley No.4 which I bought new three years ago, I then invested in a David Charlesworth book and have been on a journey of discovery every since then. Despite being frustrated with the poor quality of the Stanley and the poor performance I have achieved (a lot down to my skill), I have been forced to fettle the plane and analyse my skill.

I still haven't flattened the sole completely; but, it has been a great learning experience

David
p.s. I now own some LNs, because even a tuned up new Stanley doesn't come close.

 

[joiner_sim]

I'm quite shocked at how many have agreed with me that the stanley No.4 ain't that bad after some TLC.

For reference here is an old rusted up Record No.6 Foreplane (1950's) I was given. My pictures & progress don't really apply to a brand new plane, until after getting all the rust off. But these pictures show how well a plane can be fixed up. Now I must admit, this foreplane just sits in the bottom of my tool box and the stanley No.4 is my preferencial choice. However, when i do find a job that I need this plane for, I know its sharp and good enough for the work.
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums...days=0&postorder=asc&highlight=record&start=0

 

[bugbear]

p.s. I now own some LNs, because even a tuned up new Stanley doesn't come close.

A tuned up OLD Stanley (or better, in the UK, old Record) might come closer.

Post 1980 UK planes are pretty much all poor, until Clifton entered the fray.

BugBear

 

[matthewwh]

I now own some LNs, because even a tuned up new Stanley doesn't come close.

A valid comment, but in fairness I'd be interested to see what LN could come up with on a budget of £40 including VAT, duty, distributor and retailer mark ups, packaging and shipping costs?

Turning that argument on its head we are shortly to see what Stanley can do when you give them a little more to play with. I've just - literally five minutes ago - received a confirmation from Stanley (UK) that the new premium range will be available over here in March 2009.

They will be Ductile and A2, not my personal favourites, but much easier and faster to mass produce than making planes the way Clico do, which will be reflected in the price.

The bodies will be ground to a tolerance of 3 thou, the same as Veritas (LN and Clifton work to half that) which is more than adequate for the job in hand. The irons will be substantial chunks of A2 and will be made in England, not that it really matters, but it's nice to know that there are some UK jobs coming out of the deal too.

 

[Jack Plane]

OK, I'd like to buy a smoothing plane for 300 quid but ... it's not gonna happen.

I bought an Anant plane but sent it back.

I'm not sure if I am at fault or the plane.

What do people buy?

I've got a couple of Anant planes and, admittedly, they both needed a little work on them straight out of the box. I gave the blade a good honing and did a small amount of fettling but thats all. When I consider the price I paid for them and cost of my time to tune them up, I've got two really good planes for not that much money.

JP

 

[bugbear]

The bodies will be ground to a tolerance of 3 thou, the same as Veritas (LN and Clifton work to half that) which is more than adequate for the job in hand.

Over the years there has been substantial confusion in this area.

Is 3 thou quoted from Stanley total error, or maximum deviation from mean plane?

BugBear

 

[matthewwh]

Hi Bugbear,

As far as I know it's always the total error figure that is quoted.

 

[TonyW]

Article from Woodworking magazine weblog about the new Stanleys Here including some list prices.

 

[tnimble]

The bodies will be ground to a tolerance of 3 thou, the same as Veritas (LN and Clifton work to half that) which is more than adequate for the job in hand.

Over the years there has been substantial confusion in this area.

Is 3 thou quoted from Stanley total error, or maximum deviation from mean plane?

BugBear

Beside that, what is also a very good question is when and what measured? Lets asume total error. Is that 3 thou on the firsts, lasts, standard deviation, mean or maximum? Is it measured before shipping, stocking, right after or during machining. And if right after or during machining, when are the parts machined? After stocking raw casts, after annealing or direct after emptying the molds?

 

[matthewwh]

Hi Laura,

I can't speak for the others as I haven't visited their production facilities but Cliftons are inspected twice, once after the final stages of grinding and then again immediately before they are packaged. These two stages are usually at least a week apart.

At each station there is a grade AA granite surface plate, a Moore & Wright grade 'A' straight edge and a 1.5 thou feeler gauge. The production manager places the plane on the surface plate and runs the feeler gauge around its perimeter. He then inverts the plane laying it across a tote and places the straight edge along its centreline and checks with the feeler gauge, he then turns the straightedge through 90 degrees and checks across the width at the toe, ahead of the mouth, behind the mouth and at the tail. Finally he lays the straightedge across both diagonals and checks them.

This process gives them a working tolerance of +/- 0.75 thou on centreline or 1.5 thou total deviation. This is half the deviation allowed by British Standards, the idea being that if the plane is made on a cold February day in Sheffield and ends up being used in the blazing heat of Arizona it should still be well within British Standard (which itself has a big cushion before the functionality of the tool is affected) when it gets there.