I need a block plane!!! Has anyone used the faithful ones?

[Michelle_K]

Hi everyone
I am in need of a block plane. Having unsuccessfully attempted to restore heavily rusted and pitted planes I have admitted defeat and accepted that I need to buy one. As much as I would love a lie Neilsen or veritas plane my budget won't allow it. I came across a faithful set for £30 has anyone used them? Are they any good?

Thanks everyone.

 

[Gary]

Buy an older used Stanley or Record from eBay.

 

[owen]

I've got rider one from Axminster that works alright. Think it was around that price.

 

[skipdiver]

If by set you mean more than one plane for £30, then you get what you pay for. Is it a set containing a block plane and a No 4? They have some in my merchants as Xmas gifts, same as every year. I wouldn't touch them personally but something is better than nothing i suppose.

Speaking of block planes, i dropped my Stanley one on the concrete in my workshop. Ironically and annoyingly, i was moving stuff to put down insulation and chipboard flooring at the time. Didn't think anything of it until i went to use it today and part of the mouth has broken off, leaving i big gap where the blade is, so no more fine setting and i must have swept up the bit that broke off. Is it repairable at all?

 

[n0legs]

Here's one, couple of quid less than your budget as well:-
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Irwin-Record-0 ... lock+plane

 

[novocaine]

I have a faithful block and I love it. But I might have been lucky. Sole was close to perfect only needing a quick flatten and polish. Blade took an edge quick and holds it. The pressed steel parts are a bit cheap but no sharp edges and functional. All adjusters were smooth and back lash acceptable. No its not a premium plane, but its completely functional and does its job without issue. Its my go to plane for most small tasks and the adjustable throat is great. I keep it sharp like all my tools so can't tell you how it works when blunt.

Other people may have different experience as I think that's where cheaper kit is let down. Qc.

Edit. This is the one ive got.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B004EK ... ref=plSrch

Yes it does look rather like the irwin above. Funny that.

 

[Austinisgreat]

Try the QS (chinese) one from Rutlands (maybe out of stock) or, for slightly more money but better qc, from Workshop Heaven. I love mine, it's brilliant, and nowhere near LN or Veritas prices.

HTH

Andrew

 

[RossJarvis]

A friend of mine bought some Faithful ones for his workshop a couple of years ago, he said the ones which came disassembled were good but the assembled ones weren't. So I think it depends, so there is no guarantee they will be good.

 

[petermillard]

I bought the Stanley one last year - here - when they were ~£23 or so. Fantastic little plane at that kind of money. Also have the Quangsheng low angle block plane from Workshop Heaven which is very nice - though ergonomically I prefer the Stanley, the LA is lovely for end grain.

HTH, Pete

 

[YorkshireMartin]

I have a little stanley. Cost me £8 on ebay. I think its about 1960 or so. Needed a bit of a refurb but nothing special. Will outlast me.

 

[RossJarvis]

Additionally, I bought a new Stanley a few years back. It was great after I fettled it, but realised that in terms of effort, time etc It was equal to buying a Lie Nielsen one, which was what I did after I'd dropped the Stanley once too often on concrete. I prefer the Stanley for adjustability of blade but they're not up to it out of the box. However, there again, I had to fettle the LN as the mouth didd not lock properly out of the box!!!!!!!

 

[ED65]

I have a mate who has the low-angle one and he couldn't be happier with it. If I recall correctly all he had to do to get it working was deburr the edges of the mouth casting and hone the iron. And it works a treat, I can't imagine paying triple or more will get you a block plane that'll do the job any better.

Having unsuccessfully attempted to restore heavily rusted and pitted planes I have admitted defeat and accepted that I need to buy one.

While I think there's a good chance you'll be happy with the Faithfulls (and that's a great price) perhaps we can help with your restorations?

At least let us help for future reference since you're sure to want to get some more vintage tools. Collectively there is a mass of experience here doing this and to say you can take a junker and get it back into working condition is an understatement!

This is not too far gone:

 

[Ttrees]

Is it the low angle plane that's bedded 12.5 degrees, Or is it the one bedded at 20 degrees your after ?
I bought a vintage American Stanley 60 1/2 on ebay and it turned out to be a lemon ,
The bedding for the movable shoe that adjusts the mouth was not parallel with the sole .
Aswell as the fact that I had to grind a big skew on the iron to have a even blade projection .

Then I bought a newish used Record Irwin 60 1/2 and it turned out to be worse ! (hammer)
Even if it did work, its wider than the rest and would feel clunky compared , aswell as the Stanley
The iron would also need to be skewed too ! ....rubbish !

At this point I went for the Lie-Nielson and, wow... now I know why it costs so much ... pure quality .

If your looking for a cheaper solution, I strongly suggest looking at the plane in person .
Good luck

 

[nev]

I bought the faithful twin pack for 20 odd quid from the merchants the other week. A no4 and a block plane in little handbags. casting is a little rough and they need a sharpening but they remove wood which is more than the decent plane I haven't got does

 

[rafezetter]

I bought the faithfull boxed set several years ago largely out of ignorance, BUT after spending a little time lapping the soles, they work fine - the blockplane I use for more day to day trimming stuff (I do own a nice old stanley 220 which I keep for finer work) and the #4 plane I turned into an excellent scrub for hogging off on the few occasions I dimension by hand.

The faithfull / irwin block plane I'd buy again for general usage, if you want one just for finer work the quenshangs get good reviews and there's another one in the same price bracket that's been mentioned here before, but can't for the life of me remember the name with a brass / bronze cap (?)

DO NOT BUY the wickes or amtech - they are horrid pressed steel affairs, a brick would work better.

Edit- found it: https://www.fine-tools.com/juuma-planes.html

And just for the sheer porn of it :

http://www.holteyplanes.com/planes_No983.html - everyone say OOOOH !- pricetag? North of £2000 =P~

 

[ED65]

I bought a vintage American Stanley 60 1/2 on ebay and it turned out to be a lemon ,
The bedding for the movable shoe that adjusts the mouth was not parallel with the sole .
Aswell as the fact that I had to grind a big skew on the iron to have a even blade projection .

The UK-made 9 1/2 I bought recently sounds like it was cast from a pattern just as good. Restoration partly documented here for anyone that missed it.

At this point I went for the Lie-Nielson and, wow... now I know why it costs so much ... pure quality .

Yes buying quality certainly has its benefits. But my God, the price. I just recently found out they're €182 here :shock:

 

[Ttrees]

Hi Ed
I see in your thread that you have filed or scraped the bed to correct the Azimuth error on your plane .
Did you have any issues with either the milled tabs on the blade being out of square, or the casting with the
channel in it for the blade advance/retract adjustment mechanism to rest in ?
I could be wrong but It "seemed" like its all lined up with the Azimuth error and if I scraped the bed down
it would not align up .
Hopefully for everyone this misalignment is non critical and blade adjustments would still be square if you filed the bed down .

Looks like Ill be making a 9 1/2 instead of buying one , since Ive got the blade from the Record Irwin
Still have other planes to make first though .
Thanks

 

[ED65]

No the milled slots were perfect and the channel looked fine, just the bed was off as far as I could determine. Certainly fettling only that sorted the plane out. The edge of the iron was not a little off when I got it, possibly in an attempt to address the failings in the casting or just from carelessness I can't say, but it's now sharpened square and with the mouth closed down to nothing I get uniform shavings of only a few thou.

 

[Bodgers]

Hi everyone
I am in need of a block plane. Having unsuccessfully attempted to restore heavily rusted and pitted planes I have admitted defeat and accepted that I need to buy one. As much as I would love a lie Neilsen or veritas plane my budget won't allow it. I came across a faithful set for £30 has anyone used them? Are they any good?

Thanks everyone.

I bought a new Faithful block plane last year. It is fine. It isn't a Veritas or a Lie-Nielson, but it has no alarming problems.

If you expect perfection you need to save for a Lie-Nielson.

I could have bought an old Stanley or something and restored it, but the time effort and then probable disappointment put me off. I remember listening to a Fine Woodworking podcast where (I think Matt?) got a classic old Stanley to restore and eventually threw it in the "trash" after spending ages sorting it because he was never happy with it.

When I build a proper work bench and start getting serious about band tools I will probably look at the Queng Sheng stuff.

 

[lurker]

Give us a clue roughly where you live.
If you are near me you could try out a selection.
Also I'd be happy to help you fettle the one you have
If you buy new it's unlikely to work perfectly out of box so you need to develop some ability in keeping it tip top

I'm pretty sure a forum member near you would help too