Quangsheng No.6 Acceptable Finish Condition On A New Plane

[thetyreman]

I would send it back personally, I honestly don't know what people expect, it's not a lie Nielsen and that's why it costs less. I wouldn't be happy with it how it is at what it costs, I prefer vintage planes though.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

My 2d's-worth:

I have a QS #6 and I've just gone and had a look at it. Mine is very similar. So is my 40-year-old Stanley No 4. So are the unmilled/polished parts of my bronze Lie-Nielsen tools. My Veritas shooting plane has a slightly more consistent surface finish on the "surfaces-that-don't-matter" - I expect because they probably use a different, more modern, technique for producing their castings.

The tiny "blemishes" (really, just artefacts of the casting process - you can see the imprint of the sand particles) make no absolutely no difference to how fit for purpose the tool is.

I really wouldn't worry - as soon as its been on your bench for more than ten minutes you'll have uncountable little dings and scratches etc. etc.

Re. comment on buying Chinese-made products, I disagree.

Cheers, W2S

 

[pollys13]

Hi,

I recently bought a Quangsheng 5-1/2 from Workshop heaven which, when unwrapped, was seen to have a couple of tiny voids in the casting. Knowing their interest in quality I called them and queried it. Their view was that it wasn't acceptable, even though we knew it would work just fine, and a replacement arrived the next morning.

I would say discuss it with the supplier like I did.

regards

Colin

Were these voids actually in the bare metal or in the black finish? Was the replacement in perfect condition? If I have the choice I would prefer one in perfect condition, rather than the one I have with the finishing flaws.

 

[Bodgers]

Poor assumption? It’s a UK forum, the clue is in the title. Why do you think this forum is populated with Chinese people? Makes no sense. Are you insane?

Why should it matter? Well it didn’t matter until you took offence, no one else seems to be triggered.

The puzzle is why you think buying a tool from the country you happened to be born in is a better choice. Explain...

 

[Bodgers]

Hi,

I recently bought a Quangsheng 5-1/2 from Workshop heaven which, when unwrapped, was seen to have a couple of tiny voids in the casting. Knowing their interest in quality I called them and queried it. Their view was that it wasn't acceptable, even though we knew it would work just fine, and a replacement arrived the next morning.

I would say discuss it with the supplier like I did.

regards

Colin

Were these voids actually in the bare metal or in the black finish? Was the replacement in perfect condition? If I have the choice I would prefer one in perfect condition, rather than the one I have with the finishing flaws.

I am not sure those would come in the category of flaws for a plane body casting. They don't affect the function of the plane and to guarantee a perfectly smooth finishing on every plane they would probably have to end up machining all the surfaces smooth, which would add quite a bit to the cost without improving the function of the plane.

 

[ED65]

..............I recently bought a Quangsheng No.6 Looking at the photos I'm wondering, if the finish condition is acceptable for a plane costing £175 and described as being top quality?

I think what this is going to boil down to is this: regardless of whether we collectively agree it's okay are you going to be happy with it? At the end of the day there's only one person's opinion that matters and that's yours.

I have to admit if this were my plane I wouldn't be a happy bunny, however I wouldn't be seeking to return it unless something functional was off. I know from experience that after using it for a day or three I wouldn't even notice these minor blebs. As long as the important stuff is all good that's all that really matters to me, and for example I'd personally only care if the sole were square to the right cheek, couldn't care less if the left were off.

FWIW re. Faithfulls, the three user planes that I've had the chance to examine new, two 4s and one low-angle block plane, were all decent enough in terms of fit and finish but more importantly they were all solid users (understatement) with no work done to their soles. Like all planes at this end of the market there are better and worse ones and there'll be the occasional lemon, but this is also the case at far more than double their price.

 

[Osvaldd]

_

 

[Osvaldd]

The puzzle is why you think buying a tool from the country you happened to be born in is a better choice. Explain...

Why is buying things made locally by people who invented those things and know how they work is better than buying things that are cheap and blatant copies of the originals ? Things that are made thousands of miles away by cheap/slave labour, who are also horrendously polluting the environment. Are you actually asking this question? I have no words. :shock:
p.s. to answer your question, it is pride.

 

[ED65]

Buying an older Stanley?
did look at this very interesting YouTube
What to look for when buying second hand woodwork planes. By the very knowledgeable Chris Tribe, furniture maker, teacher. Very sound guy impressed me, did voluntary work in Africa teaching woodworking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu7QLP3ru7c

Chris is a scholar and a gent and clearly knows his stuff, but do be aware that there is a wide range of opinion on acceptable and unacceptable in old tools of all sorts, on planes perhaps more than other things.

What are undesirable and even automatic rule-outs for some aren't any sort of issue for others. This is including pitting on the flat of the iron, very frequently cited as one of the key reasons to dismiss a plane out of hand. And if there is something better likely around the corner why not be picky? But in practice pitting very rarely fatally undermines an iron and can be basically a non-issue; even if really bad it can be dealt with in a couple of ways (although by all means be picky in a rich secondhand tool market like the UK).

Seems a lot to consider buying a second hand Stanley, Ebay sellers don't have photos of them dismantled and some tart them up, so could be very difficult to tell if buying a good plane or not.

All true, it's one of the reasons I'm consistent in recommending car boots and Gumtree instead of eBay so you have the chance to examine the thing for yourself before handing over the money.

The fact that you'll almost always pay a lot less for it doesn't hurt either

 

[Ttrees]

Aren't these planes made of the same, or similar, unbreakable ductile iron stuff that LN uses?
If so, it would be less of a concern.

 

[Osvaldd]

It's one of the reasons I'm consistent in recommending car boots and Gumtree instead of eBay so you have the chance to examine the thing for yourself before handing over the money.

take a screwdriver with you, those lever caps can be stuck there pretty good

 

[ED65]

Why is buying things made locally by people who invented those things and know how they work is better than buying things that are cheap and blatant copies of the originals ?

Excuse me, but extending this argument shouldn't we all be buying American-made Stanleys and religiously avoiding all copies, including Records, Wodens, Marples and Cliftons to name but a few?

 

[Bodgers]

Why is buying things made locally by people who invented those things and know how they work is better than buying things that are cheap and blatant copies of the originals ? Things that are made thousands of miles away by cheap/slave labour, who are also horrendously polluting the environment. Are you actually asking this question? I have no words. :shock:
p.s. to answer your question, it is pride.

Patents on the Bedrock Stanley patterns are long since passed, so Luban in China are well within their rights with what they are doing.

They produce a good product at a good price. There is no UK company producing anything of this quality at the price. Workshop Heaven sell these as they see the quality and value. It looks like a decently run company and I doubt given the rising labour rates in this part of China they could realistically be running a 'sweat shop'.

You don't get to control where you are born, but you do have the power to buy where you want. There is nothing wrong I'm anyone buying a Luban plane. Buying something on the accident of country of birth or some nostalgic idea that where you happened to be born is the better 'heritage' is bizarre.

 

[Osvaldd]

I’m out of words, do you also happen to feel the same about your family members? It’s all just nostalgia to you? You can just exchange and swap your brothers, sons and daughters? I mean its all just an accident that you have these particular family members, they could just as well have been Chinese.. lol
yeah. I give up, thread has been hijacked enough.
Sláinte.

 

[lurker]

Any company here, using steel has the extra "millstone" of carbon credits to cost in their final price.
Meanwhile China has another 700 (that's not a mistake!) coal fired power stations planned.

 

[Bodgers]

I’m out of words, do you also happen to feel the same about your family members? It’s all just nostalgia to you? You can just exchange and swap your brothers, sons and daughters? I mean its all just an accident that you have these particular family members, they could just as well have been Chinese..
yeah. I give up, thread has been hijacked enough.
Sláinte.

Er...I think you know the false equivalency in that.

Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk

 

[thetyreman]

somebody needs to do a side by side comparison, quangsheng no6 vs Clifton no6 vs Lie Neilsen no6 vs veritas no6, lets ave it

 

[Just4Fun]

somebody needs to do a side by side comparison, quangsheng no6 vs Clifton no6 vs Lie Neilsen no6 vs veritas no6, lets ave it

That would indeed be interesting. Even better if the comparison also included a new and a vintage Stanley and a real budget brand like Faithful or Silverline. That way, those of us who are devout cheapskates would at least know what we are missing.

 

[memzey]

I don’t know what the fuss is about. I always buy locally made stuff when I can. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion. It’s why I’ve got more Makita power tools than others as they still have a factory here. Made in country is a positive for me for a number of reasons and nobody has ever called me a xenophobe or anything similar. I like to know that some of my hard earned is going to pay for my countrymen supporting their families and our own industry. Your money, your choice.

 

[whiskywill]

p.s. to answer your question, it is pride.[/quote

If you had any pride, you wouldn't use a selfie as your avatar. :wink: