Thinking of pulling the trigger on a Clifton 5 1/2

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Bristol_Rob

Bristol_Rob

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Thinking of getting the Clifton 5 1/2 to replace my £20 record Jack plane.

Does anyone have any comments or concerns with quality/build etc?

Some old reviews about 8-10yrs ago talk of casting issues and then not being quite perfect but still good.

Has anyone bought a Clifton plane recently and have experience?
Is Clifton professional about handling returns if needed?
Also, for similar money - is there another alternative brand you'd consider worthy of consideration at this price range?
Finally, there appears to be quite a few sellers of Clifton planes - any recommended resellers?

Many thanks.

Really looking forward to my wife enjoying my surprise when I open this year's Xmas present ;)
 
I've got one and it is superb, it's lovely to use, well balanced and cuts the thinnest shavings. I bought it half price from a Clifton stand at a woodworking show, it's a 'B' second, as it has a tiny casting mark on the rh side which was circled in felt pen by their QA; otherwise it is perfect. I also have a Record which I use for rougher work and it does a good job after a bit of fettling.
 
Clifton have a good reputation but I have never used one. I guess they are what stanley and record should be if they had not gone down the cost cutting path.
Regards
John
 
I have a couple of Clifton planes including 5 1/2 which is the one I use most. They are excellent and made in Sheffield.

If you are worried about after sales service if you have a problem (not that I would expect there to be any) look at Workshop Heaven or Classic Hand Tools. Both trade on a reputation for only being happy if the customer is happy. CHT offer a price match promise and Workshop Heaven give a lifetime guarantee.
 
sorry to be negative but I had a green no5 and the forged blade was not great.
the plane itself was superb though. nearly as good as a Calvert Stevens!
I believe its a different company using different irons now though. I didn't mind the stay set chipbreaker though!
 
I have a bronze Clifton block plane. It is a joy to use, and is a beautiful looking tool. I got mine from WHeaven, it was an upgrade present from my wife when i wasnt overly delighted with the quangsheng i had bought from them. I'd jump at the chance at any Clifton plane, I'd also try and get to WH premises, as Matthew will let you take things out of the box, and try them out and generally have a good poke at it before you buy. WH really are one of the good guys, excellent quality products, and cust sat is one of their main drivers.
 
I have a fairly recent Clifton 51/2 . Its a lovely tool in every respect (quality, utility (although, bear in mind that it is heavy), materials). I doubt you'll find anything that works any better. Also have an older green #4 one of their shoulder planes and a block plane. All excellent.

Cheers
Richard
 
I've got a 51/2 and it's my go to plane, quite heavy but gives great service, I have a few older ones off eBay and have found the one piece chip breaker to be an improvement.
 
I've gone backwards from you, and am selling my last LN plane soon (in the states, so this isn't an offer to ship overseas or some kind of ad attempt! No dice on that). But, I can't make the case that i'm totally against heavy planes as I keep a couple of infill planes around for novel use.

I make planes, a fairly large number of them. This is given me a chance over the years to see what actually makes them work well vs. kind of casting aside the ones that are great and the ones that are not.

If you're doing fine work, as much as you will get throttled for saying it, a sole that is extremely flat or that is convex just a tiny bit (mouth touches the wood but ends could be tipped either way) is a joy to use. If you're doing heavier work, it doesn't matter that much as long as the sole isn't concave of severely twisted.

Fit of the cap iron and iron is also key. The modern planes come with harder irons and heavier plus heavier cap irons, but the biggest thing about them that's better than most old planes is they haven't been made out of shape.

And the adjusters at least on teh LNs and LVs are finer ,but if you're going to do more than smoothing, this is kind of a detriment. It's like having a truck with a wheel that goes 10 turns lock to lock instead of 3. The former is great if the truck doesn't have power steering.

All that said, I think the biggest reason to get a premium plane if someone wants to is not because the plane is technically better, but because it's new and nothing will be broken. and everything on it is as good as the bits *could* be on an older plane if the older plane had a work through.

Clifton did get some negative press here in the states, which leaks from one forum to another - about a decade ago. Some of the planes arrived here out of flat, or frogs unable to seat squarely, and the initiative to correct either was never solved between clifton (clico? whatever the business name was at the time) and the retailer here in the US who did the selling. That was at the same time that LN and LV were coming of size, releasing new planes, and to be honest, were fixing things for customers that didn't even need to be fixed - but just in the name of keeping customers happy. That just about ended clifton's sales in the US for anyone who went to the internet to search for feedback.

Parts were also extremely high priced here (A forged O1 iron would've been $80-$90 for a 5 1/2 at the same time that LN, LV and hock had options ranging from $35-$45). Forging doesn't do much for plane irons vs. the more typical use of rolled steel, and it's quite possible if the mill rolled steel quality is proper that it may knock the quality back a bit as it is almost impossible to heat and forge a tool and keep grain size and uniformity from going a little bit awry...

...as much as I hate to even admit that as i"m a big fan of traditional methods, but i have forged and broken bits and pieces of high carbon steel I can see formation of carbides after multiple heats. The mills have temp controls to normalize steel where they can get a high saturation point (and thus the iron carbides get distributed more evenly than they do in forging). We use plane irons in the long-grain orientation properly, so we don't have the same issue with bar stock just hardened and tempered being a bit iffy (knife people put an edge parallel to the grain direction in rolled stock).
 
Phil Pascoe said:
I've yet to read anyone say the Calvert Stevens was much good.
Click to expand...
Got my Calvert Steven's from Tabwell Tools, Bakewell approx 30 years ago and I love it. That being said it initially came with a lever cap and twinned with a Norris style adjuster did not work right. I changed the lever cap for a record screw cap and it now works perfectly. With a lever cap its either set or loose however with a screw cap you can adjust the tension
Incidentally have a green Clifton No 7 and love it
 
I was joking refering to the thought that the Clifton's were inspired by record planes. and the CalvertStevens especially.
 
Bristol_Rob said:
Thinking of getting the Clifton 5 1/2 to replace my £20 record Jack plane.

Does anyone have any comments or concerns with quality/build etc?

Some old reviews about 8-10yrs ago talk of casting issues and then not being quite perfect but still good.

Has anyone bought a Clifton plane recently and have experience?
Is Clifton professional about handling returns if needed?
Also, for similar money - is there another alternative brand you'd consider worthy of consideration at this price range?
Finally, there appears to be quite a few sellers of Clifton planes - any recommended resellers?

Many thanks.

Really looking forward to my wife enjoying my surprise when I open this year's Xmas present ;)
Click to expand...
I have the 5 1/2 and jointer, both are beautiful to work with, had an issue with my jointer and they were very quick to remedy. What i will say though is I also have a Quanshang 5 1/2, had to spend a while longer honing the blade but at about 1/2 the price it is quite possibly as good, only thing is it hasn't got Clifton written on it and for some reason i just can't get away from that.
 

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