I wanted to try a 311 and was astounded at the prices, however I managed to get one on evil bay for £40, which seemed reasonable for me to waste. It came in the original, knackered, box with the two noses but no shims, most of the nickel had gone too and there appears to be a slight issue with the seating of the iron, or my sharpening. Admittedly I had to wait months for it to come up at the right price but patience prevailed. So far I've found it to be very good for quite a few jobs and would recommend one of these. For instance, I've been working on a Victorian door and frame the past couple of days, The bottom of the upright bits on the frame were rotten so I've had to replace these, I've used the 311 to tidy up the cut-outs for fit, cut in rebates and also continue an inset quarter rounded moulding which was not a standard size for router bits. I'd have been b******d without it in fact. It seems to be a versatile tool which can be put to lots of uses. The only downside is that it can be a pain in the a**e to hold and use for any length of time cos it's a bit sharp on the edges, plus the sharp bit of the iron is in exactly the place where you want to hold it with your fingers for some jobs. Practice stops you doing that after a day or two though. It seems to work well with either nose on, I can't see the reason for the shims as you'd need to take a b****y thick shaving for them to make any sense and you wouldn't be able to cut that much out comfortably (unless it's for cheese or parma ham). It's not particularly good without a nose on, but that could be due to my own cack-handedness. Do chisel planes actually work anyway? Whats wrong with a chisel?
