Christopher Schwarz review of Stanley 62

[Bobby Slack]

http://blog.woodworking-magazine.com/blog/New+Stanley+62+Better+But+Not+Yet+Perfect.aspx

Frankly speaking for the price tag difference my preference would be to go with a Lie-Nielsen or Lee Valley (personally I am a Lie Nielsen because of the relationship and I would never say anything bad about Lee Valley).

Also I was told that Lie Nielsen's tools hold their value (I hope I never have to sell them).

Why bother with a tool that still does not get it right?

I understand many Lee Valley fans bring up the new features that they have on the planes, these features worry me because since I suck, to me, less features mean less adjustments and less things to go wrong.

Any thoughts?

Probably it will take Stanley a few more years to get their tools right again.

[jwatson]

Still was a decent review and worth looking into one for yourself. I don't buy LN or LV as a hobbyist i cant afford it. I do well with antiques i have to spend time rehabilitating. now with the stanley 62 wouldnt say its a crap plane either still usuable for those of us who ae willing to give it a chance.

[Jonathryn]

Hilarious. If I were at product design at Stanley I'd be muttering something like "coulda mentioned the handle a year ago, Chris. . . ." Still, if a handle doesn't suit a wood worker, shouldn't a wood worker be able to fashion something more to their liking? Another curious thing is, if he doesn't like the handle, and it's like the Veritas handle, wouldn't he grouse about the Veritas BU jack plane? I could be wrong, but I seem to recall that he rather likes the Veritas version of the same plane.

Don't be intimidated by Veritas's innovations. They're almost always well thought out, like their skew rabbet block planes. But on a plane like this, I think I'll spend the extra and get the Lie Nielsen. Seems to be a very versatile and popular plane type. You can shoot end grain with a low-angle blade, use it like a jack plane with a regular angle blade, and smooth difficult grained woods with a high-angle blade.

[Bobby Slack]

I kept thinking why can Lie-Nielsen and Lee Valley perform so well and Stanley can't? The only answer I can come up with is that Stanley has a huge mass market brand and they don't have to please "us", I mean "us" by the anal quality driven woodworkers. Their quality standards do just fine for most.

Personally instead of investing on a Stanley and have to tune it up, I would go for a Wood River at 1/3 the price ...

Having said that, my hand tools are 98% Lie-Nielsen ... 2% Lee-Valley, so I am not going Chinese yet.

I support American and Canadian quality driven organizations.

Regarding the handle, I think that Chris Schwarz said that he can get used to the handle because since it is at a different angle than he is used to, is just a matter of spending time with the plane and getting used to it. I don't think he mentioned it as a negative feature.

Hilarious. If I were at product design at Stanley I'd be muttering something like "coulda mentioned the handle a year ago, Chris. . . ." Still, if a handle doesn't suit a wood worker, shouldn't a wood worker be able to fashion something more to their liking? Another curious thing is, if he doesn't like the handle, and it's like the Veritas handle, wouldn't he grouse about the Veritas BU jack plane? I could be wrong, but I seem to recall that he rather likes the Veritas version of the same plane.

Don't be intimidated by Veritas's innovations. They're almost always well thought out, like their skew rabbet block planes. But on a plane like this, I think I'll spend the extra and get the Lie Nielsen. Seems to be a very versatile and popular plane type. You can shoot end grain with a low-angle blade, use it like a jack plane with a regular angle blade, and smooth difficult grained woods with a high-angle blade.

[Mister Pants]

I kept thinking why can Lie-Nielsen and Lee Valley perform so well and Stanley can't? The only answer I can come up with is that Stanley has a huge mass market brand and they don't have to please "us", I mean "us" by the anal quality driven woodworkers. Their quality standards do just fine for most.

Different markets I'd say. Lie-Nielsen and Lee Valley cater specifically to woodworkers/furniture builders and are the beginning of the high end. Stanley throughout their history, even when they were really good were dual purpose (furniture maker and contractor), and they eventually shifted more to the contractor only stuff, so their castings could be rougher and slightly off and not cause a great deal of concern. I'm glad they're trying to get back in the game myself. Hopefully they'll continue to refine their stuff to be either that step just below Lie-Nielsen/Lee Valley or raise their bar to that level as well.