JimB1 Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 Went to the Woodworking Show in VA over the weekend and picked up a few things. Woodcraft's booth was pretty bare, unimpressed for the most part. I think they blew their budget getting Tommy Mac there for the weekend . Pretty much they had the Wood River planes and Tommy Mac's project book and vids and that was it. Other vendors made up for the disappointing Woodcraft booth though. I'm no sort of hand plane expert and am still learning all the ins and outs of hand planing wood so take this for what it's worth... Anyway, they had a block plane, #4, #5 and #6 there to try (no #7 yet but they said they were expecting them soon) They all seemed quite good although a little dull after a day and a half of other people demoing them. The bottoms appeared flat and adjustments were fairly similar to my old Stanley planes. In fact I'd say these were fairly close to my old stanley planes right down to the single screw holding the totes getting a little loose every once in a while. Prices were very good compared to LN or Veritas. I got to try them back to back with Veritas and the Veritas win in fit and finish as well as use but for twice the price I would hope so. (Oddly though as you go up in sizes, the price becomes more comparable between the Wood River planes and the upper range planes like LN and Veritas) Overall the Wood River's seem to be a viable choice. Especially the #4 and #5 mainly to me because they felt familiar. Like my old Stanley's. Here's the caveat though... I was thinking about the #7 because I have the older Stanley #3 and #5 which work quite well so the #7 would pretty much cover me for flattening anything I will be working on. Unfortunately for $305 for the Wood River #7, I think I'd be looking at the Veritas Bevel-up jointer or the Lie-Neilsen #6 as they both are better quality for similar money (The Veritas is actually less). JMHO, if you've tried these or have them, let me know what you thought of them... Thanks -Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuxleyWood Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 If you decide to get the LV BU jointer you might consider getting their BU smoother as well. Since they share the same blades you can switch them out and increase the utility of the planes. Just buying the two gives you 2 bevels so you effectively have 4 planes, buy the 50 degree bevel for ~$40 and have essentially 6 planes. I am sold on BU planes and the fact the two LV planes share the same blade made it a no brainer for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flairwoodworks Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 Hi Jim, I did a review of Woodriver's #5 on my blog. There are two posts: http://flairwoodworks.com/2012/01/19/woodriver-5-v3-bench-plane-review-unpackaged/ http://flairwoodworks.com/2012/01/21/woodriver-5-v3-bench-plane-review-in-use/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMarcel Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 Nice review, Chris. Nice looking shop in the background Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Slack Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 There is no going around the price issue. I can only suggest two things. First I only buy Lie-Nielsen planes (I am a loyal kind of a guy and maintan relationships) because they are Made in the USA. Because they are ready to use riight out of the box. Because if I ever decide to get rid of them, I will get top value for them. Last if you decide to keep these planes for decades the Dollar difference is not that signifiicant in the long run. This does not mean that Wood River planes are no good I heard good things about them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMarcel Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 There is no going around the price issue. I can only suggest two things. First I only buy Lie-Nielsen planes (I am a loyal kind of a guy and maintan relationships) because they are Made in the USA. Because they are ready to use riight out of the box. Because if I ever decide to get rid of them, I will get top value for them. Last if you decide to keep these planes for decades the Dollar difference is not that signifiicant in the long run. This does not mean that Wood River planes are no good I heard good things about them. ...but I think Tom is taken already 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flairwoodworks Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 Nice review, Chris. Nice looking shop in the background Nicely equipped, but quite a mess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimB1 Posted March 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 Nice review there Chris. I like the Lee Valley and Lie-Nielsen planes (excellent craftsmanship, especially the LN) but the reality is I'm not independently wealthy so less expensive options are nice to have. I like to get input from folks that have used hand tools longer then I have though just to gauge if I am missing something that I should have looked at... I'm thinking of picking up 3rd party blades and chipbreakers (Veritas or Hock probably) for my old Stanley #5 and Miller's Falls #4 just to get them a little better (The Stanley works pretty good now but the Miller's falls can use all the help it can get ) but my old Stanley Sweetheart #3 is pretty nice already so I may not screw with it other then maybe picking up a finer finish honing stone (using a king S-3 6000 git as my finest stone now...) or maybe adding a microbevel to the blade. I think in the #6, #7 and #8 range, it's probably worthwhile to just spend a little more on the quality because really the price difference is minimal between "good" and "great" at size plane from what I can tell. Thanks for all the input... -Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Slack Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 Disclaimer ... I am a Lie Nielsen Fan ... what other brand of handplanes will allow you to switch the frog for different angles? This is something LN offers. So ... if they offer it, this extra versatility feature is fantastic ... if others do ... then not. Different frog angles provide the right approach for different grain patterns or different wood species. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricFortin Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 With bevel up planes, you can virtually have any planing angle by regrinding the bevel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Slack Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 Eric you are absolutely right. So does the bevel up crowd have a bunch of blades? ... I guess that is how you could do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricFortin Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 Eric you are absolutely right. So does the bevel up crowd have a bunch of blades? ... I guess that is how you could do it. That's my plan when I get the LA smoother. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flairwoodworks Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 Thanks for the comment, Jim. I hope you found the review useful. Eric you are absolutely right. So does the bevel up crowd have a bunch of blades? ... I guess that is how you could do it. An extra blade costs about half of what another frog costs and is easier to change. Of course, for bevel-down planes, you can simply add a back-bevel to increase the angle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CessnaPilotBarry Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 ...but I think Tom is taken already And possibly filing the restraining order to keep Bobby 100 yards away... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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