Dont waste your time. Buy a decent plane and learn how to use it properly.
We have had students who have had problems with the Clifton planes not being as flat as their own specification demands but we are assured by the manufacturers that those problems have now been overcome. However I think if I were buying a plane right now I would be buying a Lie Neilson plane. They are the most expensive available but they have been reliably flat which is the essential quality that you are looking for in a plane and the machining of the blades and back irons have been acceptable. I would however change the blade to a high carbon forged steel blade from Clifton. The Victor blade fits real easy.
Now you can be patriotic and you can go on supporting these old saw makers but there comes a day when somebody puts a saw in your hands that works so much better, costs less than half as much, you have to think why am I beating my head against this brick wall.. Perhaps I should not continue to advise you go on paying nearly £50 for British saw when there’s the Japanese equivalent for £17.79 that does the job rather better straight out of the box. But then I remember what they did to our motorcycle industry.
NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH LOW ANGLE BLOCK PLANES. We’ve recently had a spate of these low angle bench planes in our workshops. Again these are Lie Neilson and Veritas planes and we can recommend these only partially. The attraction of these planes is that the blade is set at a very low angle with support to the cutting edge quite near that cutting edge. These blade have the bevel facing up and do not have a back iron making the planes more simple in construction. These planes are giving exceptionally high quality finish to the timber even on very figured timber. They are however not a replacement for a general bench plane. The adjustment of these planes are very critical. They need setting up once and leaving alone, so we would only recommend one of these planes as an addition to your armoury. Maybe bought after a few months on the job. In that case the favourite in the workshop seems to be a Number 6 or a Number 7 low angle plane, again manufactured by Lie Neilson though Veritas are also good and recommended.
It costs less to get started woodworking. Starting out with woodworking machines that are of any quality cost a lot of money. Even though you can spend plenty on high quality planes and saws the fact is you can start with a few tools and get your project done without breaking the bank.
Woodworking using hand tools may be completely new to you if you are a modern day woodworker. Most people avoid old tools at all costs. They think that they are outdated, less accurate and slower than the modern day machines. This simply is not true in most cases. This article will provide you with some facts about using planes and saws in your every day wood working projects.
