New dinky plane

Corvus

A few years back I was at the local boot sale and bought a total bargain Stanley no.7 plane. We got chatting and the bloke fishes out a Stanley No.1; these are rare and £1k-£3k type money... it was tiny but so nice in the hand, could see uses for it. Wanted one. Didn't need one. I never bought a new plane, all mine were s/h at very good prices, so didn't want to spend for it. Want though.

It seems Quangsheng do versions every few years and I saw one the other day and went for it. A short bit of time fettling and a rapid stain & lacquer of the wood, it was light orange as arrived:




Next to a battleship for comparison  



It feels good, not gonna use it every day or anything, but there's times it'll def be used. Quick vid of it against some limba with fighty reversing/interlocked grain -

Danielsguitars

I use a no5 by quangsheng, as good as any of the top tier expensive stuff imo.

I'd like a no7 and a smaller plane next.

BlueStrat

I remember my grandad had a whole set of these small brass Stanley planes, wonder what happened to them?
he was always making things and fixing things and had a huge collection of tools. Lovely guy 

PrecisionGuided

Sssssttt - lovely  ;-)

Kalimna

"Sssssttt" - The sound of silky shavings wafting off the wood?

Whilst I don't have a metal bench plane as small as a 1, I do have a Quangsheng (from Workshop Heaven) No7, and it planes just as well as the 51/2 Lie Nielsen (with lovely cocobolo handles when it was still an option). The edges of the sole are sharper than the LN, but as a plane it works beautifully.

Corvus

Cheers all. For a bit of an indulgence I'm pretty pleased with the little thing. I'd love to get a Clifton or something posh some time but got all bases covered with old stuff really.
@Kalimna this did have fairly sharp edges around the sole, I softened them all up though. I bet that LN's a beauty.

Gassage

Disappointed not to find a Cessna 152 FG here.

strat84

Looks a belter 

Kalimna

Corvus said:

Cheers all. For a bit of an indulgence I'm pretty pleased with the little thing. I'd love to get a Clifton or something posh some time but got all bases covered with old stuff really.
@Kalimna this did have fairly sharp edges around the sole, I softened them all up though. I bet that LN's a beauty.

Not great photo's, but here's my LN 5 1/2, and a couple of wooden planes.....

https://i.imgur.com/GKbv8A9.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/6NwjsSD.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/LmqCqpy.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/cBtz3Ed.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/lyvClwr.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/XPhaKjA.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/BxK0me1.jpeg

Cheers,
Adam

DavidR

Classical guitar (and violin) luthiers use lots of planes. The smallest ones are often all brass and are called thumb planes. The wooden ones on the left are called box planes. The big cast iron one at the back is called a shooting plane and the funny moustache shaped thing at the front is a spoke shave. 



They will also sometimes simply use a sharp edged piece of metal! Not uncommon.

WezV

DavidR said:

They will also sometimes simply use a sharp edged piece of metal! Not uncommon.

Scaper sharpening and use should be lesson 1 for all woodworkers

prowla

I thought it was going to be a diecast model aeroplane.

Corvus

@Kalimna very nice all of them Adam, the LN looks nice and crisp in the details. I have one old wooden jack plane, almost never use it but it's been handy now & then.

In the back of that pic DavidR is a try plane. There are dedicated shooting planes but not so  common, normal jack planes work fine. Also three wooden spokeshaves to the left. Scrapers very useful, most people who've made a guitar will have them.

On which note spare plane blades make vicious scrapers, a burr is super easy to turn. Can be handy for tough paint removal sometimes. I've got a couple of old spokeshave blades held in mini locking pliers as handles, as scrapers.

OilCityPickups

Ooooo plane porn ... I have a small collection in my workshop that I have lovingly refurbished and sharpened/stropped till you could quite comfortably shave with them. :-)

Corvus

C'mon man, pics  I do like having a bit of a sharpening session on a Sunday or something, have everything all fit 'n ready

SteveF

Was going to start a separate thread for this but if it’s ok I’ll just ask here (if not, just say and I’ll start a thread). I’m looking at getting started with woodworking and looking at planes at the moment. Are Rider (as far as I can tell it’s Axminster tools’ own brand?) any good? I’m not after anything hugely expensive as I need to spend on quite a few bits but definitely after something useable.

many thanks in advance for your help

Corvus

Rider is Axminster's brand, I don't know who makes them though - fairly likely Quangsheng same as this one, but not sure of that. Probably worth heading over to the UK Workshop forum, people there might know or have an opinion (just ignore all threads to do with sharpening ... : ) tends to end up with handbags at dawn, pretty amusing though ).

Also Workshop Heaven sell Quangsheng planes, be worth comparing prices to Ax/Rider. And pics might tell a story too, as in how similar they are.

This is the only Quangsheng plane I have but it's good, been putting it to work just today. Normally I buy old planes for (dirt) cheap and fettle them up. Bear in mind any new plane will need setting up and final sharpening, possibly except for Veritas, Clifton etc. It's worth reading up on, setting up is everything really.

SteveF

I did look at Workshop Heaven but the Quangsheng was double the price (Axminster seem to have a sale on - the no7 is 70 odd quid off but even at full price they’re 70+ quid less expensive.) I get that you get what you pay for but I am just starting out and need to buy a fair few bits and sort a basic workbench so I just need something that’s decent enough to last a while and not junk. I’ll check out that forum too, thank you. 

Grangousier

Despite the fact I don't do woodwork at all, I actually find this kind of thing fascination. That said, whenever I see the thread title, I get this image in my head:

Corvus

Had a quick look Steve, Rider are different to Quangsheng. It's good that Rider have UK made irons with good steel. UKW forum is bound to have a fair lot of info/feedback on Rider planes. Depending what you want from one a new modern Stanley might do the job fine for a good lot less £s.

SteveF

Thank you I’ll have a check out of the forum when I get in later. I’ll also look into Stanley. 

It’s really to get started making a guitar(s). So I think it will be jointing and flattening tops etc. from what I’ve managed to glean so far I’m after a No 7, a 4 or 4-1/2 and a small 60.5 block plane?