We Tested 26 Affordable Hand Planes
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- Spreadsheet: docs.google.co...
00:17 History of the test
01:49 How the test was conducted
09:01 close look at the planes
22:58 Factory Comparison
25:56 Spreadsheet explained
31:02 final score
09:29 Ace, Steve Wasilausky www.acehardwar...
9:53 Amazon Basic, Chris DuCasse amzn.to/3KQFU5A
10:19 Buck Brothers, Justin Dearing www.homedepot....
10:46 Busy Bee, Scott Kilburn www.busybeetoo...
11:16 Draper, Corrigan Patrick amzn.to/3P18Tag
11:45 Faithful, Sietse Pol amzn.to/37jt5TI
12:07 Great Neck, Brad Hicks amzn.to/3L2yYml
12:34 Grizzly, Ian McElcheran amzn.to/386L1kZ
13:11 Groz, Patrick Howie www.grozusa.co...
13:30 HF #4, Garry Johnson www.harborfrei...
14:04 HF 33, Greg Preston www.harborfrei...
14:36 Infinity Tools, Dylan Holderman www.infinityto...
15:39 Irwin Record, Jake Wouters amzn.to/38V2EUS
16:14 Jorgensen, Marco P. Lascari www.lowes.com/...
16:38 Kobolt, Shragi Friedler www.lowes.com/...
17:10 Mastercraft, Ronnie Greene www.canadianti...
17:48 RALI 220 Monobloc, Devin Fisher rali-shop.com/...
18:15 RSI, Michael Tango amzn.to/3kKz5bj
18:36 Shop Fox, Gray Anthony amzn.to/3OYVgIF
19:05 Spear and Jackson, David Sweeney amzn.to/44GrJKr
19:37 Stanley 33, Brian Suker amzn.to/3vNUmah
19:56 Stanley 33 wanta be, Michael Parzynski amzn.to/3yiokFe
20:17 Stanley Baily new, Robert Eskridge www.homedepot....
20:53 Tay Tools, Bill Hedge lddy.no/1k1ct
21:40 Tolsen Tools, Matt Bowen www.sciplus.co...
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Spreadsheet: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17fbZs5qsZbaDJFSM6xHQCDhTYDVwNDKGVPDJfKa9SfM/edit?usp=sharing
00:17 History of the test
01:49 How the test was conducted
09:01 close look at the planes
22:58 Factory Comparison
25:56 Spreadsheet explained
31:02 final score
I adjusted the rankings by deciding which problems I could fix. Modifying the handles, not a big problem. Making the thing hold its settings is a big problem. Packaging, I just recycle, who cares unless I am doing an unboxing video. I appreciate the ability to do this in all your tests.
packaging is about if your plane is going to arrive broken from shipping or not
Packaging, depending on how easily can you refund the item if its broken, can be a very important thing especially at higher price points. You would be suprized to see how awfull and non protective these chinese packaging can be.
First, thanks to you James for conceiving this exhausting and time consuming test. Incredibly informative and helpful to woodworkers on a budget. Fortunately I have been buying mostly older Stanley planes for 15-20 years when they were still cheap and plentiful. And 4 years ago I bought my only new plane, a Lie Nielsen bronze #4 which I love!
Second, a shout out to the sponsors who purchased the planes, thank you very much much.
Third, I want to commend you on your maturity as a presenter. Years ago I watched a number of your early videos and the respect and appreciation you now show towards those who came before you is good to see. You have come far Grasshopper.😊
Thank you for doing all that work. Your in depth studies (planes, chisels etc) don't just help us pick a good tool, they also teach us about what makes the tool good.
Agreed!!
Great video and the usual thorough and fair assessments. James was definitely not plane around.
You are thorough, detailed and concise. Mostly, however, in my opinion, you are honest. I put a lot of faith and weight into your reviews. Thanks so much.
thanks man. that means A lot. I will do what i can to keep on that track.
Aman!
Plethora (it means a lot). 🙂
That's an impressive test. I mean - REALLY impressive. Well done...!
You’re the man!
I’m so glad that I got to participate in a Wood by Wright test with the Groz hand plane. I suggested it after seeing it come up in amazon searches, and right when I committed to sponsoring one, they sold out on Amazon and on the Groz site.
I nearly gave up after making the suggestion that it might be different than my Grizzly plane or others from the same factory. They got back in stock briefly for me to get an example sent. It is so nice to see someone who knows what he’s doing show how the QC on this level of planes is why some reviews have raved about a particular brand being great value only to have floods of comments about how terrible they are.
I’m planning to donate mine after using it on a project myself. Looking forward to it.
thanks for the support man!
I had a coworker ask if he could try my plane out - being the only broke woodworker he knew using a hand plane. I lent him my Kobalt (which I had spent a TON of time tuning) and he wasn't very impressed. It made me reassess how much time I'd spent on that thing and learning the quirks to know how to keep it running. I realized it's essentially useless to anyone but me. After seeing this video, I'm glad I had ultimately suggested he go for the Taytools plane. I did put a Taytools iron/chipbreaker on it and a Reed plane yoke (you were out of town when I ordered it - moving I think, thank you for the email heads up!) Those two things really improved the plane, but wouldn't have been worth it if I hadn't worn out the originals. I'm glad to see I wasn't quite as crazy as I had thought with all the adjustments and cursing it took to get it working well. Excellent job good sir!
This man is a national treasure. I’m not kidding.
That's an understatement. INTERNATIONAL.
You and rex convinced me to buy a cheap plane, and put in the work to get it working, i ended up buying the irwin record out of a lack of options at the time, it took some doing but i got it set up and taking fairly good shaving last night! Seeing this video finally come out the day after, im assured i made at least an acceptable purchase and it is worth a little more tinkering to get the most out of this first plane. Thanks for the great videos!
This is not a snide comment, but perhaps it is side comment.
James, along with everyone else, I sincerely appreciate your doing this in depth, well-thought-out, labor intensive review. Thank you for this.
I love that there are an option for us folks in Canada that is decent, thanks for the video and all the testing you did.
Maybe you can do a "Frankenstein" video. Meaning....for $75, $100, $150, etc. what plane parts can you buy and build a good, functioning plane. Starting with either an old used plane or all new parts. Maybe have a contest with Rex Krueger and others to see who can make the best Frankenstein/hot rod planes.
I am probably not qualified to comment on this video, but I loved it nonetheless. I saw your short and have been waiting for this video to drop. I don't really have any professional woodworking skills, but I do general handyman stuff. I've built a workbench, shelves, boxes, etc.. I want to slowly expand my tools and i feel that there have been a few times where a plane could have been a godsend. Glad to have a comprehensive comparison 😊
Love this video xxxx I think I'll stick with my vintage planes 😀
Wow. What a *tremendous* amount of work, and all so, so useful. Thanks, James!
You hit the nail on the head with your comments on inconsistency with these planes. The Grizzley is my daily driver, and I had nothing but problems with my chip breaker and lateral adjuster. The stock iron I got with it was garbage, and I had to clean the cosmoline out of everything to get it to adjust right. I even had to trim a couple threads off to get the tote to stay tight. I've figured it out, but it took a while. My dad bought the same one this last year and had me do the setup on it. His plane was immaculate compared to mine. 😂
“This one’s not even a plane…”
Best quote of all time, James.
Props to you and your sponsors. What a huge task. This tells me that a used Record or Stanley off of eBay from back in the day - way back - would be a better deal. In most cases. Dang, what a job. :bow:
Spreadsheet time! James is...Happy! :D
Hi James, I’m new here just getting into woodworking as I need a relaxing hobby while I recover from a knee injury.
Just wanted to say thanks for the cool beginner-friendly content and boost your engagement numbers a little.
I bought one of those Irwin-Records from Menards. It was $20 and I made it into a scrub plane. Works well for that.
RALI: "Any monkey can grab one of these and make shavings out of the box."
- Exactly why I bought one (but not this model). It does everything I need a plane to do.🐒
Thank you for spending your time and providing this valuable information. I have been looking for an inexpensive plane to make into a scrub plane. You certainly have helped me with my decision to continue to stick with vintage planes. Thanks again.
Excellent post. Thank you for doing this.
Thanks James. Take care & stay safe.
James, knowing how long it took me to tune up my meager collection of bench planes (#1,3,4,5,& 7) , I have to SALUTE you for this monumental, and so useful, effort! Thank you.
Hello from West Virginia. Very interesting.
One of, if not the coolest review videos I've ever watched. Thanks sponsors!!! It takes a village to find a good cheap plane. Not too ashamed to say I've bought more than one of those planes myself. I concur with your findings, though I haven't tried my scratch and dent number 5 grizzly i got for 25 bucks.
I've had the odd affordable hand plane over the years. Never liked them, never found them useful, very frustrating and ended up just sitting in a drawer somewhere.
Then during covid, I purchased a good quality hand plane and learned how to sharpen it properly. Wow! what a difference it makes having a good quality tool and knowing how to use it and maintain it. Now I find myself using it all the time. In fact, now I have 3 hand planes. 2 Woodriver and 1 Veritas.
sorry to ask, What is a plane? I thought they might've been aeroplanes but then i saw a bunch of doorknobs
A plain old plane is just plain better than an aeroplane.
It's where the rains in Spain fall mainly
If it's a serious question then it's a tool you use on wood to get it flat and smooth but it only does it one fine shaving at a time. Look up a video on how to use a plane and you will see exactly what it does.
It’s a Spanish rain catcher.
A truly neurotic, but very interesting activity :) Very kind of you to donate to Plane Wellness. I think it’s going to be a very worthwhile charity.
Fantastic testing and comparison, James! Thanks! 😃
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Great Video as allways and thanks for putting in all the work! Best chanelon UA-cam!
impressive video, that's a huge amount of work !
11:40 : hey i own this one :D, agreed on everything you said
a few i can add from my personal experience (that isn't already in the sheet or the video) :
- there was a injection blob next to the mouth adjustment screw that i had to file off
- undernearth the whole metric milimeter of lacquer there was a lot of tearout, but the wood is beautiful and the handles are comfortable after refinishing (i have small hands)
- the brass (?) screw on the lever cap is wearing down fast, it now has a lot of play
- handles were loose, had to add washers to make them tight
- i had to threadlock the depth adjuster screw into the frog because it had a lot of play and was unscrewing itself all the time
I just have to put this out there, if you ever come across a cheap old Este (made in germany) plane at an antique store, don’t sleep on it! The plane is crap, but the blade steel is amazing! I made a wooden smoother with an Este blade and I took a hundred or two shavings on figured African Ebony, and shaved hair perfectly afterwards!
Well thank you good sir, for doing this properly
Excellent job...love your attempts at humor at the end...lol
The Busy Bee is currently listed at $140 on sale. The Tay tools is going for $90. That's a no-brainer.
The work you put in this video, the information... AMAZING!! You are great in what you do! Congrats and thank you!
Great video! I really appreciate the time and comprehensive analysis you put into this. I have been watching your videos since I started woodworking a couple years ago.
I think a good addition to this comparative review would be a few known "high performance/quality" plane like a Veritas or Lie-Nielsen. That way folks can understand what the bar for a generally regarded "good" plane is and how close these low cost planes come to it.
Aging, really appreciate all the work you do to make woodworking a fun and approachable activity.
Hooray! I've been looking forward to this video since you announced it last year. Thanks again for putting in the time. :) Your experience with the Taytools vs. the Grizzly #4's quality mirrors what I saw a couple of years ago, so it's good to see that borne out by your data.
Very much so. I am looking for a number 4 or 5 for basic smoothing duties. This was a fantastic work. Thank you for your effort.
Very helpful. Thank you.
Thanks for all the work. I am sorta glad i am not the only one that's struggled with cheap chip breakers... My smoother is a 70's Rapier (English budget brand...) and could not get the chip breaker not to clog up... Ended up driving to Lee Valley and bought an iron and chip breaker for way more than i paid for the plane...
Informative video, but could you jazz it up next time it was a little plane...
Great reviews!!! First i think that i am not surprised from Tay Tools because its small shop for woodworkers and everything that i have purchased from them ( sometimes i bought after your review) was spot on , great condition and affordable!!
My first no.4 and 5 was the Irwin with plastic handle and all that i know on how to set and what to expect from hand planes came after setting them and tuning them up.
For the Infinity wooden plane i bought long one ( i think it like no 7) don't use it much only for rough working all the disadvantages you have managed - i took out the Norris mechanism i am using an hammer, the chip breaker needed attention, and the blade. There is a less expensive option by buying it without the Norris mechanism.
A monumental effort, and I'm certain that this will be a great resource to everyone looking for an affordable plane.
Thank you for this! I am currently in the market for my first hand plane and this is perfect timing. I did notice The busy bee has increased significantly to $149 plus tax
Bear in mind that is Canadian dollars, so while it has increased, it's only ~110 USD now. (and regularly goes on sale, probably for the listed purchase price).
On Rex's recommendation I bought a grizzly #5 and with some work, less than an hour I was happy with it as a bench jack. This was from an Indian factory according to the paperwork. So I bought a #4. Then I learned that like many companies, they have different quality levels for different price points. After some more work than the #5 it's okay. Better after reshaping the tote and replacing the knob, lots of fiddling with the chip breaker. Not up to the work quality of my old Stanley. Again these came with paperwork indicating an India corporation.
This is a great, comprehensive video! Thanks for all the hard work on it. I bought the Grizzly No 4 as well as a No 5 from Amazon several years ago and they did take some tuning, but for mine it wasn't too bad. They were good users, but they are pretty heavy because the casting is so thick. I've now been restoring and collecting old Stanleys, so I passed the Grizzlies on to new owners, but overall I would say they are a good choice. But like you point out, QC is not consistent so it is kind of a gamble. Thanks again for the video!
Thank you for doing this, James. I have been on the fence over a Busy Bee No.7 since they came out (Tay Tools get expensive in Canada due to duties). Based in this test, for all I use a jointer plane, I think its my best choice. It might be interesting to compare the performance of the top five to LN, Veritas and say Wood River.
Well done! I had bought the Jorgenson a while backout of curiosity based on a UA-cam suggestion and pretty found the same thing you did...not too expensive and fairly decent quality. I already have several Stanley #4s so it pretty much sits gathering dust until I can find a friend or family member that needs a plane.
Very informative. Thank you!
It's like a "Project Farm" video on planes
Very impressive!
@@mattrinne we're gonna test that
Two minutes in and very interested to hear what you think about the Busy Bee plane.
EDIT: Thanks James for doing this! I bought a Busy Bee 4 1/2 a year ago and haven't gotten to tuning it up and using it. I've been focusing on my vintage and antique Stanley's This has given me the motivation to get it up and running. Thanks!
Ikr I've been trying to find good info about that plane for so long
Impressive amount of work, given what you went through, the video is almost an anti-climax. But SO incredibly worth it.
It's interesting to plot score vs cost, that really shows up the Rali as a very bad deal, the Groz as a good deal and a very large spread in all the rest.
I really appreciate the work that went into this video
Just a plane ole video; have you ever thought of making a boring video?
Seriously, thank you for all the hard work!
Here you go. ua-cam.com/video/1KZ-QrF3ip0/v-deo.htmlsi=-GDavskJ8GmiSPRI
@@WoodByWrightHowTo I watched the whole 2:40:00 video in about one minute. I am about 3 months late to the joke!
But while we are on a boring subject, I have never seen anyone reproduce 18th century bits, other than some spoon bits, and them not the best quality. I have seen people reproduce all manner of 18th century items, but why no bits? What they had must have worked pretty well, but I have never gotten my hands on any originals to test out.
Center bits work okay but they are very very slow. And they were prone to wobbling if you were not very careful. I never seen anyone make one in a video but I I've seen a few blacksmith made originals.
@@WoodByWrightHowTo Thank you for letting me know. I have been curious about them.
Shop estate sales and garage sales - you'll get great quality at super low prices. You'll probably have to do some tune up.
I received a Taytools #4 a few years ago as a gift, and had the same experience with flatness and general feel of the plane. I think the batch mine was from had some QC issues. The lateral adjuster hole was drilled off-center from the frog and at an angle, so I could barely adjust one direction. The blade has been less than easy to remove the burr when sharpening, and the chip breaker is extremely soft. All that being said, I still love the feel of the plane, so I will likely just upgrade the blade and finish tweaking the frog. Side note: Mike from Taylor Toolworks has made several improvements in the several years since I got mine, and their customer service likely would have replaced it had I asked.
one of the nicer things about the jorgensen is that if you buy it local at lowes then you can return it if you get a particularly bad unit. i've setup over 50 of the previous version and a few of the current version. only had a couple that were out enough to return but it was easy enough to do.
Thank you for this James.
Wow!!!!! Finally!!! Good job. 😁
Great informative video!
I enjoy all your videos and your efforts to inform woodworkers of great information!
Wow. Great comparison.
Your comment about carpenter's use struck a note with me. After framing my workshop we couldn't get one sheet of drywall to sit correctly and found that one crossbrace was slightly thicker than the studs on each side. Out came my old #5 and a few minutes later the drywall sat correctly.
Great video! Thank you for your time and attention to detail!
Thanks for testing, and sharing.
1:41 I am in the camp of larger handles. Also, according to the chart 26:51 you can’t judge a book by its cover, but you can judge a cheap plane by the packaging
SNG. Great job, thanks for all your hard work!
(SNG. Snide grumpy remark: boy, sure glad I’ve not bought one of these)
Thanks for sharing that
Wow. Huge effort. Thanks for your work.
Yay its here
Really fantastic video I appreciate all the work you did. I can’t imagine how long it took you to do it all amazing
Wow. Just wow. You did an amazing amount of work. Really appreciate your effort (and Dad jokes). While you didn’t say it it seems like a vintage Stanley Bailey plane, or one of their competitors, might be the better option as you can usually find those sub-$100. I’d be curious how your top four would compare to a vintage plane.
The Tay Tools would be about the same as a type 13 Stanley that needs a bit of work.
This video was just plane interesting!
Your rock! Thank you!!!!
I was expecting Jorgensen to be top 3 with taytools and busy bee. Groz looks like a plane I wouldn't bother picking up. What a surprise.
Amazing study and I know how much work went into this. If budget is the issue, get a vintage plane as you've said many times before. I live in the midwestern US where they are easy to come across, but even on E-bay you can get a vintage plane for a reasonable amount. they need work as well, but if you don't know how to clean them up, you likely don't know how to use them either and will never get good results. Using a hand plane takes a little skill and a little maintenance, but is satisfying, fun, and totally worth the investment IMO. Don't be afraid to try.
Fascinating test, thank you, James!
It would be nice to have a discussion on some of the specific brands and what adjustments are common, etc. That might also be a way to increase sample size for each one. Those of us that have a certain plane can provide feedback on how common they occur
A snide grumpy remark!
Well done Sir! 👍
Wow! I love the detail!
Thank you so much this is incredibly useful information.
I've been waiting for this video!
Looking forward to the same test for low angle block planes and finger planes
Thanks! I appreciate all you do.
Thanks man! I will put that toward shipping all of these back!
This is great! Thanks for doing this.
again an informative video i have an Old plane someplace maybe i need to find it and clean it up????
You asked about suggestions of what to test next. I would suggest that you test dividers not compasses just dividers.
oh now that is a divisive topic!
Interesting study, love spreadsheets, unfortunately I bought Axminster Rider 2 years ago. they cost more, but honestly should have been in this test :/
Lots of work and lots of fun
So, I have that mastercraft plane. Only plane I own and I wanted to get something nicer before I start properly complaining about it, but yeah, i've had lots of issues with it. Haven't done anything with flattening the sole or adjusting the frog, but had similar issues with not being able to set the chip-breaker terribly close to the edge, and in my case also serious issues with the lever slipping off the raised portion of the chip-breaker and losing tension. And I can't just clamp the lever down on the flat portion because then it's too far back and doesn't actually catch the screw it's levering against. Also out of the box the edge on the blade has probably a 20 grit scratch pattern if not coarser. Nasty piece of work, that tool...
I purchased a Mastercraft block plane from Canadian tire. It needed 0 tuning and it took hairs clean off my arm right out of the box. For me, it was set it and forget it. I've had it for a couple years now and I'm super happy with it.
I think it depends on what you’re using it for. For light chamfers and even jointing, your plane doesn’t need to be as flat or sharp. On the face there are so many factors that lead to a clean and finish-able surface.
This is amazing. Thank you really
I have a Truper jack plane. After whatching Matt Estlea tuning an Amazon basic plane I would say it might be the same plane and I had that same yoke/chipbreaker problem, had to remove the yoke and hit it with a hammer on an "anvil" to make it longer. It totally worked and even got rid of some backlash but it was an annoying repair. I got what I paid
Thanks for the test. I was wondering about the more expensive Grizzly. It looks like a bedrock style from the pictures.
I have wanted to test that one but it falls out of the scope of this test. maybe some day.