I saw the reviews for this and I was worried that I had bought a piece of junk, however after stripping down the plane and properly sharpening the blade, it works brilliantly - better in fact than my Stanley #4 or my Record #5. The shoe is dead flat, the adjustment screws all work and the blade takes a good edge. I understand there may be some variation in quality from the bad reviews but I have a great tool that will last the rest of my life, all for about £17 - when I was considering spending up to about £75 for a more reputable brand. Just to recap, after sharpening, this plane happily takes off a full width 1000th inch shaving from a length of softwood - haven't tried it on hardwood yet.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Although I know that anything I bought by Silverline was ranging from bad quality to total crap, for £14.99 with free next day shipping I decided to take my chances. As expected the plane arrived the next day in a completely unusable condition. I was impressed by the absolute lack of refinement on any of the plane parts. The sole and sides machining was rough and the rest of the body is covered by a thick layer of black paint in an effort to cover the imperfections. However both sides were square to the sole. The handles are rosewood, but they were very crudely made (especially the tote) so they wouldn’t fit comfortable to any size of hand, the screws were protruding roo much and on top of that they had a horrible finish applied on them. After a lot of work with rasp, file, sandpaper and some boiled linseed oil they look and feel fine. I also had to cut the small tote screw by 7mm in order to fit properly. The sole was hollow in the middle across the whole length and it was slightly concave as well. It took some time to flatten the sole and remove the machine marks from the sides using sand paper (starting from 40grit). The iron was relatively flat, but it was ground 3mm out of square, so it required a lot of effort in order to be properly sharpened and honed. It is about 2mm thick and not 3mm as advertised. The major issue though is that in the case of my plane is hard as cheese and it will not hold an edge more than a few strokes. Maybe I was unlucky because I have read that these irons are at least properly hardened. I have replaced it with an old Record iron that I had as a spare. The cap iron required work to flatten and polish the small area that touches the iron near the cutting edge, polish the external side close to the cutting edge in order to make easier the escape of the shavings and filing and sanding to remove the burrs around the screw hole. Both the iron and cap iron have uniform but coarse machine marks. The lever cap was hollow and required some flattening in order to apply uniform pressure to the cutting iron assembly. The frog was placed way back from the mouth opening and it was hollow so it required flattening. The washers of the frog retaining screws were replaced by larger ones since the original were not fit for purpose. The frog adjusting plate is very thin, but I rarely if ever change the frog position so it doesn't bother me. After sorting out all the above issues the plane was able to take transparent shavings on spruce (regardless of the presence of any knots) and leave a glass smooth surface behind. The depth and lateral adjustments work fine as well, despite their loose tolerances. In conclusion I would recommend this plane (at this price only) only to anyone with a tight budget, who needs a No 6 plane, knows how to tune it properly and has a lot of time time to spend for that.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
A good quality value brand no 6 foreplane. Ive sharpened and set it up and am very pleased with it. Thank you very much.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
I was hesitant to buy this, at first. A used fore plane would set you back £40-60, so a new £15 one has to be junk, right? Cons: japaning isn't great. There are flaked off bits of paint and bits which have been lightly touched up. The blade is 2mm thick, rather than the standard 3mm The steel/ iron sole isn't the best quality casting. You can see hollows from casting flaws which have been filled in with a welder and ground flush. The handle/ tote is a bit small, but comfortable enough when the index finger is on the cutting iron. Aside from that, she's a beauty! She's a hefty lass, and they haven't skimped on materials, at least on the main body. The wooden fittings are beautiful, the cap iron is nice and the frog seems okay. The adjustments are nice and smooth too. I haven't honed the iron or lapped the sole yet, so not given her a whurl. I was impressed enough to purchase the no.7 for £20, though. Nothing wrong with this plane which a bit of prep and maintenance wouldn't solve.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Definitely not ready for use straight out of the box needs plenty of work to actually make it perform how it's meant to but for the price it's a good item
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
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