Annant planes

[RPM]

Hi all,

I have soooo many questions tonight, Sorry.


If you read the spirit level thread you will understand where I got this from.
My dad also gave me a Annant No 4 plane.

Well! where do I start? The last time I used a plane I had to plug it into the mains.
Sorry, it's ignorant to the skills of some craftsmen on here.

It looks like it has seen some action in the past (the blade or cut iron) and I was wondering if it is worth
getting a new one for it?

I would like to (money pending) get it back into action and try my hand at it.


So, my question.

Do I get a new blade or put it in the attic for 50 years? I have found the site for it but no prices.

http://www.anant-tools.com/spare_parts_1.html

All of your help is very much welcome and appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Rpm

I believe that Anant planes are the low end on the quality scale and pretty cheap to buy. With this in mind, i would suspect that it needs a little work to get the best from it.

I am making an assumption here that you don't want to spend money on it.

Check the sole. Is is pretty flat? Is it particularly flat around the mouth area? Flat across the front and rear of mouth. If not, then a piece of 18mm MDF with a sheet of 80 grit sandpaper should sort it. Run the plane over the paper with the blade in but retracted up into the plane. When flat, do the same with 120 grit. i don't bother going finer than this.

Sounds like a new Iron would be worth buying as I guess it will cost about a fiver for an Anant or maybe a Stanley? If you want something pretty decent then a Hock, however, is it worth spending £20+ on a blade to fit in a £35 plane?

Hone the blade and it should work OK. Might be worth polishing the chip breaker front edge and making sure it sits tightly on the blade too.

David Charlesworth suggests other work such as checking the frog is seated properly, however, i don't do this as I found no improvement that I could notice when I did try it out on my first 2 planes

Have fun

 

[JesseM]

I became completely disenchanted with Anant after buying their rabbet plane and discovering after trying to tune it up that everything important was wrong. So I am gonna be the negative response here. As stated I believe Anant is junk and because they get all the important stuff wrong its very difficult to get the plane in any kind of workable condition. Indian steel for some reason has air pockets in it so be prepared for that when sharpening the blade. Not sure why the steel is such crap. Are they not sharing notes with the rest of the world.

On the plus side it makes a pretty good doorstop. I think some have said the block planes are somewhat rehabable. I would spend the money and get a used stanley off of ebay.

 

[RPM]

Hi Tony,


Thanks for the reply. I will get the plane out tomorrow and have a look at the sole. I am very new to all this and I would love any help I can get.

I would like to use the plane, if not just to see what it can do.

I thought it may be a cheaper make of plane by the £11 on the box
but I am willing to give it a chance.

Thanks :wink:

 

[RPM]

Thanks, JesseM

It looks like I posted just after you did. All comments are very welcome and are valued. :wink:

Mmmm, do I spend on it or don't I?

:wink:

 

[JesseM]

Thanks, JesseM
Mmmm, do I spend on it or don't I?
:wink:

I would say no. The problem that turned me off with the rabbet plane was that the frog was milled at the wrong angle. The blade never made solid contact with the frog, and so you get this constant deflection of blade. I tried to file it down, but the frog was attached to the body and it was just not easy to get at.

The other problem which I maybe could have dealt with was that the rods for the fence were visibly bent. So you almost needed a hammer in order to adjust the fence.

#4's are plentiful on ebay and usually can be had for cheap. At least as cheap as the Anant.

 

[Alf]

Anants do tend to need quite a bit of work to be useable it seems. Occasionally people claim to get a good one, word goes round and folks take a shot at them again - and get disappointed. I have a feeling Mike has dealt with quite a few of them, so hopefully he'll chime in. Not having dealt with a bench plane of theirs, only a dado, I imagine it could be made to work, but possibly requiring a higher expenditure of time than it justifies, not to mention knowing what you're trying to do in the first place, which is a 'mare for the novice.

On the other hand you could get it a nice replacement blade which could be moved over to a Stanley or Record in the fullness of time, so it wouldn't be a total loss if it didn't work out.

Cheers, Alf

 

[dchenard]

If I recall correctly, Garrett Hack tested a number of bench planes a while ago in Fine Woodworking. The Anant #4 was tested, and as it came off the box it required some non-negligible fettling to make it work, and not that well at that.

The interesting part of the article was when Hack replaced the original blade with a Hock and the cap iron with the Clifton two-piece unit. According to Hack the Anant then performed at the Lie-Nielsen level (I am not making this up).

Based on this I gave my Record the same treatment (although my blade is a Veritas). It DOES perform very well, but in the end it's still a Record (no offense meant).

DC

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

The interesting part of the article was when Hack replaced the original blade with a Hock and the cap iron with the Clifton two-piece unit. According to Hack the Anant then performed at the Lie-Nielsen level (I am not making this up).

Denis

Not only do I recall this, but after reading it and thinking if it is good enough for Garrett, I went and replaced all my planes with Anants. A little while later he upgraded his Anants with a set of Holteys, so ..... Nahh, you'd never believe me ... :lol:

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[RPM]

Thanks to all,

I think it may go in the attic, judging by the posts.
I am not up on the planes but I sense a wide berth here.

:shock:

 

[Nigel]

An Anant #4 plane was my first attempt at fettling and I did manage to get it to work quite well or so I thought then I bought a Clifton plane and realised as Tony said they are at the bottom end of the market as far as quality and engineering is concerned
I would not bother to try another Anant plane

Nigel

 

[MikeW]

No idea if there will be a UK source carrying these, but Chris Schwarz mentioned a while back in his blog that Anant were going to make a premium line of handplanes...

Schwarz blog about Anant premium handplanes

Take care, Mike

 

[David C]

RPM,

I tested one for Tilgear who now sell them.

Work was needed, but not a lot more than a modern Stanley needs.....

That's still a lot of work!

After extensive fettling, and with a good blade like Hock or L-N (95 thou", 2.4mm thick) it was made to work very well indeed.

Somewhat crude in execution, yes, but considering the astonishingly low price, not too bad a kit of parts, if one is prepared to do the work needed.

I am very excited about the Bailey Plane Tuning DVD which we shot in my workshop recently. This will not be out till next year, but the Annant plays a part alongside various Stanleys, from new back to 1920's!

Also apearing, the ones I bought from Alf.

David Charlesworth

 

[whybob71]

I own two Anant planes: a small rabbet-bullnose plane and a #5.

Rabbet-bullnose plane: I don't like it. But I don't like all the rabbet planes so small. The blade it's hard to adjust.

#5: not to bad. The sole is really flat! The two side are not square. The frog require some tune-up. The quality of the blade is poor. Generally, if you change the blade you can use it with good results (I don't use mine since I prefer my SW stanley and my veritas).

 

[David C]

Stop Press

I have just been informed by Anant Tools Pvt. Ltd.

That their improved range of bench planes is presently available from Rutlands.

Have not had time to look into this yet.

David Charlesworth

 

[garywayne]

I hope you will excuse my ignorance.

dchenard wrote:

Based on this I gave my Record the same treatment (although my blade is a Veritas). It DOES perform very well, but in the end it's still a Record (no offense meant).

If the plane works well, does it matter who made it?

I have often wondered what makes one plane better that another. Other than a flat sole, decent iron, etc. As I said before, if your plane works well, what makes a LN any better?

Sorry if I've gone off track.

 

[dchenard]

I hope you will excuse my ignorance.

dchenard wrote:

Based on this I gave my Record the same treatment (although my blade is a Veritas). It DOES perform very well, but in the end it's still a Record (no offense meant).

If the plane works well, does it matter who made it?

I have often wondered what makes one plane better that another. Other than a flat sole, decent iron, etc. As I said before, if your plane works well, what makes a LN any better?

Sorry if I've gone off track.

I could have expressed myself more clearly

What I said was not "tool snobism" on my part. I know people for whom the name on the tool is paramount (not targeting anyone here, just so that you know), same thing as people buying clothes for the label on it or people who buy a $100k sports car and never push it to more than 50% of its capabilities.

No, what I meant is that while the modifications on my Record made the plane perform well (meaning here how thin shavings can be taken, and the surface quality of the planed board), it doesn't have the feel of a high quality plane. The backlash is horrible (about three turns of the adjuster), the machining of the casting is not to the same standard, squareness of the sides to the sole is uncertain (in fairness I haven't checked my plane for that , as I don't intend to use it for shooting), the frog and its support has less machining and of lower quality, etc.

While some of these drawbacks can be worked on, others you just have to live with. You end up with a plane that performs well but doesn't have that "quality feel" to it.

That point is driven home every time I put down the Record and grab one of my Veritas planes...

Hoping I made things less confusing,

DC

 

[Anonymous]

, if your plane works well, what makes a LN any better?

Try one.
I worked hard on Records adn Stanleys, 'tuning' them as per DCs instructions. Days and tens of pounds spent on new blade, new chipbraeaker.

I thought they worked pretty good.

I then tried a LN.
LN, LV, Clifton work perfectly from the box (99.9% of the time) and everything about them is manufactured to a higher standard.

At the end of the day, a tool is for using, not looking at or collecting and if you are happy with an Annant, Stanley, Record, LN, LV, Holtey or whatever, that's great.

 

[garywayne]

Cheers DC.

I take it that a decent plane really is different then.

Thanks for your account. (I wasn't trying to be funny, it was a genuine question).

Cheers Tony. I should have tried a decent plane at Philly's when I had the chance. ](*,) (hammer)