Clifton 4 1/2 Smoother

[shed9]

Just received a Clifton 4 1/2 Jumbo Smoother. My first Clifton and have to say it gives Lie Nielsen a run for their money, not as ultra refined as a Lie Nielsen in my opinion (and not necessarily a bad thing either) but a superb looking plane definitely and in the same league. Apologies to the staff at Workshop Heaven, I understand Mrs Shed had a rant about courier delivery dates, I have assured her this is a courier thing not Workshop Heaven. I am now coveting the Clifton block plane and just when I thought I had enough planes!!!!

Anyone on the fence about Lie Nielsen or Veritas I'm afraid you are doing injustice to your conundrum if you aren't further complicating your decision by adding a Clifton into that mix.

 

[Vann]

I don't much like the Veritas bevel down range.

I have a green Clifton No.4.5, but I find the size and weight doesn't suit me. My Cliffie No.3, on the other hand, is one of my favorites. I also have the Lie-Nielsen No.4 1/2, with high angle frog, that gets even less use than the Clifton No.4 1/2. I splashed out and bought both the No.4 1/2s when I came into some money some years ago.

Looks wise, I think the Lie-Nielsen looks more classic. But I had to have the Clifton because it's British - and so I could compare them. Useless information fact #1: you can't interchange the frogs.

Cheers, Vann.

 

[Daniel2]

Just received a Clifton 4 1/2 Jumbo Smoother. My first Clifton and have to say it gives Lie Nielsen a run for their money, not as ultra refined as a Lie Nielsen in my opinion (and not necessarily a bad thing either) but a superb looking plane definitely and in the same league. Apologies to the staff at Workshop Heaven, I understand Mrs Shed had a rant about courier delivery dates, I have assured her this is a courier thing not Workshop Heaven. I am now coveting the Clifton block plane and just when I thought I had enough planes!!!!

Anyone on the fence about Lie Nielsen or Veritas I'm afraid you are doing injustice to your conundrum if you aren't further complicating your decision by adding a Clifton into that mix.

Let me guess....
You bought it on Wednesday ?

 

[Blackswanwood]

Just received a Clifton 4 1/2 Jumbo Smoother. My first Clifton and have to say it gives Lie Nielsen a run for their money, not as ultra refined as a Lie Nielsen in my opinion (and not necessarily a bad thing either) but a superb looking plane definitely and in the same league. Apologies to the staff at Workshop Heaven, I understand Mrs Shed had a rant about courier delivery dates, I have assured her this is a courier thing not Workshop Heaven. I am now coveting the Clifton block plane and just when I thought I had enough planes!!!!

Anyone on the fence about Lie Nielsen or Veritas I'm afraid you are doing injustice to your conundrum if you aren't further complicating your decision by adding a Clifton into that mix.

I agree - I have a 4 1/2, 5 1/2 and No 7 - brilliant tools made in Sheffield.

 

[msparker]

I have a grey Clifton 5 1/2 and recently bought a green 7 from this forum. Love them both!

I'd really like a 4 1/2 though so that I can leave the 5 1/2 set for a slightly rougher cut. I end up using the 5 1/2 both as a big smoother with a closed mouth and for a preliminary flattening after thicknessing with a heavy camber on my very basic 5.

It's a shame Clifton don't do a high angle frog though, as if I were going to go for a fancy smoother it would be nice to have both options. I have an old record #3 but I don't get along with it, a bit small for my hands and can't seem to get it to work very well.

 

[shed9]

One thing I just noticed, the plane only has a one piece cap iron, I assumed that the Clifton's had the two piece cap irons these days. Am I missing something here?

 

[JohnCee]

I love my Clifton block plane. Probably my most used tool. Worth every penny.

 

[thetyreman]

congrats on the new plane!

 

[G S Haydon]

One thing I just noticed, the plane only has a one piece cap iron, I assumed that the Clifton's had the two piece cap irons these days. Am I missing something here?

Clifton switched to the one piece a while back. Smart move.

 

[Popey]

Nice! I do like the look of the Clifton planes. I would definitely consider one if I ever feel the need for a number 4.

 

[Hornbeam]

I never liked the 2 piece cap iron. I never felt it mated tightly onto the back of teh plane iron. Always got bits getting jammed in the gap. Switched to a 1 piece one and much better. The suppose advantage of teh 2 piece is that it stays set while sharpening. I use water stones and found I got some water damage to the blade where the retained part of teh cap iron was.
Agree with buying Clifton over LM or Veritas although I do like the look of the veritas custom planes

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

I have a Clifton #3, bought several decades ago. And one of my favorite planes. The finish of it is as good as LN (I have quite a few of theirs), and with the green & polish edges of the sole very attractive.

I quite like the two cap iron (to me, it acts similar to the Miller Falls two piece cap iron). I believe David Charlesworth here, offered a suggestion for those that find issues with the Clifton coming apart to readily (ease of honing is one part of the design, the other being more consistent pressure on the cutting edge). David suggested using a bit of silicone caulking on the joint of the cap iron, which holds it together, yet still permits it to articulate.

 

[D_W]

I never liked the 2 piece cap iron. I never felt it mated tightly onto the back of teh plane iron. Always got bits getting jammed in the gap. Switched to a 1 piece one and much better.

Same - I had a few staysets at one point and cleaned them up and set them as snugly as possible, but the design allows shavings to pivot under the front more easily when the cap is set very close.

For folks who don't set the cap close, we only sharpen off about a thousandth at a time or maybe even less, so there may be more in it for folks who don't like to take the cap off.

Have never had one of the clifton versions for two reasons:
1) there were a few with quality issues years ago and the manufacturer and the dealer could never figure out who would take care of the customer, and both highly public cases were left with no resolution, just an unusable plane
2) the price of the planes has come up to match LN over here and they're too heavy for someone doing much work by hand.

I thought the record stayset was visually interesting design, but it didn't work as well as the original stanley design with the cap set close.

 

[JohnCee]

I really like the 2 piece cap iron on my Record stay-set 5 1/2. Wouldn't pay £180 for one though...

 

[djellworth]

One advantage of lockdown and the national handplane shortage is that it has saved me a lot of cash. I have twice made the decision to buy lie Nielsen 4 1/2 and twice been thwarted. Cheers. Nick.

 

[Daniel2]

One advantage of lockdown and the national handplane shortage is that it has saved me a lot of cash. I have twice made the decision to buy lie Nielsen 4 1/2 and twice been thwarted. Cheers. Nick.

It's the NHS* again.

* National Handplane Shortage

 

[fiddlerjon]

What an interesting thread. I had a Clifton 4 1/2 and still have my 5 1/2. I thought that they had gone out of business some years ago.