Cressing Temple Hand Plane Comparison

[cambournepete]

Lots of lovely planes at the show:

• Philly
  Sauer&Steiner
  Lie-Nielsen
  Veritas
  Clifton
  Holtey
  Stanley (I think)*

The new Sauer&Steiner medium coffin plane is beautiful and sits in my (and Tony's) hands perfectly.

Main point of this rare venture of mine into the hand tools forum is to report on the test Escudo (Tony), DaveS and I did on David Charlesworth's bench.
He had the new Holtey, a L-N 51/2 and a highly fettled Stanley* with Hock blade and L-N chip breaker.
We each tried all 3 on an already smooth piece of wood (dont know what it was).
We were all amazed how good the Stanley* was compared to the planes costing 3x and 30x as much - the difference was pretty subtle and really down to personal preference, they all worked really well.
Of the 3 I preferred the Lie-Nielsen as it had more weight than the Stanley and just felt more right to me. I could happily use the Stanley though*.
I didn't like the Holtey :shock: As a piece of engineering art and craftmanship it's faultless, I just didn't like it in use.
What does this completley unscientific test prove?
Nothing really I guess, but it does show that fine tuning of even relatively cheap planes and putting good blades in them elevates their performance.
We'd like to thank David for allowing us to discover this insight for ourselves. Given the price difference between car-boot planes and L-N a fettling week with David looks very good value.

*I think it was a Stanley, but it might have been a Record.


Also Veritas were showing some new very small (3" long or so) shoulder planes - they looked very cute

 

[wizer]

as usual, DC's Stanley made me feel like slipping it into MarkW's bag, it's such a joy to use.

 

[Harbo]

From what I have read, DC's plane has had years of polishing and fettling to make it like that?

The tiny Veritas planes were on show at West Dean earlier this year - not for sale yet I think? They do look nice.

Rod

 

[Vann]

The tiny Veritas planes were on show at West Dean earlier this year - not for sale yet I think?

The Veritas small shoulder plane is for sale on their (LV) website.

Cheers, Vann.

 

[wizer]

DC's Stanley was polished to a mirror finish, as were the faces of one of his hammers :shock:

 

[Harbo]

Vann - these planes are very tiny and narrow - about 1/4" wide from memory?
They have a side wing action for releasing the blade?
Polished steel and brass. Very pretty.
Wish I had taken some photos of them?

Rod

 

[woodbloke]

I saw them too at West Dean...very pretty - Rob

 

[Escudo]

I agree with Pete's analysis. All three planes were excellent.

I now know the standard I should be aiming for with my planes, all I need now is a bit more skill and some application.

After all, any tool is only as good as it's master.

Tony.

 

[karl5005]

Lots of lovely planes at the show:

• Philly
  Sauer&Steiner
  Lie-Nielsen
  Veritas
  Clifton
  Holtey
  Stanley (I think)*

The new Sauer&Steiner medium coffin plane is beautiful and sits in my (and Tony's) hands perfectly.

Main point of this rare venture of mine into the hand tools forum is to report on the test Escudo (Tony), DaveS and I did on David Charlesworth's bench.
He had the new Holtey, a L-N 51/2 and a highly fettled Stanley* with Hock blade and L-N chip breaker.
We each tried all 3 on an already smooth piece of wood (dont know what it was).
We were all amazed how good the Stanley* was compared to the planes costing 3x and 30x as much - the difference was pretty subtle and really down to personal preference, they all worked really well.
Of the 3 I preferred the Lie-Nielsen as it had more weight than the Stanley and just felt more right to me. I could happily use the Stanley though*.
I didn't like the Holtey :shock: As a piece of engineering art and craftmanship it's faultless, I just didn't like it in use.
What does this completley unscientific test prove?
Nothing really I guess, but it does show that fine tuning of even relatively cheap planes and putting good blades in them elevates their performance.
We'd like to thank David for allowing us to discover this insight for ourselves. Given the price difference between car-boot planes and L-N a fettling week with David looks very good value.

*I think it was a Stanley, but it might have been a Record.


Also Veritas were showing some new very small (3" long or so) shoulder planes - they looked very cute

Hi

Just a minor point. David C had my No 98 plane not the new No 982. You can see it at: http://www.holteyplanes.com/planes_No982.html .There are two reviews on the No 982 that will be published shortly (and there is currently a preview on Chris Schwarz's blog).

Karl

 

[Ironballs]

Nice to see you on here again Karl, any chance of a pass around of that 982.... :lol:

 

[karl5005]

I don't have any plans at the moment for another show, but I am going to do one show a year - which one I don't know yet.

Karl

 

[SeanG]

I think there are quite a few forum members who have been on David's, tool prep course, so we could always conduct some tests on fettled Stanleys vs others at a bash.

I've got a fettled 5 1/2 I could offer other forumites a go on and LN4.

 

[Paul Chapman]

I think there are quite a few forum members who have been on David's, tool prep course, so we could always conduct some tests on fettled Stanleys vs others at a bash.

If you do this, I would suggest you do the comparisons using wood with "difficult" grain. So often demonstrations of how good planes perform are conducted using pieces of wood with nice, straight grain and people come away with the impression that cheapo planes can be made to perform as well as the "best" ones. In my experience there are significant differences between the best and the not so good, however well they have been fettled, but this shows up best with "difficult" woods.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Dave S]

My thoughts aabout the three planes really echo those of Pete and Tony. It was the first time I have used either a 'premium' plane or a very well fettled Stanley, so it was quite an eye-opener for me.

I did wonder about the point that Paul raises, though - the timber was not exactly challenging. That said, it only becomes an issue if you actually use challenging timbers, of course.

My other thought - is a Stanley plane with a Hock blade and Lie Nielsen chipbreaker, really a Stanley at all? What would be interesting to compare is the Stanley with standard blade/chipbreaker; the Stanley with the Hock Blade and the Stanley with both blade and chipbreaker replaced.

Dave

 

[Vann]

...and chipbreaker replaced.

...with a 2 piece stay-set cap iron.

I thought I'd get in before Paul does.... :twisted:

Cheers, Vann.

 

[Paul Chapman]

...and chipbreaker replaced.

...with a 2 piece stay-set cap iron.

I thought I'd get in before Paul does.... :twisted:

:lol: :lol:

 

[mark w]

Does anybody know what DC thinks of the Veritas planes, he never seems to mention them.

Mark

 

[wizer]

Does anybody know what DC thinks of the Veritas planes, he never seems to mention them.

Mark

That's probably because he works(ed) closely with LN.

 

[mark w]

I`d still like to know what he thinks of Veritas planes, perhaps if you`re reading any of this David you could let me and others know.
On a slightly different subject, I recently had to add up the cost of tools and equipment in my workshop for insurance purposes. I was astounded to find out that I have spent to the nearest pound £3500.00 on Lie Nielsen and veritas tools alone. Any one else had a shock like that?

Mark

 

[wizer]

What's your address Mark ? :lol: