Taytools 469607 Jack Smoothing Bench Hand Plane #5, 14-1/4 Inch Sole, Ductile Cast Body, Lapped Sides and Bottom, Blade RHC 55-60, Sapele Handle and Tote

As an experienced user of hand planes (I have several smaller ones, and restored antiques) I very well knew that "you get what you pay for" so my expectations were not high at all. I knew the plane would need some tuning, I knew it would not be as well done as a $300+ Lee Nielson or Wood River plane, so I knew what to expect.. HOWEVER, This plane seems to actually have gone through some decent quality control checks (unlike many of the cheaper $45 china planes) - It arrived nicely boxed, and well packed. First thing I ever checked was the sole of the plane - It was very nicely FLAT (I had a struggle with a brand new Stanley plane I'd bought, got it replaced twice at the store, none of the 3 were flat!) The blade was even usably sharp (Before tuning it up, I used it to flatten a 36" x 60" glue-up of 2x4's - knowing the glue would damage a sharp blade) Of course, as I well expected the depth adjustment was rather loose (because the yoke is basically stamped steel with an eyelet and a pin), but the remaining adjustments were pretty well accurate, and as long as the thumb screw was tightened properly (just enough to hold things firmly but allowing smooth adjustments) it was a breeze to use. To tune it up, I will be doing the following: 1) give it a good cleaning 2) flatten the chip breaker and blade back (I havent checked it, but judging by its performance un-tuned, it should not need much work) 3) sharpen the blade (to a razor's edge) 4) disassemble and clean and knock off sharp edges on the frog and mouth (if there are any - This particular plane seems so well done, it may not need much work on that either) and before putting it all back together and fine-tuning, I will be taking apart the frog and the blade adjustment yoke - and obtain or machine a new pin to fit the yoke much more snugly, and add a few thrust shims on either side - This should greatly reduce the amount of free slack in the blade adjustment thumbwheel and allow a fuller range of blade adjustment. But once all is said and done, I fully expect this tool to be a long-term resident in my wood shop.. Based on the quality of this, I am planning to buy a fore plane and a jointer, as well as a new smoother to replace that antique Millers Falls No 9.. and I plan on buying them from Taylor Tool Works as well, because it seems to me that they actually do a little more quality control checking (I noticed the box seemed to have been opened and then professionally re-sealed, so I believe they do take their tools out of the box and quality check them before putting them on sale..)

Overall this plane offers good value for the money. The body is relatively flat out of the box, and it comes nicely finished.Pros:-Thick iron reduces chatter-Machined thick cap iron adds rigidity to the blade-Easy to use adjuster-Relatively flat out of the box (Mine had a slightly hollow sole, but the hollow was so minor that I just left it)Cons:-Poor fitment between the iron and the cap iron. It took me several hours of work with sandpaper and stones to get the two to fit together properly-Manufacturing defect in the iron. My iron came with a manufacturing defect on the side that makes it difficult to hone-Tote is very small. As someone with large hands, I found my hand would cramp up after only a short period of use due to how small the tote is.

I cannot claim that I am a master woodworker with decades of experience who has handled several dozen hand planes in his time... I am more of the weekend garage shop type, so I certainly cannot claim that I can compare this plane to any others. I was simply looking for a budget hand plane to expand my tool arsenal, and I was not looking for anything super fancy. However, big box store planes were not going to cut it either. After some research I settled on this guy, and I have not regretted the decision. It took a bit of work to get it dialed in and to sharpen the iron (not sure what steel they are using, but it sharpens very well), but no unexpected hick-ups. The sole is flat (enough for me), all mechanical parts do their job, frog adjustment is maybe not the most elegant, but it sure works fine... In short: after giving this guy just a little bit of TLC I was off making chips :)Very happy with my purchase!

This planer requires a lot of work out of the box prior to use.1) the upper side of the frog assembly where it contacts the blade was rough, to the order of about .020" variation across the surface. Bringing to < .003" took quite a while.2) the bottom of the frog assembly was out by about .015". Again, extensive work required.3) the chip breaker wasn't bad except that the steel is lower grade, burrs easily, and doesn't hold an edge as compared to better steels. Same for the blade.4) the grinding marks on the blade's primary bevel were exceedingly deep and required much more work than expected to get down to smooth metal at the blade tip.After extensive work, the plane operates adequately, though, again, the blade does not hold an edge well. I'd suggest passing on this - especially if you're not experienced at sharpening blades - and instead opting for a Wood River or Lie Nielsen plane. The tolerances on those are far tighter and require far less work out of the box.If you're new to hand planes, using this out of the box would probably turn you away from hand planes in general. Spend the extra few dollars to get a quality tool requiring far less work prior to use.

You won't do better once you tune the tool up. This is as good a plane as the best in the business if you overlook a few unimportant things and know how to tune it. If you don't know how to tune it, there are a lot of videos on YouTube you can learn from. It arrived sharp, but not as sharp as I like, had a lot of oil on it that needed to be removed, and required some other adjustment. I tried it on some pine before tuning and it cut okay.For comparison, I bought a 1970s Craftsman contractor plane (a number 4) a few months back off of Craigslist. It was well-maintained but took me close to an hour on various grades of sandpaper to get the sole flat, the shoulders aren't square, and the blade had been sharpened badly and not squarely so that took a long time to get fixed also. The sole of the Taylor was not perfectly flat, but I had it dead flat in under five minutes. The blade was razor sharp pretty fast too and I put a small camber on it. I checked the shoulders against the sole with a square and that was dead square right out of the box. Blade adjustment works perfectly. The frog sits perfectly and I could adjust the throat easily.Once tuned up, I started shaving a piece of scrap and it was just the way it should be. Light, translucent, wide shavings came off in no time.I tried it for shooting and it is now my shooting plane. I had been using my Stanley block plane for shooting but that was just too small and hard to hold. The Crafstman, as I said, isn't square between the shoulders and sole.Now the bad: nothing major, but the cap is not as well made as the rest of the tool. I wasn't happy at how badly the chip breaker fit. I was able to get it to sit flat fairly quickly, but that's a bit of machining I really like to see done properly out of the box. It required a bit more sanding than the sole to get it to sit right.UPDATE: As I used the plane I ran into problems with shavings getting stuck under the chipbreaker. I flattened the chip breaker but still had problems until I flattened the back of the iron. So, again, it needed further tuning. I should probably take a star away for all the tuning I had to do, but most of it went pretty smoothly and quickly and I'm really happy with its performance now. I've been making some very thin shavings with it and it flattens wood nicely.Okay, one more update and then I'll shut up. First, a diamond plate takes care of the chipbreaker flatness very quickly. Second, I cannot say enough about how great their customer support is. Buy this plane or any Taylor product. If you have a problem, they will fix it. Have rarely had customer support this good. I swear I am not affiliated with Taylor in any way, but I've bought a number of items from them this year and I am happy with everything.