Value-priced planes shine after tune-up

摘要

Woodcraft is offering a new line of hand-planes, made in China, that carry their own Wood River trademark. I recently examined the complete line: four bench planes ranging in size from No. 3 to No. 6, and a low-angle block plane. According to Woodcraft, all are patterned after vintage Stanley bedrock-style planes. I tried them all, but focused most of my testing on the No. 4 bench plane, as that's the size I use most often in my shop. For starters, the plane looked beautiful. All the machining was clean and crisp. And the sole was about as flat as you can get. Indeed, I couldn't fit a 0.001-in. feeler gauge under a straightedge spanning toe to heel.