Best Smoothing Plane Update

[Brian Kent]

A couple of years ago I asked for Creekers to name the Best Smooth Plane that you have personally used. Not the best in theory or in reviews, but your best user. This was really helpful to me and I have quoted your responses a number of times. I am ready to update your list.

So once again:
What is the Best Smooth Plane you have ever used?

In a day or two I'll post the last round of recommendations and in a few days I post a compilation.

[Doug Shepard]

That would have to be my pimped out plane from Mr Brese
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=93312

2nd place goes to my LN Bronze #4 since upgrading to the newer type chipbreaker and adding a HAF.

[Zach England]

Tie between LN 4 1/2 with 55 degree frog and Veritas bevel up smoother.

[Brian Kent]

That was a great thread Doug, and what a plane!

[Gary Benson]

My most used is the LN 4 1/2, use the 45 and 55 degree frog, depending. The 5 1/2 is a very close second.

[Jim Barrett]

I only have 2 planes...LN 5 1/2 with a 55 frog and a LN 7 1/2....5 1/2 is a very nice plane. But...may be in the hunt for another plane this Friday at the LN hand tool event!

Jim
Oh yeah I have a #5 paragon plane that I purchased from Garrett Wade ~ 25 yrs ago...will be putting that on the classifieds soon.

[James Taglienti]

This little guy is a dream machine. Here it is taking some tissue thin shavings from a figured piece of east indian rosewood. I bought it from a Mr. Leach a couple years ago and it's been an epiphany!

[Don Dorn]

Out of a LN #3, an older Stanley #4 and LV Low Angle Smoother, the LV comes out on top.

[Rob Luter]

I have an old Stanley 4 1/2 as well as its counterpart, a #10 from Millers Falls. Both work very well, but the best I've used is my Lee Valley Low Angle Jack Plane with a 38 degree iron and the mouth closed up tight. One day I'll have the Lee Valley BU Smoother too.

[Carl L Goff]

I use and really the L-N 4 1/2

[Casey Gooding]

My mesquite Krenov style plane bedded at 55 degrees. Adjustments are not as fine as on the plane JK made for me, but it can handle just about any wood.

[Bob Noles]

I really do love my LV BUS

[Tri Hoang]

LN #5-1/2 for regular smoothing and LV BUS for difficult wood (sharpen at 42-44*). For shorter/smaller pieces, Stanley #3 type 11.

[David Gendron]

The Krenov style plane I made with Hock blade assembly, even with a big mouth, it work realy nice!

[Eiji Fuller]

My Krenov smoother.

[John Coloccia]

I'm really liking my Veritas BU smoother at the moment.

[Adam Johan Bergren]

I've not used many, but the best I have used is a Veritas #4 1/2 (as a dedicated smoother).

[Derek Cohen]

OK, I'll play. But it has to be three smoothers, not one. Different sizes, for different needs ...

"Best" has not changed ... Marcou BU15 (15 degree bed, 60 degree included angle).

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Planes/MarcouTasBlkwoodshavings1a.jpg

Almost its equal. Just an amazing plane for the money. Veritas BU Smoother (12 degree bed, 62 degree included angle) ..

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Planes/LV%20planes/BUSshavings.jpg

And number three. My Stanley infill. This is another superb smoother, as good as the best. Can be used one-handed as only 7 1/2" long. (25 degree bed, 60 degree included angle) ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/GalootSmootherII_html_318dbbc4.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Don Naples]

Mathieson infill. It has a super tight throat, york pitch, and very good cast steel iron that hold an edge well.

[Jim R Edwards]

Record 4 1/2 with hock blade, K4 with hock blade, and for difficult grain my LVBUJ

[Bill Houghton]

I shouldn't be saying this, because I can still walk into my shop and therefore don't have enough planes, but the Wards Master series of planes is under-appreciated and therefore affordably priced.

And LV's irons are terrific: flat and, out of the box, sharp.

[Brian Kent]

Record 4 1/2 with hock blade, K4 with hock blade, and for difficult grain my LVBUJ

Jim, what does K4 stand for? I have not heard of this one before.

Brian

[Phillip Pattee]

K 4 is the earlier Keen Kutter hardware store brand of planes. These were made by Stanley and are the rounded side older bedrock design. The number follows the Stanley convension, i.e. a K 4 is a smoother, K 5 is a jack, etc. There are also KK # out there that are a later Keen Kutter plane that are, I think, made by Sargent and are of the Bailey pattern.

[Brian Kent]

Thank you for that info, Phillip!

I'll post our list tomorrow, along with the alphabetized list from a couple of years ago, and I'll keep adding to the current list as long as you send in your Best Smoothing Plane.

Brian

[Jim R Edwards]

I believe Ohio tool also made Keen Kutters KK version.

[Rick Erickson]

Gotta go with my LN 4 1/2 - extra special with my recent Cocobolo tote/knob upgrade from Drozs totes.

[Russ Massery]

Veritas BU Smoother

[Brian Kent]

Krenov Style
Krenov Style - even with a big mouth
Krenov style Mesquite plane bedded at 55°
Lee Valley / Veritas #4-1/2
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Jack with 38° iron
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas BU Smoother (12 ° bed, 62 ° included angle)
Lie Nielsen 4-1/2
Lie Nielsen 4-1/2 (with Cocobolo!)
Lie Nielsen 4-1/2 with 45° and 55° Frog
Lie Nielsen 4-1/2 with 55° Frog
Lie Nielsen 5-1/2
Lie Nielsen 5-1/2
Lie Nielsen 5-1/2
Lie Nielsen Bronze #4 New Chip Breaker, HAF
Marcou BU15 (15 degree bed, 60 degree included angle)
Mathieson Infill
Norris #5 -style Infill
Record 4 1/2 with hock blade
Ron Brese Custom Infill
Stanley #3 Infill
Stanley #3 type 11
Stanley Keen Kutter - K4 with Hock Blade
Wards Master with Lee Valley O1 Iron

[Brian Kent]

Bridge City CT-12
Coffin
Coffin
Clark and Williams York Pitch
ECE 711
ECE Primus
HNT Gordon
HNT Gordon - T1 HSS blade
Japanese Plane
Japanese Plane
Japanese Plane - Shop=made with help of Inomoto-san
Japanese Plane - Yamamoto 120mm
Krenov
Krenov-made smoother
Lee Valley Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley Veritas Low Angle Smoother
Lie-Nielsen #4
Lie-Nielsen 4-1/2
Lie-Nielsen 64 Low Angle Jack - 36° iron
Light Woodie
Marcou Infill
Marcou S15
Mathieson Infill
Millers Falls #14
Mujingfang
Norris A5 Infill
Norris A5 style Infill - Shop-made
Norris Infill
Ron Brese
Ron Brese Kit
Sauer and Steiner Infill
Shepherd Infill kit - Shop-made
St James Bay Infill Kit
Stanley Bedrock 603 - refinished
Stanley #4 type 7 with Lie-Nielsen .125 blade
Stanley with Hock Blade
Stanley#3 Infill Smoother
Steve Knight Padouk Coffin
Wards Master #4

[Jim R Edwards]

I was kind of surprised to only see one Record and no Miller Falls or Sargents. I think they are very nice planes and a nice alternative to Stanleys.

[Zach England]

if I have to ask how much the Marcou costs does that mean I cannot afford it?

[Callan Campbell]

My grandfathers Winchester Plane. It's a Sargent plane model, not the stanley. He bought it from a Winchester Dealer in San Antonio back in the 1920's, probably shortly before my dad was born. I don't use it much for fear of damaging something or taking any of the red paint from the Winchester Logo. So, I bought a Lee Valley/Veritas #4 as my "user" to take its place. Wow, what a difference in design, time marches on and all that.:rolleyes:

[Don Dorn]

I certainly don't "need" it, but this thread has me very close to buying a LN 4 1/2. I'm making a lame attempt to justify by saying I'll leave a 45 degree blade (40 and a 5 degree secondary) in my LV Low Angle Smoother so it's dedicated for less behaved wood.

[Joel Moskowitz]

Bedrock 604C with aftermarket blade
Pre-War Norris A5

[Derek Cohen]

All these smoother choices are interesting but not necessarily helpful in helping someone decide what to purchase (if that is the object of this exercise), or simply to rate the Best Smoother (which is a fun alternative). So .. I will list a bunch of my smoothers, and try and do this in order of merit.

The problem is, what is your basis for rating the Best Smoother?

One of the factors that must be clarified is the type of wood you typically use your planes on. There is a very big difference planing softwood and interlocked hardwood, or medium hard woods with striations of soft, reversing grain.

It is now pretty well accepted that smoothers with high cutting angle planes (55 - 65 degrees) tend do best on interlocked grain. Conversely, it is expected that soft, straight grained woods will be better served by medium- to low cutting angles (40 - 45 degrees). Is one more important than the other? Well, for me the ablity to plane interlocked wood is the deciding factor in the list below.

I incude only those planes that are available to all. Planes I have made for myself, such as infills and woodies, are inelligible, as are one-offs such as my Krenov smoother (a fantastic user, I will add). Cutting angle in brackets.

1. Marcou BU15 (60)
2. Veritas BU Smoother (62)
3. Veritas LA Smoother (62)
4. HNT Gordon (60)
5. LN Anniversary (50)
6. Brese Small Smoother (60)
7. Blum (50)
8. Mujingfang (45)
9. Spier infill (47)
10. Stanley Bedrock #604/LN blade/LN capiron (45)
11. Stanley #4 1/2 T11 /Clifton blade (45)

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Maurice Ungaro]

if I have to ask how much the Marcou costs does that mean I cannot afford it?

In a word, yes. But there are pretty darn gorgeous!

[Andrew Gibson]

I don't have a "favorite" smoother. I actually have 2 smoothers in total. a #3 Stanly and an old wooden coffin smoother that an old friend of the family gave me before he died. The toe was cracked open from top to bottom all the way through to the throat. I glued it up and closed up the throat and all but I dont have the heart to try to make it work.

However now I want a BUS. Not sure if I want to go with LV or LN. I have a feeling I will go with LV as I also now want a BU jack, and maybe the matching smoother. Problem is I am currently trying to build up my saw collection. On the list is a sash saw kit from TFWW and a couple panel saws to go with my Independence Dovetail saw and frame saws.

Hopefully I will sell a Piece or two of furniture and be able to reinvest in my tool collection. Ooh heck My favorite is my #3 with Hock blade.

[Brian Kent]

Derek,

Thank you for this fine list, which I know is based on your personal experience with many excellent planes for your personal use and for reviews. That is very helpful. Your perspective is also important to me because, although I do not live in Australia, I tend to like to work with very hard woods with interlocking grain. I don't think I have planed a piece of straight grained pine - ever.

Let me share how I used this same exercise 2 years ago. I had accumulated a few planes, all chosen in part because they were cheap! None more than $50.

The first photo shows what I had from left to right:

Stanley #4
Stanley #3
My first Krenov - style plane
Mujingfang High Angle Polish Plane
Mujingfang Smoother
Anant 4-1/2

My sharpening technique really lacked, and only one of these planes was deeply satisfying - the Mujingfang High Angle. The Krenov and Anant also were users. I put many hours into the Anant and learned later that I got pretty lucky in the machining of parts, because it actually works.

But I was not really having consistent success with anything but the Mujingfang HA. I started the thread last time so I could find out from woodworkers - nearly all with more experience than me - what worked. I was asking before I had any money in hand so that I would have a better idea of whether I needed to save $150, $300, or $2,000. I had read as many reviews as I could find and still wanted the practical experience of fellow woodworkers.

At that time you posted your Stanley #3 infill. While waiting for my lottery ticket to win, that is one I could work on right then. I traded for a #3 body, used some nice leftover cocobolo, and bought a 5/16" thick Hock blade.

I used your technique for making a thumbscrew and made a cap out of a thin piece of brass epoxied and screwed to a piece of cocobolo. I made many mistakes along the way (never try to peen on old, thin cast iron) and kept on patching and ended up with this plane.

That's why this "Your Best Smoother" exercise is useful to me.

Brian

PS. I later made an infill from scratch, but that will be in another thread.

[lowell holmes]

I commissioned my new LV BU smoother today. I don't know what the anti-rust coating was, but it was a bit difficult to remove. It took me about 15 minutes of solvent washing and then Johnson's wax.

I spent all of 10 minutes on the water stones,taking it to the 8000 stone. The shaving on walnut was .0006" thick. It will be my favorite.

I have a #3 Stanley Bailey and a 604 Bedrock I use. They will not handle the difficult grain like the new one handles.:)

[Jim Paulson]

Derek,

Thanks for your listing of smoothers according to merit. A couple things I wanted to ask for clarification. First, a LN low angle smoother wasn't mentioned at all, how come? I don't own one, but I have been very satisfied with several other LN planes so far.

Second, it was encouraging that Veritas made it to #2 and #3, considering some of us are more limited on our budgets for future plane purchases. I can't manage an infill yet, but a Veritas plane could be within my sights eventually. Are you advocating that we buy the 50 degree bevel blade to get to the 62 degrees of cut?

Thanks,
Jim

[Martin Peek]

Clark and Williams 2 1/4" Smoother. Amazing!

[Brian Kent]

Derek,

Thanks for your listing of smoothers according to merit. A couple things I wanted to ask for clarification. First, a LN low angle smoother wasn't mentioned at all, how come? I don't own one, but I have been very satisfied with several other LN planes so far.

Second, it was encouraging that Veritas made it to #2 and #3, considering some of us are more limited on our budgets for future plane purchases. I can't manage an infill yet, but a Veritas plane could be within my sights eventually. Are you advocating that we buy the 50 degree bevel blade to get to the 62 degrees of cut?

Thanks,
Jim

Jim,

I can't speak for Derek, but what kind of wood do you use the most? Softwoods, hardwoods, straight grain, interlocking grain, twisty grain. That will make a huge difference in the answer (including if you say "all of the above")

Brian

[Jim Paulson]

Hi Brian,

Looking at Derek's list, my smoothers came in #10 and #11. I work with domestic woods like pine, popular, maple, cherry, oak for my furniture work. I have been incorporating some accents like birds eye or highly figured maple as drawer fronts. I remember the first time I tried to hand plane some birds eye maple, it was a disaster with tear outs and chipping. I didn't have a high angle capability or a BU smoother LA or otherwise either. These are things I am planning to acquire eventually.

Hope that answered your question. Great job on your infill BTW too. I still hope to make one at some point when things stabilize financially.

Jim

[Leigh Betsch]

when things stabilize financially.
Jim

Financial stability is for those that don't buy tools!;)

[Jim Paulson]

Leigh,

I've been hooked on tools for some time, but at least now I can focus more on what is more beneficial. My dad got me started on buying well made tools so I blame him :). I am thankful that he did that BTW.

I love the beauty of the infills, but I can't tell my wife or my wallet that I want a metal working mill or something. I'll have to find another way to do it. My guess, and it is a guess, is that making an infill is like working on a black powder gun kit, you do it slow and steady, with no rushing allowed. For now I think I'll stick with my LN 4 1/2 and save up for a BU plane.

Jim

[Brian Kent]

Jim, you can also build an infill using the body of a #3, a blade purchased for under $40, some brass for the cap, and your favorite wood in the shop. When I made my "Stanley Infill" I followed the tutorial that Derek posted:

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/A_Galoots_infill_smoother.html

Here's an inexpensive blade source:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=60009&cat=1,41182,43698&ap=1

In my Stanley #3 infill, I confess that the hidden metal work was done with an angle grinder and files.

Brian

[Brian Kent]

It is great to get the wisdom of all of your experiences, combine it with reviews, your own research and hands-on tests, and with time and cost and availability…

…and choose your best smoothing plane for the kind of woodworking you do.

A13 Infill - Shop made
Bedrock 604C with aftermarket blade
Clark and Williams 2 1/4" Smoother
Krenov Style
Krenov Style - even with a big mouth
Krenov style Mesquite plane bedded at 55°
Lee Valley / Veritas #4-1/2
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Jack
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Jack with 38° iron
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas Bevel Up Smoother
Lee Valley / Veritas BU Smoother (12 ° bed, 62 ° included angle)
Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Jack
Lie Nielsen 4-1/2
Lie Nielsen 4-1/2 (with Cocobolo!)
Lie Nielsen 4-1/2 with 45° and 55° Frog
Lie Nielsen 4-1/2 with 55° Frog
Lie Nielsen 5-1/2
Lie Nielsen 5-1/2
Lie Nielsen 5-1/2
Lie Nielsen Bronze #4 New Chip Breaker, HAF
Marcou BU15 (15 degree bed, 60 degree included angle)
Mathieson Infill
Mujingfang High Angle Smoother / Polish plane - 62° blade
Norris #5 -style Infill
Norris A5 - Pre-War
Record 4 1/2 with hock blade
Ron Brese Custom Infill
Stanley #3 Infill
Stanley #3 type 11
Stanley #3 with Hock blade
Stanley Keen Kutter - K4 with Hock Blade
Wards Master with Lee Valley O1 Iron
Winchester Sargent

[Chris Friesen]

Are you advocating that we buy the 50 degree bevel blade to get to the 62 degrees of cut?

The 50 degree blade is only really useful if you hollow grind then freehand hone. If you use a honing jig (and especially if you want to camber the iron slightly) then you're better off grinding at 25 degrees then putting a teeny little secondary bevel at whatever you want the final angle to be. The wood only cares about a very small area right at the cutting edge.

[Jim Paulson]

Thanks Chris,

Jim

[John Lytle]

I have a Ron Brese infill and a LN 4 1/2 and Ron's by far is my final smoother. I will get close with the LN, but the tighter mouth and a little extra heft to the Brese infill just gets it right.

John

[David Keller NC]

Brain - Just my $0.02. I have used:

Norris A6 (high-end collectible with original blade and untouched, so mouth not opened by lapping)
Norris A5 (ditto on condition comments as A6)
Norris 50G (basically a gunmetal version of the A5 with a steel sole)
Matheison straight-sided infill smoother - similar to Norris A6
Sauer&Steiner Norris A6 copy - 0.003" mouth, hock blade, 47.4 degree blade pitch
Lie-Nielsen 4-1/2 25th anniversary (gunmetal 4-1/2 w/ 50 degree pitch)
Lie-Nielsen #4 bronze w/ 45 degree and 50 degree frog
Lie-Nielsen #2 bronze
Lie-Nielsen LA smoother w/ 55 degree planing angle
Steve Knight wooden smoother with 60 degree blade pitch
Spiers unhandled coffin infill smoother - early model, about 1870
Marples beech coffin smoother, circa 1920's
Shop-made traditional coffin smoother, 50 degree blade pitch
E.W. Carpenter beech coffin smoother (american, approx. 1850)
Stanley #3 w/ Hock blade
Stanley #4 w/ Hock blade

Conclusion:

So long as you're using a domestic hardwood with straight (unfigured) grain, all of these perform pretty much equivalently, though the Stanleys are the biggest pain in the rear to use because of the slop in the mechanism.

On figured domestic wood such as high-figure tiger maple, the Norris and Sauer&Steiner perform best, as they produce no tear-out and are fairly easy to push with a lower cutting angle than the LA smoother or high-angle LN smoothers. The L-N high-angle frogs are the next best performers - principally because they're harder to push.

The next one on the list is the LN LA smoother. While it does prevent a lot of tear-out in figured grain, it's hard to push because of the high cutting angle, and it's also not all that versatile - it performs very well when 1 or 2 thousandths of an inch shavings are taken, but the cutting geometry tends to make it try to dive into figured grain when thicker shavings are asked for, which can lead to big ugly chunks taken out of the grain.

Finally, the normal-angle Stanelys, L-Ns and wooden smoothers bring up the rear - they work very well on well-behaved grain, but not so good in situations of planing against the grain or in figured grain.

[Terry Hatfield]

Mostly a power tool guy but this Type 2 Bedrock 604C is pretty sweet. Just feels so good in the hand and works even better. I restored it...er...over restored it a few years ago and added the LN A2 blade. Makes for a great smoother in my book. By FAR the best I've used.

http://terryhatfield.com/album/4/14805522.JPG

[Brian Kent]

That is one sweet looking plane.

[Terry Hatfield]

That is one sweet looking plane.

Thanks Brian. I have a few Type 2's that I've restored. It was truly a labor of love.

t

[David Marcus Brown]

"Best" has not changed ... Marcou BU15 (15 degree bed, 60 degree included angle).

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Planes/MarcouTasBlkwoodshavings1a.jpg

Almost its equal. Just an amazing plane for the money. Veritas BU Smoother (12 degree bed, 62 degree included angle) ..

Regards from Perth

Derek

Derek, where on your scale would you rank your LN 4-1/2 bronze? Have you tried it with a 55 degree HAF? :)

[David Weaver]

only a year plus behind.

Easiest to use, a house-built infill that's a lot like Brese's big smoothers (55 degrees, 3-4 thousandth mouth) - the iron and the lever cap are from brese, anyway. If it's sharp, it will pretty much cut anything. If it's dull, it will still cut most things. The mouth is small enough that you can't really ever get yourself into trouble. Plane any direction with it on most woods, against the grain feels a little different but the visual result is almost the same as planing with the grain.

For woods that are well behaved, any of the japanese smoothers with an iron that is designed to take a fine edge are really pleasant to use and make really excellent results.

I think everyone should make themselves an infill smoother or two, and a big heavy infill panel plane is useful when you order stuff that's supposed to be straight grained hardwood and it comes and isn't remotely close to straight.

[Tom Vanzant]

Definitely the Brese planes I had the pleasure of handling last fall... a "J" and the smaller two of Ron's new stainless family. Of my own planes, it would be a Stanley #3 and Bedrock #604, both fettled and fitted with Hock iron sets. I just wish the adjustments were a bit finer.

[David Marcus Brown]

Yeah, I'm a bit behind but I figured the questions were still valid. :)

[David Weaver]

No worries, i was referring to me with my year-plus behind in replying to the thread. I love the marcou smoother. I'd love to have one, but buying one wouldn't do great things for my marriage.

[David Marcus Brown]

Do you have any pics of the Brese-like plane that you built?

[Klaus Kretschmar]

Definitely the Brese planes I had the pleasure of handling last fall... a "J" and the smaller two of Ron's new stainless family. ...


+1 on that!!

Recently I finished a plane kit from Ron Brese. It´s a small smoother "J"-style with 55° bed angle. The fantastically prepared kit got infills of pretty good figured olive wood (figured like fine marble). The performance of the plane is amazing. It´s not only the best smoother I own, it´s the unique of my smoothers that will cut if it´s just pushed forward with the right hand without having the left hand on it to give some downforce when it´s freshly sharpened. To me a new experience!

185685

Klaus

[David Weaver]

I do, I still intend to take better pictures. I think I can find them in the attachments here somewhere. I know if I locate them and try to post them again, SMC's picture tool will tell me that I already put them up.

[David Weaver]

Here's the smoother. Rather plain and dull on the front, this is its best side. If you've seen a brese lever cap, you know what the front looks like. All I did was refine the scratches in the cap to very fine and then polish it.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=177430&d=1294697656

(I have to get off my duff and make more planes so I have something new to talk about)

And a shepherd panel kit for good measure. I was really disappointed in this kit (you can even see some of the modifications needed to make it work), but in the end, it is a really useful plane. Almost 9 pounds, and with a moderately tight mouth (around a hundredth). It makes it really easy to set wood up for very few smoother passes, and in reality, it can just do the smoothing work itself. Lets you cut the work from 3 planes to 2 on a lot of wood and still have a really flat panel.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=153502&d=1276693402

I was lazy and didn't bevel the sides at first, but did after this picture was taken, so it looks a little more traditional.

This kit cost me a mint, it was a real learning experience. It's usable for me, but a couple of the compromises make it nonsaleable (i wouldn't want to sell it, anyway, after sweating it out making it all go together OK).

[Pat Zabrocki]

I have a small infill smoother from Gabardi & Son. Matt Hodgson is the planemaker so I don't know where the name comes from. This is 5 inches long, 62 degree bed, and the infill is ebony. I have a handled smoother that is 55 degree that should arrive soon.
185689 185690 I just grabbed a piece of quilted maple to show some test passes and forgot to snap the "before" pic this next one is just the other side of the board. Same as the side I planed.

185691

I've got a St. James Bay kit in the works so we'll see if I can do any good on my own soon enough.
cheers
Pat

[Andrew Gibson]

I would have to agree that the best smoother I have user was made by Ron Brese.

[David Marcus Brown]

I'd love to be able to afford a Gabardi & Sons smoother.

[David Dalzell]

I have a LV bevel up smoother and a homemade Krenov style smoother. I can't really say which i9s better for me. The LV is probably better for difficult woods, but the Krenov homemade feels and sounds better.

[Derek Cohen]

Derek, where on your scale would you rank your LN 4-1/2 bronze? Have you tried it with a 55 degree HAF? :)

Hi David

The 55 degree HAF is on my List. In fact I may even have it by this weekend!

The 50 degree frog is not significantly better than a 45 degree frog on our hardwoods. As a result, the standard Anniversary #4 1/2, while an excellent smoother, is not in the same league as planes with a higher cutting angle. The LV BUS, set up at 62 degrees, leaves it for dust. As does my shopmade BU infill smoother at 60 degrees. This is a largely a function of the cutting angle. On the other hand, the Marcou set at 55 degrees still leaves everything else in its wake. So there is definitely a "plane-thing" as well.

Regards from Perth

Derek