Working a Liberty Bell

[steven c newman]

Plane, that is. I needed to get a table top flattened, so the Liberty Bell plane was given a workout. It gave me a workout in return. After the top was ready to smooth plane, it looked like a beaver had gone through.:eek:

[James Taglienti]

well was the plane any good?

[steven c newman]

That cheap handle moved a little, blade wasn't the sharpest, but the plane did a very good job. Top is flat. It looked like an angry beaver had gone through, with all the shavings laying around. I used it like a big scrub plane, then followed up with a smooth plane. Liberty Bell would not even let any knots talk back to it, it just went right on through them. :D

[Bill Houghton]

It's interesting how often planes with a reputation for being bad horrible small boat anchors can work out well, if cleaned up a bit and sharpened. Nice to hear you had fun with a disrespected tool.

[John Toigo]

I have and use a lot of transitionals in my shop. They can be tricky to set up but I think that's mostly just because they're different from the metal body planes. There's really not much adjustment to the frog. Otherwise - as long as the plane is in good condition in the sole & mouth & it's properly sharpened - I find them quite enjoyable.