Adam Cavaliere
10-05-2010, 11:48 PM
Hi All,
I just had a post about a problem I was having with sharpening the iron from the Stanley Sweetheart block plane I purchased. Well, I noticed that there was a gouge in the cap that I hadn't caused, so I took it back to the store. I decided not to exchange it, but get a refund. I wasn't sure what happened to the plane, but I was concerned I got someone's return that they messed up.
I then decided to start doing some more research about these planes, and what I turned up was a lot of discontent about Stanley in general (post WWII). I have read all of the different reviews done on these new planes, along with the many many opinions on this message board and others.
To sum up what I read so far, the body seems to be pretty nice (exactly what I experienced) and the blade seems to be of good quality - for the most part, I would have to agree, though I am not sure why I was having problems with the one I had. The complaints all revolved around manufacturing defects, like something skewing the blade, or the throat not closing tightly enough. In the official reviews, the reviewers said that Stanley was going to address this. That was said 8+ months ago.
So now I want to know, do you guys know if they have fixed those problems? I haven't been able to find any updated reviews.
While doing my research, I have seen many people passionately speaking about L-N or LV. I am interested in the LV low angle block plane, but it is pretty much double the cost of what I could get the Stanley plane for on Amazon. What should I be looking for to justify such a difference in price? Ultimately, if the quality control issues have been fixed, this plane seems to be a good deal for $75. Am I wrong?!
The big thing to me, and I am looking to you guys to tell me if it should be something to be interested in, are the two guide screws on the LV plane. I guess they are supposed to keep the blade from skewing. Previous to this, I was using a CHEAP Borg block plane that definitley let the blade skew every once in a while.
I really tried to do research before posting this question. Thanks for taking the time to read my post.
I just had a post about a problem I was having with sharpening the iron from the Stanley Sweetheart block plane I purchased. Well, I noticed that there was a gouge in the cap that I hadn't caused, so I took it back to the store. I decided not to exchange it, but get a refund. I wasn't sure what happened to the plane, but I was concerned I got someone's return that they messed up.
I then decided to start doing some more research about these planes, and what I turned up was a lot of discontent about Stanley in general (post WWII). I have read all of the different reviews done on these new planes, along with the many many opinions on this message board and others.
To sum up what I read so far, the body seems to be pretty nice (exactly what I experienced) and the blade seems to be of good quality - for the most part, I would have to agree, though I am not sure why I was having problems with the one I had. The complaints all revolved around manufacturing defects, like something skewing the blade, or the throat not closing tightly enough. In the official reviews, the reviewers said that Stanley was going to address this. That was said 8+ months ago.
So now I want to know, do you guys know if they have fixed those problems? I haven't been able to find any updated reviews.
While doing my research, I have seen many people passionately speaking about L-N or LV. I am interested in the LV low angle block plane, but it is pretty much double the cost of what I could get the Stanley plane for on Amazon. What should I be looking for to justify such a difference in price? Ultimately, if the quality control issues have been fixed, this plane seems to be a good deal for $75. Am I wrong?!
The big thing to me, and I am looking to you guys to tell me if it should be something to be interested in, are the two guide screws on the LV plane. I guess they are supposed to keep the blade from skewing. Previous to this, I was using a CHEAP Borg block plane that definitley let the blade skew every once in a while.
I really tried to do research before posting this question. Thanks for taking the time to read my post.