Tipping Point for the Stanley LAJ

[Matt Radtke]

I've seen the SW LAJ going for about $115-$125 on amazon. At that point, I'm seriously considering going that way instead of LV/LN. At what point is the Stanley cheap enough to to consider?

[David Weaver]

Is this a new or old plane?

Presuming new, you'd have to make that decision on your own. I wouldn't take it over LV's LA plane for free, but probably most feel different.

LV's plane is just under $220. You know exactly what you're getting when you get it, and how far the company will go to provide service if you're not happy.

[Rob Fisher]

Is this a new or old plane?Presuming new, you'd have to make that decision on your own. I wouldn't take it over LV's LA plane for free, but probably most feel different. LV's plane is just under $220. You know exactly what you're getting when you get it, and how far the company will go to provide service if you're not happy.Ditto with what David said. IMO the LV(or LN) will work better for the life of the tool.

[Prashun Patel]

I haven't heard good reviews of it. Don't buy it because it's cheap; buy it if it works, else (if yr like me) you'll regret it.

If you are really budget conscious on this one, then consider one of the Woodriver planes. They're not BU, but they get great reviews across the board for the money.

[Chris Griggs]

I agree with everyone else 100%. I'd go LV, but if I wanted to spend less I would go for a WR before the Stanley in a heartbeat. $100 is $100 - yes it's a good deal, but if the plane isn't functional its $100 wasted.

[Joel Goodman]

+1. Either LV, LN or vintage Stanley. Over the life of the tool (longer than I'll be around for!) the $100 savings is no that much. IMHO I'd rather have less tools but ones that work. What other planes do you have?

[Jim Koepke]

I bought the LN #62 and would buy it again.

My concern with the Stanley LAJ is that it is not being made by woodworkers for woodworkers. It is made by a large corporation that sees a renewed interest in woodworking. This corporation is trying to jump on the band wagon with tools made in low cost labor factories. I do not feel the workers in those factories are really as dedicated to making the best quality tools in the world as they are about keeping a job another day to feed their families.

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

Buy only if there's an unconditional return policy.

I found the SW line virtually impossible to adjust, due to excess lash in the blade depth mechanism.
I'm with Jim Koepke on this one, it's LONG past time for conscientious consumers to support companies making a good product that pay better than slave wages.

FWIW - I am migrating to wooden body planes that are neither prone to rust, nor require a screw to adjust.

[Matt Radtke]

Regarding the Woodriver comments, I'm specifically talking about the LAJ. I have plenty of bevel-down planes :-)

[bob blakeborough]

LV or LN for sure over the Stanley plane. The few bucks you are saving up front won't mean much when you just don't use it because it doesn't perform as expected. If you really want to save that extra money, the WR is probably a lot better, but I am a big fan of keeping as much business as possible on our own continent considering our own countries financial situations due in large part to the globalization of jobs...

[James Owen]

I would think hard about this -- personally, I'd go with the LN or LV.

I used to work at the local Woodcraft, and we had several of the new Stanley SW planes come through. Some of them were ok, some weren't. I think that the Wood River were better quality planes (and not because I worked at Woodcraft) -- especially the 2nd and 3rd generation versions. Even though they are certainly not up to the LV/LN standard, they seemed to me to be a very good value for the money.

Anyway, back to the Stanleys:

One customer bought the LA jack, and had to return it because the bed was not properly machined. This caused the iron to sit canted (from side to side) in relation to the sole and made it impossible to get the cutting edge iron to sit parallel to the sole/mouth. After he got one that had a correctly machined bed, he ended up doing a fair amount of work to reduce the backlash on the adjuster mechanism, and some polishing type work to get the mouth piece to slide smoothly.

Another problem I found on many of them (but not all) was that the mouth would not close very tight: some would close to where the plane could be used as a smoothing plane on uncooperative woods, while others would close only to a point where the plane was useful only for rough work. I am also not a big fan of the rear tote, which I found to be very angular, too upright, and uncomfortable, but that's my preference, and not necessarily a problem for those who prefer that style tote.

Anyway, I would give some thought to spending the extra money for the LV or LN, if you want a new plane, or get a vintage one -- although that may end up costing you more than a new LN..... For the reasons above, I really can't recommend the Stanley LA jack...and I think you can do much, much better for not too many bucks more......

[Matt Radtke]

Heh, most (all but two) of my planes are vintage stanleys. It's just that those vintage 62s are a bit pricey. Previously, I wouldn't consider buying the SW LAJ, but at $100 less than the Veritas, it suddenly became at least a possibility.

[Jim Koepke]

Heh, most (all but two) of my planes are vintage stanleys. It's just that those vintage 62s are a bit pricey. Previously, I wouldn't consider buying the SW LAJ, but at $100 less than the Veritas, it suddenly became at least a possibility.

I have a lot of vintage Stanley planes. The #62 is one I wouldn't consider not only because of the price but because the modern planes are much less likely to chip out at the mouth.

My LN #62 was great right out of the box. I have been a little finicky and spent less than a half hour adding a few personal touches. Smoothing the brass mouth lever and polishing the sides of the mouth slide.

My only wish is that its blade was a touch wider than 2 "for the shooting board. Next time I make a shooting board, I will use a thinner platform to make up for the blade width.

jtk

[john brenton]

I don't know if I was doing something wrong, but when I played with the LA jack and the LA black at Highland Woodworking I couldn't get the mouth to close to anywhere near what I would expect. I'm not a dummy, and I use adjustable mouth block planes all the time. I don't know, it was a little weird. Both of them wouldn't close to where they should, but I just can't believe that the planes were that crappily made...I mean, even the crummy Stanley's from the Borg will close all the way.

I would buy one in person, or at least buy where I knew I could return it if necessary.


I've seen the SW LAJ going for about $115-$125 on amazon. At that point, I'm seriously considering going that way instead of LV/LN. At what point is the Stanley cheap enough to to consider?

[Brett Robson]

I'll chime in as the sole dissenting opinion.

I have a new Stanley #62 and I love it.

For me it just came down to price. When I saw the price on Amazon dip to about $115 a couple months ago I couldn't resist. I played around with one at Woodcraft and it seemed fine, so I figured I'd take a chance.

Mine's been perfect. No machining problems, excessive backlash or paint flaking like some have experienced.

I don't dismiss the problems others have reported, so it may be a crap-shoot as to whether you'll get a flawless one or not.

[glenn bradley]

We don't all need all top end tools but, in the area of hand tools . . . , handling the Stanley or the Woodriver tools after handling a LN or LV is quite an eye opener. I have pretty much given up spending 60% of the cost of a great tool for a so-so tool that doesn't do what I expected. I faltered at a recent WWing show and bought a so-so chisel plane. I fettled it into a very workable tool but, the iron shifts and fails to hold an edge so it has lived in a drawer ever since. I keep it in a drawer at the bench as a reminder that for some more cash, I could have had a good daily user instead of just being out the money (and the drawer space). :D

[jeff . whitaker]

I bought the LN #62 and would buy it again.

My concern with the Stanley LAJ is that it is not being made by woodworkers for woodworkers. It is made by a large corporation that sees a renewed interest in woodworking. This corporation is trying to jump on the band wagon with tools made in low cost labor factories. I do not feel the workers in those factories are really as dedicated to making the best quality tools in the world as they are about keeping a job another day to feed their families.

jtk

AMEN!!! Brother!

[Matt Radtke]

Heh, thanks for talking me out of it. I should probably wait to see if some LV gift cards show up for the holidays anyway.

[Todd Hyman]

Heh, thanks for talking me out of it. I should probably wait to see if some LV gift cards show up for the holidays anyway.

Wait until the Woodworking Show comes close to you as Lee Valley noramlly has free shipping then and no tax.

[lowell holmes]

What is the old saying, "Buy an expensive tool and cry when you pay for it. Buy a cheap tool and cry when you use it."

I have the LV BU Jack and I'm glad I have it.

[Tom Hendrickson]

Poo Poo on all of you! Buy an aftermarket iron and make your own plane. You can make a rough one in less than an hour. Then, depending upon the glue, you can use it a few hours later. If you like it, at your leisure make another one with better woods making small changes to dial-in the plane to exactly what you want.

That being said, I have two LN block planes and a small stack of antique Stanley planes, user planes, not collectables. As a consumer, I have lost all respect for Stanley. I would never buy anything new from them more complicated than a utility knife.

As everyone else has said, spend as much as you think is reasonable. Don't go cheap. You cannot go wrong with either LN or LV. But don't be silly either. $2,000 for a smoothing plane? $100 for a coping saw? I don't think so ...

th

[Rob Fisher]

... Don't go cheap. You cannot go wrong with either LN or LV. But don't be silly either. $2,000 for a smoothing plane? $100 for a coping saw? I don't think so ...th It may be your opinion that it is a bad idea but others certainly think differently. And while I am not able to drop $2k on a plane I see no reason to dissuade others who would like to do so. As for $100 coping saw, show me a good saw that comes anywhere close to a Knew Concepts saw. I see the $100 fret saw as equal to $150 dovetail saw.

[Bruce Branson]

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/3241/stanley62jack1.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/838/stanley62jack1.jpg/)


Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)I bought one on Black Friday from Amazon for 100.00.It was 105.00 minus a 5.00 rebate from Stanley.Got another blade for 15.00 from another place so with shipping for the blade less than 125.00 for both.It's flat and square and the blade is square to the mouth.I'm not a fan of that type of adjuster and will just adjust it with a nylon hammer like I do my wooden planes.I also stained the wood dark.The other planes are not 130.00 or more better than this one is.

[Jim Leslie]

I had thought a *lot* about this recently and went with LV. They had a plane event in the store here in town a couple weeks back and I went a bit overboard :)
Someone locally has LN's which I have tried and they are great too.