St. James Norris #51

[Matthew N. Masail]

I'm selling my woodriver No.3 in order to replace it with a smoother that will fill me with joy when I use it, even though the woodriver work perfectly, you know what I mean.


I have thought of 3 - world apart options;


1. old Stanley No. 4 with rosewood handles and I'd repaint the inside green :D


2. LN No. 3 in bronze with cocobolo handles, if they don't make them anymore than I'd get them from Bill Retner


3. St, James ? ? ? ? #51 bronze cast with cocobolo infill - has anyone used one of these? seems like if it's well made it would feel the nicest of all.


of course the budget would take a big hit from the last 2. . .. .. but you can't put a price on a smile :):)

[george wilson]

I'd prefer the St. James #51 Norris style smoother as far as aesthetics is concerned. But,to tell the truth,I doubt that any of the planes would be made with the degree of precision that a LN or a LV has. I mean the flatness of the incline,tightness of the throat,etc.. I have not had a finished St. James plane,mind you,but I have seen the pictures,and they just do not look as crisp as I would like. So,take my advice with a grain of salt. What is their return policy? Probably significant shipping costs to where you are.

I have several LN planes,though,and LV planes too,and both have very accurate machining of parts and tight tolerances.

[Matthew N. Masail]

Hi George, I'll be in the US in May which is why I'm looking to buy most of what I need now, I can bring it back with me and save on the shipping.
the return policy is 10% restocking fee, not too bad, but I wonder why I couldn't find any info about them on the web.

[Terry Beadle]

Are we talking about a St. James Bay smoother...?

286536

[Matthew N. Masail]

Are we talking about a St. James Bay smoother...?

286536

If you made it - it dosen't count ! :)

[Jeff Heath]

I agree with George. If you want a metal plane, I think the LN is extremely hard to beat. They are absolutely perfect right out of the box. I personally have heard mixed reviews about St. James Bay Tool Co. planes over the years on various different ww forums. If I were you, I'd be more inclined to purchase their smoothing plane kit and control the quality myself, and built it myself. One would think that if the SJB planes were something to speak about, that people would be speaking about them all over the internet. Like George, I wasn't impressed with the only one I've personally had my hands on. It did not perform like a Norris, and it didn't look particularly awesome, either, which is what I think you'd be after with an infill plane.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Matthew

I much prefer using my bronze LN #3 to my restored Spier infill (which featured in FWW recently, so it is not a grubby old thing).

If you do go for a LN #3, and also plan on a higher bed, you may be able to fit #4 handles, which are larger. This works with the 55 degree bed, buy may also work with the 50 degree bed. My #4 1/2 Anniversary has cocobolo handles, and the combination is magic.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[george wilson]

I don't mean to beat up St. James Bay tools. I laud them for their efforts to offer good 19th. C. designs. I just don't see how they can make a Norris plane for $400.00 and do it real well. I couldn't.

If I bought a finished #51 smoother from them,I'd expect to have to go over it thoroughly and make the incline flatter,and dress up all the surfaces. The wood infills might need re contouring also. I'd hope there was wood enough on the handle of the #51 to fix it up properly(but there might not be).

LN does have the manufacturing of their planes down pat. Too bad they are just copies of Stanleys,I think. But,they ARE excellent quality anyway. But,if that straight handle design on one of their dovetail saws is an example of their original design work,best keep copying Stanley. That handle is off the wall bad!!

I do have some of the SJB castings,and need to get on them and make planes out of them. I warn anyone though,you'd better have milling machines and lathes on hand to use the castings,unless you are a terrible glutton for punishment(which I USED to be when I had more energy).

[Jim Koepke]

I'm selling my woodriver No.3 in order to replace it with a smoother that will fill me with joy when I use it, even though the woodriver work perfectly, you know what I mean.

One of my #4 Stanley/Bailey planes was not in great shape when it was found. After cleaning it up, stripping off the old japanning, repainting and tuning it up, it is a joy to use.

The feel of the smooth coat of paint against the heel of my hand while using this plane is a joy.

The warm fuzzy feeling brought on from using the first plane brought back from the brink by my own hands is only equaled by other planes that have also been restored. Another one of those is the #7 featured in my Fettling a Plane From Junker to Jointer post.

There is joy in using the planes bought new from Lie-Nielsen. It is nothing like the feeling of joy and pride felt when my own work is in my hands.

One part of the "good feeling" from using my restored planes is the smoothness of the new paint job.

If you do go with a nontraditional color for the paint job, that just makes it more your own.

Besides, with the money saved, one can buy even more tools to take home.

Of course this is all only my opinion and everyone gets different milage.

jtk

[Matthew N. Masail]

After reading the responses I decided really that I'd like to go with Stanley's ! for me I think the money for a LN I think is better spent on a couple of their saws.

[Jim Koepke]

I think is better spent on a couple of their saws.

Sound reasoning. Most of my planes are old users that work wonderfully. Sure there is backlash on the adjuster. It helps to build my finger's stamina. When it comes down to making shavings they are not much different than working with something new.

Despite some of my regular user saws being able to do decent work with a few missing teeth here and there, my old saws in better shape make the difference in use clear. That is why recently a saw kit was purchased to make a new dovetail saw. Now the only thing needed is some time to put into making a tote and putting it all together. With growing season up on us, finding a little spare time may be a difficult task.

jtk