Best affordable infill plane?

[Chris Hachet]

So I am sharing my workshop with one of my sons friends, Brian, who is building a lot of guitars with exotic woods. I am working with a lot of QSWO and Hard maple, with a bit of Hickory and the like thrown in.

Our Lie Nielsen, Veritas and Stanley planes are performing flawlessly but alter this year I would possibly like to buy a used or affordable new infill. I know the Lazarus plane company builds some, who else or what else should I consider?

Thinking $500-4800, not $2000-$5000. I see a lot of used English/Scottish infill planes in that range. Where should i look and what should I look for?

More worried about a user grade tool, would actually prefer some of the patina of age and prior use...

Chris

[Pete Taran]

Chris,

You might consider contacting Patrick Leach at supertool.com He offers a once monthly for sale list and he regularly has infills for sale there. He goes to England regularly to pick these types of planes where they are plentiful and ship them back for domestic consumption.

In general, the mouth is everything on these planes. If the iron is original and the mouth tight, you are in business. If the mouth has been filed to open it up, or the blade is used up there are fixes, but adjusting one of these planes is not as troublefree as a Stanley as there are no depth or lateral adjustment levers, You either need to find or make a replacement blade, or shim the blade out to get a tight mouth.

Since they are made of steel plate, the bodies are generally in good shape, although wood condition can vary. Names to look for are Matheson, Speirs, Norris. One off user made tools are common and can be as high quality as their production counterparts.

Hope this helps.

Pete

PS. You can contact Leach directly and he may have something or keep you in mind if you don't want to wait for the list. Tell him Pete sent you. We used to make saws together.

[Chris Hachet]

Chris,

You might consider contacting Patrick Leach at supertool.com He offers a once monthly for sale list and he regularly has infills for sale there. He goes to England regularly to pick these types of planes where they are plentiful and ship them back for domestic consumption.

In general, the mouth is everything on these planes. If the iron is original and the mouth tight, you are in business. If the mouth has been filed to open it up, or the blade is used up there are fixes, but adjusting one of these planes is not as troublefree as a Stanley as there are no depth or lateral adjustment levers, You either need to find or make a replacement blade, or shim the blade out to get a tight mouth.

Since they are made of steel plate, the bodies are generally in good shape, although wood condition can vary. Names to look for are Matheson, Speirs, Norris. One off user made tools are common and can be as high quality as their production counterparts.

Hope this helps.

Pete

PS. You can contact Leach directly and he may have something or keep you in mind if you don't want to wait for the list. Tell him Pete sent you. We used to make saws together.I am on Patrick's monthly mailing list, I have not read the for a few months but IIRC he does not have a lot of infills coming through there.

Good point on the mouth on these, that makes an infinite amount of sense. I need to put my head back in the neander game and check Patrick's list more carefully...I have been buying a few things for the power tool side of the shop...

[Pete Taran]

I looked over his last list, and there were at least 2 infills on there. You need to look at it and write him not long after the list goes out as there are many people competing for the same tools. Both were in your price range. But, like I said, if you contact him he will look for something for you and let you know when it's in hand.

[Chris Hachet]

I looked over his last list, and there were at least 2 infills on there. You need to look at it and write him not long after the list goes out as there are many people competing for the same tools. Both were in your price range. But, like I said, if you contact him he will look for something for you and let you know when it's in hand.I will start checking out his list. Previously contacted him on a tool and he was very responsive...!

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Is building your own an option for you? St. James Bay Tool Co. makes bronze castings and steel and brass dovetailed infill kits. They offer rough cast and machined castings for varying levels of how much work you want to do yourself.

http://www.stjamesbaytoolco.com/

[Chris Hachet]

Is building your own an option for you? St. James Bay Tool Co. makes bronze castings and steel and brass dovetailed infill kits. They offer rough cast and machined castings for varying levels of how much work you want to do yourself.

http://www.stjamesbaytoolco.com/


This would very much be an option, thanks for the input...

[Dave Lehnert]

This would very much be an option, thanks for the input...


http://www.woodsmithplans.com/plan/infill-smoothing-plane/

[Mike Allen1010]

This would very much be an option, thanks for the input...


I built the Noris style # 51 cast bronze infill plane from the St. James Bay kit. The castings were a bit rough and required some smoothing, particularly on the inside of the plane body, but the finished plane has been a great performer for me. The combination of the weight, finally set mouth and the length of the soul behind the mouth make it one of my favorites for final finish planing of difficult timbers.


YMMV, Cheers, Mike

[Hasin Haroon]

Mike, would you be able to do a step by step pictorial of your build? I'm interested in one of these, but am apprehensive about screwing up the metal work.

[Frederick Skelly]

Is building your own an option for you? St. James Bay Tool Co. makes bronze castings and steel and brass dovetailed infill kits. They offer rough cast and machined castings for varying levels of how much work you want to do yourself.

http://www.stjamesbaytoolco.com/

I'm missing something - I find their site but see no pricing or description. They say go look on ebay, but when I search ebay, nothing comes up for the. Gotta be my error - can someone straighten me out?

Thanks!

[Eric Keller]

I saw that St James Bay have a lot of kits on ebay, so that's another option. I found the same kits on their site, don't remember where

[Pete Taran]

here is their store: http://stores.ebay.com/the-st-james-bay-tool-co?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

[Frederick Skelly]

here is their store: http://stores.ebay.com/the-st-james-bay-tool-co?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

Thanks very much Pete.
Fred

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Mike, would you be able to do a step by step pictorial of your build? I'm interested in one of these, but am apprehensive about screwing up the metal work.

It's not hard- just like flattening and polishing a plane iron. They do sell machined castings if you don't want to do the metal work required on a rough casting.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Don't know where the OP lives, but tomorrow, 3/24, is the dealer sale portion of the Brown Auction in Harrisburg, PA. You will not only find infills there, but also Patrick Leach, so you can talk over in person what you want, as well as a dozen other dealers with infills.

[Matt Lau]

So I am sharing my workshop with one of my sons friends, Brian, who is building a lot of guitars with exotic woods. I am working with a lot of QSWO and Hard maple, with a bit of Hickory and the like thrown in.

Our Lie Nielsen, Veritas and Stanley planes are performing flawlessly but alter this year I would possibly like to buy a used or affordable new infill. I know the Lazarus plane company builds some, who else or what else should I consider?

Thinking $500-4800, not $2000-$5000. I see a lot of used English/Scottish infill planes in that range. Where should i look and what should I look for?

More worried about a user grade tool, would actually prefer some of the patina of age and prior use...

Chris


Just my 2$, as amateur guitar builder with lots of pro guitarbuilder friends...

I recommend starting with a LV LA jack as a good first plane.
That, and a good block plane are all you really need for most guitar related work.

Honestly, most pro builders in my area have a wide belt sander, and almost never a hand plane (except jointing top/backs)
Thicknessing is extremely tedious by hand...and nervewracking when your $2,000 guitar set from "the tree" has tear out.

I have a Norris A5 that I bought off ebay, cleaned up a bit, and never use.
I never pick it up.
Want to buy it?