Teeny plane has arrived.........WoooooHoooooo

[Mark Rios]

Well, my new Bridge City Tool Works HP-5 arrived on Tuesday. It was on sale from $239 (a little over priced if you ask me but I know little about planes so I may be all washed up) marked down to $99. It's so cute you just want to pinch it's little bronze cheeks. :D The plane body is 3 1/4" long and weighs 13 oz. Nice and hefty but not cumbersome.
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Here is a close up of the back of the iron showing the reflective nature of the polished surface. It is polished front and back.
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They call the top and bottom iron surfaces "Optical Surfaces". I don't know what that means, other than they may make contact lenses out of it? They warn against lapping the back of the blade and even I can tell that you won't get it any flatter or shinier. I inspected the blade surface under my 3x loupe and all I could see in the finish was my eyeball looking back at me (I really need to get that retina reattached).

It's a very handsome tool with very precise machining.
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This last pic shows the recess for the adjustable mouth; very nice and clean.

Now, I know we all love LN and some more of us love our LV tools and I only have a very limited amount of experience with planes but I do have to admit that this is a VERY impressive little plane.

I realize that the LN 60 1/2 that I bought is made from ductile cast iron(?) and this plane is bronze but the machining is MUCH cleaner in the adjustable mouth area of this little plane. When adjusting the mouth the movable part slides smoothly and seats itself back again flawlessly. On the 60 1/2 I had to manually run my thumb over the movable part of the mouth to get it to settle into place. Not a big deal but noticeable to me. The fit of the movable part of the mouth when tightened is noticeably cleaner, tighter and smoother on this little plane.

The engraving on the cap iron is a very nice aesthetic touch as is the inlaid wood on the cap iron screw. The piece of wood in this one however seems a little plain and dull to me given the asking price.

All in all, very cool and neato. :D :cool: ;)


Mike H.........you should have yours by now, eh? What do you think about the plane?

[Mark Singer]

I want to pinch its bronze little cheeks too:rolleyes:

[Doug Shepard]

I'm not sure when I last heard a guy so excited to have a little one:D , but it sure looks nice:) .

[Rich Stevens]

Mark,

Mine arrived in the mail yesterday... and all the way from Oregon to Melbourne, Australia!! I am looking at it now...

$99 seemed like too good a price to let go so I bought it - this plane will more than likely be the ONLY BCTW plane I'd be able to afford. The other larger models are waaay out of my price range!

First impressions, like you, was this is a cute little plane. Most people would think it was a model plane rather than a genuine woodworking tool.

The workmanship is second to none - typical of Bridge City we've come to expect. The polish on the blade is like a mirror and the blade is ready to go straight out of the box - the blade is presharpened.

Would I ever use this plane a lot? - I dunno - it seems too beautiful to ever want to mar its shiny brass surfaces. I would probably use it for really delicate work like trimming inlays or very fine end grain. But thats about it. It is too small for anything else. Anyone buying this plane loves tools more than the practical aspects of woodworking IMHO. [I am a big fan of BCTW and easily persuaded to part with my $$ with them]

While it has a adjuster, the setting of the blade to execute very fine work will be frustrating - the thread on the adjuster is too coarse which means it moves the blade too much in one turn.

Anyway, I'll need to try it out soon...

Rich

[Mike Henderson]

Mike H.........you should have yours by now, eh? What do you think about the plane?
Mark - I received mine and am kind of torn about it. It's small so it can be used in only certain applications. My other problem is that the plane is too perfect - for example, the paper that comes with it says something like "Don't lap the bottom of the plane or the back of the iron - you'll almost certainly make it worse." I just don't see me throwing this in the drawer with the rest of my planes. I don't think I'd use it that much - I'd be afraid I'd mess up one of those perfect surfaces.

I'm still debating about what to do with it - to keep it or put it up for sale. Maybe it should go to someone who is a collector, or someone who values the "perfection" more than me.

Mike

[Ken Bryant]

Mess up the perfect surfaces and it'll still plane just fine. Me, I'd toss it in the drawer with the other ones; it's still just a $99 plane...

[Alan DuBoff]

Cute plane, no doubt.

Mike, how does it plane? Isn't that the telling experience? Aside from being able to lap the sole or sides, how does the plane work?

I ordered a Knight pocket plane a bit ago, haven't gotten it yet, but Steve mentioned it was done. The reason I went with a Steve Knight was that I wanted to feel a wood plane in my hand, that ergonomically I wanted the wood as I like the feel of it.

This small plane looks like it would be a wonderful small plane though.

Mike, how do you compare it to your LN 102, didn't you get one of those recentely? I use an old Stanley 60 1/2 a lot, and will continue using it, and hope the Knight pocket plane will compliment it.

[Mark Rios]

Mark - I received mine and am kind of torn about it. It's small so it can be used in only certain applications. My other problem is that the plane is too perfect - for example, the paper that comes with it says something like "Don't lap the bottom of the plane or the back of the iron - you'll almost certainly make it worse." I just don't see me throwing this in the drawer with the rest of my planes. I don't think I'd use it that much - I'd be afraid I'd mess up one of those perfect surfaces.

I'm still debating about what to do with it - to keep it or put it up for sale. Maybe it should go to someone who is a collector, or someone who values the "perfection" more than me.

Mike


I know what you mean Mike, it IS VERY nice, but I figure I'll just treat it like my LN (and all of my other tools); Use it but take extra super good care of it.

I use Occidental Leather (http://www.occidentalleather.com/index.html) nail bags, the big heavy duty red leather ones, and I have a special piece of leather sewn and riveted on at the back of the right bag by a local saddle maker. This is for my Paslode Impluse to hang from. I use it for my framing gun and my finish gun. I've been using the same bag configurations (not the same set of bags, jsut the same set-up) for better than twenty years now and I don't want to change to another config. Anyway, I'm thinking about having the saddle maker make/sew on a little pouch/pocket for my 60 1/2 and keep the little HP-5 in the outer most small pouch. That way neither plane will bang against each other nor anything else but still be handy and available to use.

Just an idea anyway. But I will use this plane, in fact I already have on one of my current projects. It got put to work right away. Actually, the HP-5 just replaces the crappy little plane I was already using as I mentioned before.

I could see though that if someone doesn't carry it all the time to use and just has it for an extra in a hobby woodworking shop that it might not pay to have it. For $100 there would probably be another tool that would get used more.

BTW, just a thought but you could throw it in a drawer in the neato little box it came in.:D :D :D

Anyway, congrats on yours. :cool:

[Mike Henderson]

Cute plane, no doubt.

Mike, how does it plane? Isn't that the telling experience? Aside from being able to lap the sole or sides, how does the plane work?

I ordered a Knight pocket plane a bit ago, haven't gotten it yet, but Steve mentioned it was done. The reason I went with a Steve Knight was that I wanted to feel a wood plane in my hand, that ergonomically I wanted the wood as I like the feel of it.

This small plane looks like it would be a wonderful small plane though.

Mike, how do you compare it to your LN 102, didn't you get one of those recently? I use an old Stanley 60 1/2 a lot, and will continue using it, and hope the Knight pocket plane will compliment it.
Alan - I didn't try to use the Bridge City plane yet. If I'm going to sell it I want to be able to say "new in box" (NIB).

Your point about the 102 is one of the things that tends to make me think of selling it. I think I can use the 102 for most things that the Bridge City might be used for. My guess is that I wouldn't use the BC plane very much.

[sidebar: If you recall, I had a problem with the 102 and sent it back to LN for replacement. I got a message from Thomas LN and then from their support people asking me to return it. They'll send me a new one as soon as the next batch is produced.]

Mike

[Mark Rios]

Alan - I didn't try to use the Bridge City plane yet. If I'm going to sell it I want to be able to say "new in box" (NIB).

Your point about the 102 is one of the things that tends to make me think of selling it. I think I can use the 102 for most things that the Bridge City might be used for. My guess is that I wouldn't use the BC plane very much.

[sidebar: If you recall, I had a problem with the 102 and sent it back to LN for replacement. I got a message from Thomas LN and then from their support people asking me to return it. They'll send me a new one as soon as the next batch is produced.]

Mike

You're probably right Mike, You might get more use out of a 102. One thing that I like over the 102 though is this the adjustable mouth. The second thing is that this plane is a little bit smaller.

You should get a good price for it since it's not being made anymore.

[Mark Singer]

The 102 is a terrific plane and is very versitile....I have even used it as a smoother!

[Jim Becker]

LOL! This is the most entertaining descriptions of a plane I've seen...and it looks like it's worthy of that praise, too. Congratulations.

[Chris Padilla]

http://woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=556&refcode=07IN07NL I picked up this LN adjustable mouth block plane not long ago. WOW, is it ever comfortable to hold. That round shiny brass knob just fits the palm so nicely!

Does anyone know if this plane as a number attached to it? I know it is block plane...but just curious.

Mike H., look me up if you wanna dump the cute lil' plane! I'm a sucker for those things.... :)

[Mike Henderson]

Mike H., look me up if you wanna dump the cute lil' plane! I'm a sucker for those things.... :)
I offered to exchange planes with Chris - my BC plane for his LN 60 1/2. Mike

[Jim A. Smith]

Cute little bugger.

You into fly rod making or?

[Mark Rios]

Cute little bugger.

You into fly rod making or?


No, just a little trim plane. For knocking off sharp corners and edges when I'm installing interior trim and such. Plus, it's just so dang cute! :D

[Mark Rios]

BTW everybody.....Woodcraft has the LN 60 1/2 on sale right now for $125!!!!!!

VERY nice deal.

[Mark Rios]

http://woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=556&refcode=07IN07NL I picked up this LN adjustable mouth block plane not long ago. WOW, is it ever comfortable to hold. That round shiny brass knob just fits the palm so nicely!

Does anyone know if this plane as a number attached to it? I know it is block plane...but just curious.

Mike H., look me up if you wanna dump the cute lil' plane! I'm a sucker for those things.... :)



Chris, the plane that you link to is a 60 1/2 Low Angle Block Plane or a 9 1/2 standard Block Plane, depending on the angle of the frog.

(Oooohhh...I'm learning all these neander terms so well.....oooohhh........:D :D :D )

The offer that Mike has just might be a very good trade.....unless, of course, you want to keep both.....;) ;) ;) If you had both then we could be twins. :D

[Chris Padilla]

I offered to exchange planes with Chris - my BC plane for his LN 60 1/2. Mike

Hmmm, but then I'm not up a plane...I'm still even! :confused: :(

I'd rather just pay you ca$h for it...and keep my 60 1/2 LN as I really like it! We can chat in PM further.... :D

[Mike Henderson]

Doug Shepard - your PM box is full and I need to send you a message. Please clean our a couple of messages so I can contact you.

Mike

[Doug Shepard]

Doug Shepard - your PM box is full and I need to send you a message. Please clean our a couple of messages so I can contact you.

Mike

Oops - sorry. I forget to weed out PM's from my Sent folder. PM's should be working now.