Affordable infill smoothers?

[Tom Jones III]

In my continuing education about smoothers I was reading Hack's book about handplanes. He, and one or two other people, love the British style infill smoothers like the Norris A5 & A6.

Before I buy a LN 4 or 4 1/2, are there any places to buy a British style smoother, old or new, to be a user plane, that is near the same price range as the LN?

[Dean Lapinel]

A Scottish infill can be had for about the same amount but you'd have to look for one with a mouth that's still pretty tight.

[Jim Newman]

Short answer in my experience is maybe used, but it will be for double to triple the cost of Lie Nielsen planes at least. There are a few people making British infills in Britain which go for roughly $600 to $800 minimum which I would also consider. Try "The Best Things" and do a search on the internet. I can say from personal experience the weight of the British smoothers do help give a polished surface after you get the plane body tuned up and the cutter honed to perfection. I have used a Norris (though not an A5 or A6, but very similar) and a Spiers and actually prefer the Spiers as far as the polished surface it left and how it fit in my hands. That being said, I love my Lie-Nielsen planes and find them dollar for dollar to give me immense enjoyment and performance that is nearly unequalled. The beauty is you get to make your own choice on how you wish to do it as in the end, there is no right answer, only what you prefer! Please let us know what you learn and best of luck navigating this slippery slope you are heading down!

In my continuing education about smoothers I was reading Hack's book about handplanes. He, and one or two other people, love the British style infill smoothers like the Norris A5 & A6.

Before I buy a LN 4 or 4 1/2, are there any places to buy a British style smoother, old or new, to be a user plane, that is near the same price range as the LN?

[Doug Shepard]

They cost more than the LN's but the ones Ron Brese is now making look pretty sweet. http://www.breseplane.com/

[Mark Singer]

The Veritas planes have a similar adjuster and it works quite well... The old Pre war Norris , Spears are truly very nice as are the new pricey versions like the Holtley's ....who said the best things in woodworking are free?:rolleyes:

[Derek Cohen]

I love using my Spiers (well I did renovate it) and it could be considered to be a new plane...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Planes/spier2.jpg

... as good as it is, it is not as good a performer as my LN #41/2

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Planes/LNAnniversary1-1.jpg

Still, when it comes to gnarly grain, you will want to be using a high angle of attack (>60 degrees), and then the LV BUS is the one to turn to ... (my rehandled BUS)

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Planes/RehandledBUS.jpg

Of course, if you want to do it on the cheap, you could make your own HA infill (and a BU configuration) out of an old Stanley #4 ... :)

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Planes/Stanleyinfill4.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Pam Niedermayer]

I, too, found myself craving an infill smoother 4 or 5 years ago, but they were all too expensive and/or in lousy condition. I started making a Shepherd kit, in the middle of which I took a Japanese planemaking course. I fell in love with the Japanese planes and their performance, so, of course, the Shepherd kit is still uncompleted in my shop in a box waiting for me to finish or sell it. Roundabout way to say that infills are cool, but not today's end all or be all.

Pam

[Dave Anderson NH]

Gee Pam, that Shepherd is a collectors item now that they have gone down the tubes. Might be worth some serious change in another few years. :D

[Jim Shaver, Oakville Ont]

I have a Shepherd, somewhere.....???:rolleyes:


I agree with Pam, they are the be all and end all, but ....I do like the ones I have......

I also like all the Japanese tools I own, I have not tried a Japanese plane, yet...but I am sure I will one day.

When it comes to infills, I can best say that in my experience you get what you pay for.

[Ken Werner]

Derek, you made me drool on the keyboard...again.

Regards to Perth,
Ken

[Pam Niedermayer]

Gee Pam, that Shepherd is a collectors item now that they have gone down the tubes. Might be worth some serious change in another few years. :D

Don't know, maybe. I know I was sorry to see them fail, especially in such a dramatic way, it must have been debilitating.

Pam

[Joel Goodman]

Tools for Working Wood also sells an infill for $900 range. Attached is a photo. I have not used this plane but have found Joel a good vendor to deal with.

[Chuck Nickerson]

in this price range. I hope to e able to order one later this year.

[Don Naples]

Tom: I purchased several infill planes, boxes of chisels, and a variety of hand planes and plane irons for use in testing the Lap-Sharp system I developed. In the process, I learned to really appreciate the performance of the Mathieson infill planes. I have Norris and Spiers also, but the Mathieson planes have tighter throats then the others I purchased. I use both a panel plane and a smoothing plane for most of my woodworking. I also agree with Pam that the Japanese planes are excellent planes. I use them for taking very fine shavings on end grain work. The Mathieson planes (like the Spiers) do not have an adjuster, so they usually are in less demand and therefore sell for a bit less then the Norris planes withthat feature. Good luck in your infill search. Tony Murland and Pete Niederberger are good sources for infill planes.

[Adriaan Schepel]

I only have one infill which I'm in the process of rehabbing.

I couldn't help noticing, however, that the St James Bay Tool Co offers new infill planes at unbelievably cheap prices - who else out there offers a handled cocobolo infill smoother with a bronze body for $400 (and with a choice of 4 bedding angles)? Add $70 and they fit it with a Norris adjuster!

http://www.stjamesbaytoolco.com/

When you go to the main site click "Tools" (under the main heading) and then "Smoothing Planes" (one of the sub-headings).

Has anyone used these guys? Their planes do look good, and would be hard to beat for the price, I'd think.

Cheers,
Adriaan

[Justin James]

I've bought parts from ST. James Bay, and a few castings (would have only needed one if I could file better!). The infill smoother I tried out seemed fine, the equal of a postwar Norris I looked at the same day. I would check on current prices before ordering, not sure when the site was last updated.

[Mike Henderson]

I only have one infill which I'm in the process of rehabbing.

I couldn't help noticing, however, that the St James Bay Tool Co offers new infill planes at unbelievably cheap prices - who else out there offers a handled cocobolo infill smoother with a bronze body for $400 (and with a choice of 4 bedding angles)? Add $70 and they fit it with a Norris adjuster!

http://www.stjamesbaytoolco.com/

When you go to the main site click "Tools" (under the main heading) and then "Smoothing Planes" (one of the sub-headings).

Has anyone used these guys? Their planes do look good, and would be hard to beat for the price, I'd think.

Cheers,
Adriaan
I purchased a tool from St. James Bay and also visited the factory/store. It's quite a small operation, essentially a one man operation from what I could see. The building is shared with a telescope store. When you enter the door, you can go left for St James Bay or right for telescopes. I suspect that the telescope store owner is related to the owner of St. James Bay but that's just a guess.

I talked my way back into the machine shop. He has a number of machines but all older - I didn't see any CNC machines (but I'm not an expert). I did talk with the owner about the castings and he has them done outside. He complained about the difficulty of finding someone to do small lots of castings.

The tool I purchased was not one of his expensive tools so it's not fair to compare mine to the top of the line. My tool did not have the fit-and-finish I would expect from a high end tool, like a Lie-Nielsen tool, but it works fine.

It took a long time to get delivery. I think he runs batches of tools and it depends on when you put your order in. If he just completed a batch (and doesn't have any more left) you could wait a couple of months until he runs another batch. It took a couple of months for me to receive my plane.

He's been around for a long time and seemed like a dedicated craftsman when I talked with him. I don't think you're in any risk of losing your money if you order a plane. It would be good to have other people post about planes they've bought from St James Bay since I've only purchased one.

Mike