Grizzly, Shopfox or Hartville Planes - Any experience?

[Quesne Ouaques]

Does anyone have any experience with the planes available from Grizzly or Hartville Tools? (in addition to their standard planes, Grizzly appears to carry the Shopfox brand, as well)

[Johnny Kleso]

I asked Hartville Tools a few years back for test plane or some photos of frogs as I wanted to reccommend them as a option to new users.. They replied the planes are not made well at all.. I just shook my head and stopped asking..

Any plane can be make to cut if you know what your doing..

I bought a used Arant? No10 and when I got it the frog seat was not machined correctly that a blind man could see it was bad..

I emailed seller and he said all he knew it did not work..

I have to re-machine the seat on my DP with a X-Y table and vise, I fixed that and gut from Highland Woodworking demanded I post a review of the plane at woodnet where I dissed the quality.. I told him to get lost and very used the plane for about a year..

All I know I have never had so many issues on one plane ever..... I sharpen the blade check CB and had problems locking CB to blade with out screw moving the CB out of position..

Next the Lever Cap was riding up off the screw when I was backing the blade off, it should locate in a counter sink and not move up and down..

I also had a few other things that I cant remember but it was like the worst plane I ever tried to use and I have tuned maybe 100.. I have seen busted up planes work better with a rusty broke blade I swear :)

I just bought two junkers @eBay very cheap $16 No5 and $18 No6 I also bought two beautied still in original boxs for a very fair price No7C t16 $117 and No3C t16 Cherry $53 ..

My eBay name is rarebear* if you want to see when they post feedback..

[Wilbur Pan]

I have to re-machine the seat on my DP with a X-Y table and vise, I fixed that and gut from Highland Woodworking demanded I post a review of the plane at woodnet where I dissed the quality.. I told him to get lost and very used the plane for about a year..

Wait a minute -- you posted an unflattering review of the Anant plane and Highland Woodworking told you to do what to the review?

This seems quite unprofessional on Highland Woodworking's part.

[Billy Chambless]

Wait a minute -- you posted an unflattering review of the Anant plane and Highland Woodworking told you to do what to the review?

This seems quite unprofessional on Highland Woodworking's part.

Yeah, that confused me, too. Glad I'm not the only one!

[Tony Zaffuto]

I looked at a Grizzly 78 while at the Muncy store. The reason why I wanted to look at it, in one of their catalogs, or sales brochures, the plane was pictured with the fence on backward. In the store, it was also on backward. Would never buy one since Stanleys are so plentiful at flea markets, antique malls and Ebay.

Took a quick look at the #4 and #5. I couldn't disassemble either to look at the frog or machining as the cap iron screw was so tight, that the cap iron couldn't be removed. The planes were pretty shiny and polished, but in a manner that reminded me more of the rounded back polishing some German bench chisels get.

T.Z.

[Johnny Kleso]

Wait a minute -- you posted an unflattering review of the Anant plane and Highland Woodworking told you to do what to the review?
_____________________________________________
Correction:

I posted that the frog seat was not machined right and posted pics on how I corrected it.. (the frog rocked on the seat)

Then HWW staff said I now needed to post a review on how nice the plane works... I swear.....

I am pretty sure the plane I bought was a fluke, at least I hope so.. The frog seat clearly needed to be machined a little deeper as it has paint on top of the seat pad..

[Wilbur Pan]

Wait a minute -- you posted an unflattering review of the Anant plane and Highland Woodworking told you to do what to the review?
_____________________________________________
Correction:

I posted that the frog seat was not machined right and posted pics on how I corrected it.. (the frog rocked on the seat)

Then HWW staff said I now needed to post a review on how nice the plane works... I swear.....

That is truly lame on the part of Highland Woodworking.

Really really lame.

[Brian Kent]

I have been asking Highland Woodworking for a review for some time. I have ordered a few things from them including a Lie Nielsen plane and at least one of my 3 Anants.

Here's my first request to customerservice@highlandwoodworking, November 17, 2007:

Dear friends in woodworking,

Have you received any reviews of your Kamal line of Anants? The only comment I have seen is one on Sawmill Creek about the #10. I would like to see what woodworkers think about them as users.

I am personally interested in the No. 3 and somebody on Sawmill Creek was asking about the No. 8.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Brian Kent

No reply.

Here's my second request and offer January 8, 2008 to products@highlandwoodworking:
Dear woodworking friends,

I would like to offer my assistance in writing a review of any of your Kamal line of Anant planes.

I have taken a great deal of time to tune and fettle 3 regular Anant planes, the 4-1/2, the Spokeshave, and the Bullnose Rabbet Plane. I find them to be usable but very time consuming in the preparation process. I am always looking for bargains that are true bargains and not just cheap. I would love to report on the Kamal line and hopefully open the door for other woodworkers to find value in these tools.

My other hand planes are :

4 restored old Stanleys (#3, #4, #5, #7),
5 Mujingfang Rosewood planes,
Handmade Krenov style smoother (oak) and block plane (Bloodwood),
Old Coffin Smoother
Antique Wooden Jack
Lee Valley Bevel Up Smoother,
Lie Nielsen Low Angle Block Plane
5 Spokeshaves (metal old Stanley, metal Anant, three wood including one hand-made)
Anant 4-1/2
Anant Bullnose Rabbet

All are plane that I currently and regularly use. I sharpen and hone my blades with Scary Sharp using 3M micro-abrasives on a marble plate.

I would be open to any arrangement that you would feel safe in risking, including:

Giving me a plane to review,
Loaning me a plane or planes,
Selling planes to me at your wholesale price,
Me buying one plane to start. If you like the review, you can give me others to review for you.

I would not expect payment for my review.

Let me know please if you are interested in testing this arrangement.

Sincerely,

Brian Kent

No Response

Third try:

This one was on January 31, 2008 to TechSupport@Highlandwoodworking:

Do you have any reviews of your Kamal line of Anant planes?

If not, would you like one?

Brian Kent

This one got a response on Feb 1, 2008:

Thank you for your inquiry.

Other than the item descriptions on our web site, we don't have information
postings for product reviews on our website. (With the one exception being
our proprietary resaw blade, The Wood Slicer, which we call Kudos).

If you have comments, suggestions or questions about any of our product(s),
please feel free to send them to us via the tech support email address.
I'll pass them along to the appropriate staff members.

We do have on our web site an information PDF about tuning metal handplanes.
You can view via our home page under the Library tab (scroll down to Hand
Tools & Shop Techniques) and you'll see the article listed.

or try this link:

http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=148

Regards, [name] tech support

So my guess is that they aren't worth bragging about:rolleyes:.

[Dave Lehnert]

I am no expert but here is my take.
I purchased the #5 from Hartville tool. item 11439 They had it on sale last week for $19. IMHO $38 is a good buy. I was very impressed with the quality of it for the price. I will admit I have not had the chance to use it. I was at a Woodworking dealer today that stocks Shop Fox planes. I was shocked. Looked like Harbor Freight quality. If I were to mail order and received that I would be mad. Would not recommend the Shop Fox at all.

[Brian Kent]

And now that I have worked a long time on the Anant 4.5, it works well too.

I have been interested in the Anant Kamal line hoping they would improve the machining consistency. Although mine works now, I haven't recommended them to anyone unless, as in my case, they were looking for something to learn fettling on.

The Anant Bullnose Rabbet is so highly fettled with that it's hard to see what it was to start with. Works sort of OK, but I really look forward to a Lee Valley or Lie-Nielsen shoulder plane in the future.

The spokeshave was also something to learn to fettle on, but I like my wooden spokeshaves much more.

[Clint Jones]

You get what you pay for.

[Don Dorn]

I agree with Clint for the most part. My wife bought a Grizzly #5 for me (not on my list) but I was pleasantly surprised after I sharpened the blade. With that in mind, I bought a #7 Grizzly and it was a mistake. Possibly the #5 was a Wednesday plane or something but the #7 was a piece of crap no matter what I did.

I have four planes that I really enjoy using. A LV low angle smoother, a #4 old Stanley, an old stanley block plane and the #5 Griz. I'm convinced the last one is a fluke.

[Joel Goodman]

I'm not sure why anyone would buy an Anant, Grizzly or for that matter new Stanley plane when there are so many excellent old planes that can be had for reasonable prices. They may need a little work but at least it's a quality made in USA tool. Either go LN, LV or similar quality for a new plane or go for a classic!

[Brian Kent]

I'm not sure why anyone would buy an Anant, Grizzly or for that matter new Stanley plane when there are so many excellent old planes that can be had for reasonable prices. They may need a little work but at least it's a quality made in USA tool. Either go LN, LV or similar quality for a new plane or go for a classic!

It's sort of like teenagers drinking and smoking. It seemed like such a good idea at the time. What could go wrong?:rolleyes: