David Savage on bench planes

[Chris Griggs]

"David Savage on bench planes..."


Who cares? Why are we continually posting his opinions as if they have any relevance or value?

Because it's cheap entertainment!

[Derek Cohen]

And then, there's that stupid cap-iron. I can't figure out for the life of me how to make the "stay set" thing work; I just put my LV breaker on it.

Hi Joshua

I epoxied the stupid thing together. It dropped one time too many on my toes!

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Joe Leigh]

Because it's cheap entertainment!

Oh, in that case, rock on!!

[Jim Koepke]

Cheap entertainment and a few chuckles make the world a better place.

jtk

[george wilson]

I don't know if Clifton blades are "bitted" or not,like old time blades. If they are,the bit would be forge welded on. Or,possibly welded with a more modern way of doing it. I have even seen Asian thickness planer blades that have a thin layer of HSS welded to the 1/8" body. In fact,the blades in my Taiwan made Bridgewood planer are laminated thusly. In the 70's I somehow came across a newly made laminated Marples plane iron.

Yes,it is amusing that Savage's name keeps popping up!! Previously,I had heard of Adam Savage on Mythbusters.

[Pat Barry]

Yes of course Derek. Just interesting to see someone else's take on the LN and Veritas products.

BTW, here is a picture of a Clifton Cap Iron/Chipbreaker screw.

Attachment 278735

I think they should thicken up the top and knurl that thing (Seems like deja vu all over again.)

[george wilson]

A thin head on that cap screw for sure. Nice threads,though!!

[David Weaver]

I think the clifton irons are one piece. The japanese and chinese are the only groups I'm aware of doing a traditional forge weld.

I remember reading somewhere that the HSS irons from japan are closer to being glued on than welded, but it's not like I've actually ever seen it.

It's not hard to tell that the woodwell tool group (mujingfang) has decided that they would like to braze HSS to mild steel rather than try to laminate the iron.

Anyway, as far as the cliftons go, they are a nice option for someone who has oilstones but they are so far horribly overpriced here in the US that there's no reason to use them. In order for there to be a significant difference between any O1 hard iron and any other hard version, the steel would actually have to be different. As in, a blue #1 iron from tsunesaburo is likely to be different than O1 by several orders more than cliftons iron is different than something like hocks.

They must be priced much differently in europe than they are here (the clifton irons).

I just don't buy the whole argument that the veritas planes are moving all over the place. We'd be running into folks saying that here. Be interesting if the folks who have veritas planes more than a year or two old could go down to their shop with a feeler and a precision (e.g. starrett) straight edge and find these supposed variances.

Any plane that would become 5 thousandths convex would be very easy to spot in a light cut on a level board. It would take the first few shavings only off of the ends.

[steven c newman]

Not sure what my Ohio Tool Co. 05 iron was made from, but, there are two layers on the edge. Iron is also tapered.

On my rebuilt DE6c, there is an iron with a shark stamped on it. The plane is my go-to jointer nowadays, and I think it has been sharpened ONCE in the last year. Still can take see-thru shavings, full width.

Also have a few SW irons and an older one or two. Once sharpened, I leave them be. Best irons around. New ones?? We'll see. A thick Wood River one is being used, and a not so thick Kobalt is in trails right now.

Millers Falls? Happen to have a few of them, even as "Dunlap" style of planes. Have yet to have any problems with them. One of the few planes I had that never had a "chatter" problem.

[Hilton Ralphs]

I think the clifton irons are one piece.

Here is a picture of a Capton Cliff Iron.

Clifton_50mm_Cap_Iron.jpg

[David Weaver]

right, the cap iron is two pieces. The irons are a solid piece of tool steel, though, as opposed to a laminated iron.

I always thought the two piece cap iron was a good idea in pictures (never owned one due to the price of clifton goods over here), until I learned to use the double iron correctly. Then it didn't seem like such a great idea.

Now I really like those $2.50 trashy stanley cap irons (admittedly, I haven't tried a new one, just the old ones of the same stamped design).

Kinda grown fond of the hardness of the stock stanley irons, too. they love an oilstone and they really respond well to a bare leather strop.

[Jim R Edwards]

I agree with the original recommendation concerning the quality of Clifton. I own Clifton, LN, and LV planes and my favorite bevel down plane is the Clifton. The handles feel and look much better than the cheap cherry LN uses however, the LV tote and handle are the most comfortable to me. The green paint looks very nice and i like the round sides of the Clifton. The blade adjuster has a little more play than LN and LV but it still works well. The blade, cap iron, and weight are my favorite things about the plane. It is heavy! I never worry about setting the chip breaker and the blade gets extremely sharp. Planes highly figured curly maple, sapelle, and bubinga just fine w/ the chip breaker about a 1/16 away from the blade!!!

The Clifton blade gets sharper than my LN and LV using a 8000 norton water stone but doesn't last as long. For durability purposes I have the best results with LN A2. It performs better than my LV O1, A2, and PM steel. I have terrible problems with LV blade edges chipping. Tried numerous angles and grinding the blade back with no results. The fit and finish of LV blades is the best though. If I could only prevent them from chipping I would be very happy!

I have never understood why Clifton's have a mediocre reputation but I'm glad the man who assembles his furniture with nails gave a poor review of them. I can get them cheaper than LV and LN!

[David Weaver]

Cliftons have a mediocre reputation because they had worse quality than LN about a decade ago or a little less, and the support in response to the problems was well documented on another forum - that being that the affected individuals who had dud planes never were made whole either by the retailer or clifton.

I recall Bob Feaser (sp?) describing a problem with a frog that was not milled squarely or something to that effect and numerous claims that he'd be made right, but no action ever taken by anyone to do it.

That was contrasted by LN and LV who will basically make you whole even if they know you're the cause of the problem.

(of course, the people who had "good" cliftons were perfectly satisfied).

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I'll have to dig out my clifton iron, but I was pretty sure it was laminated when I was sharpening it. I could be wrong. so much sharpening lately everything has blended together.

[Jim R Edwards]

There is a YouTube video showing how a Clifton plane and blade is made. I dont know much about steel but it looks like the blade is formed out of a steel rod.