Swedish handplanes

[Lasse Hilbrandt]

I often see swedish handplanes for sale. They are made as clones of Stanley Bailey planes.
There are some different brands that mostly look the same. Memo, Ancher, Bison and more. I have never bought one because I have not heard anything about them.

Any of you guys that has experiense with some of them. ?

[Bill Houghton]

I have no experience with them. There are a lot of planes that look like the Stanley Bailey plane and are just and good; and others that were made more cheaply and work less well.

If you can get your hands on one to look at, bring a long straight ruler with you, and test the sole for flatness - look, too, right around the mouth, and see if it's hollow there. Then see how the blade movement is (smooth, jerky), and examine the frog that the blade sits on, to make sure it rests on the body of the plane (some cheap planes cantilever the frog out so that it's not resting on the body, leading to chatter. Then try it out on a piece of soft wood.

[Thomas Laursen]

I had a Memo plane once. It was allright but had a rather thin casting and was generally on the cheap side. I've heard that some models were better, but you would have to know how to tell them apart, and I don't. Memo, which is short for MEtal-MOdeller, also made planes for others.

Bison was a store brand of EPA warehouses known for low prices.

Anchor planes were made by Jernbolaget, and I have a couple of those. Good quality, I don't think you can go wrong with them. Jernbolaget also made planes for others like Ståhls and Hellstedt.

Personally I would go for Anchor, but like Bill said, the best way to decide, is to examine one in person and know what to look for.

[bridger berdel]

also, the things to look at on bailey style clones will be the same thing to look at on bailey planes. there is a great deal of talk online with pictures and endless detail. if you do a bunch of reading and close examination of every plane you can get your hands on you'll soon have enough knowledge to purchase planes that will fettle to good users.

[Stew Denton]

Hi Lasse,

In addition to the good advise you have received from the posters above, I would add one item to what Bill wrote.

Check the area where the frog rides on the bed of the plane, both the bottom of the frog and the bed. Some really cheap planes are not milled flat as they should be, but are in fact just painted cast iron, and those surfaces, instead of being smooth, are quite rough. Such a plane will never be a good one. There is no point in even trying to fettle such a plane. (I have a couple.)

I think that they can be used by giving the iron a very heavy camber, and then using them like a scrub plane, but that is it. Don't buy one unless you plan to use it as a scrub plane, and even then don't pay much for it, I would never spend even $5 on such a plane, but of course I already have 2 of them. If I wanted a cheap plane for use scrubbing, I might buy one for that purpose, but only at a very rock bottom price.

Stew

[Ray Selinger]

At the fleamarket I found a #78 clone, but it was short the depth stop and fence, so I didn't buy it. It was as well made as a Stanley. It didn't have name, just "Made in Sweden".

[Tomi Rosso]

I have Anchor No 6. I like it. Good solid casting, feels really firm.

If you find Anchor plane, it is worth of buying. But it's only my opinion. And it's said that Swedish plane irons are best in the world. Or to be precise the steel.

Maybe I am little bit disqualified to say, because we have lot of wooden planes with Swedish plane irons here.

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[Lasse Hilbrandt]

Thankyou for advice. I will look out for an Anchor #3