Wood River Bench Planes

[Jim Koepke]

Unlike a chisel, the back of the plane iron doesn’t act as a registration face.

If it isn't flat enough to 'resister' against the chip breaker, you will know it.

If it has flatness issues at the edge it will have trouble with taking a light shaving.

Many of my old blades were not flat at the edges and had to be flattened in order to take a full width shaving. This led me to post on using a light back bevel at the sides of the blade to camber a plane iron.

Here is a shaving from the blade after a fresh sharpening:

Full Width Shaving.jpg

Here is a shaving from the same blade after a few rubs of the back corners of the blade on a hard Arkansas stone:

%22Cambered%22 Blade Shaving.jpg

It only takes three or fours strokes to get change the edge profile enough to change the nature of a thin shaving.

jtk

[lowell holmes]

I have vintage bedrock planes. I am happy with them.

[John Sanford]

Colleagues: does anyone have any input on the Wood River V3 bench planes? Made in China or Mexico?

I am starting to think that I need a #4.

If you're looking for a #4 and you want decent quality and new with a modest price, consider the Stanley Sweethearts. You can get it online through Home Depot for about a hundred bucks.

[joe maday]

Get an old Stanley or get a LN, not LV or WR......USA vs China/Mexico......no-brainer. Extra weight is good for momentum....rather put $$ in the USA Than oversees....LN has over the top customer service....My 2c

[Kevin Smira]

If it isn't flat enough to 'resister' against the chip breaker, you will know it.

If it has flatness issues at the edge it will have trouble with taking a light shaving.

Many of my old blades were not flat at the edges and had to be flattened in order to take a full width shaving. This led me to post on using a light back bevel at the sides of the blade to camber a plane iron.

Here is a shaving from the blade after a fresh sharpening:

Full Width Shaving.jpg

Here is a shaving from the same blade after a few rubs of the back corners of the blade on a hard Arkansas stone:

%22Cambered%22 Blade Shaving.jpg

It only takes three or fours strokes to get change the edge profile enough to change the nature of a thin shaving.

jtk

I agree Jim. I guess my comment was geared more toward flattering the entire back of the plane iron as you would a chisel. Maybe I’ve been lucky, but with all the V3 planes I own, it has taken little effort to “flatten” the back.

That said, I don’t have any premium bench planes except with the possibility of my skew block by veritas. I will say that it was “ready to go, out of the box” in that it only required a few seconds on my 16000 to take nice, thin shavings...

[Brian Nguyen]

??
Lee Valley is Canadian. And old Stanley could be Canadian or U.K., my Stanley #4 was made in a Canadian plant.

Also, it must be said that "Made in America" is not always synonymous with quality.

Get an old Stanley or get a LN, not LV or WR......USA vs China/Mexico......no-brainer. Extra weight is good for momentum....rather put $$ in the USA Than oversees....LN has over the top customer service....My 2c

[joe maday]

Yes I know that the LV planes are stated to be made in Canada....My mistake for including them in the post...I had many conversations with Rob's father and hold the Lee's and their company in the highest regards Their customer service is a model for others...............But.......to address the OP's question....I say the same....MY advise/choice would be an old Stanley #4, esp. pre WW2. Time spent adjusting and setting up will be far better than a WR plane...Stanley states right on the plane body where it is made.....and early USA is still preferred.
If one is spending $150 on a WR plane that has a possibility of needing time spent adjusting, setting up where's the benefit?...The Veritas plane is a far better buy and a far better plane. But for my choice it would be better to save a bit more and get a LN plane, with no set-up. Just hone and go. if there is ever an issue, you deal directly with the manufacturer. Also Top notch customer service. You get what you pay for either in time or money and cheap Asian knockoffs at a premium price is not the way to go......
I do not intend to start a war of words on this, I just hope to clarify my first post.

[Frederick Skelly]

"Time spent adjusting and setting up will be far better than a WR plane."

Hi Joe,
FWIW, my old Stanleys were more work than my WR #3.
I agree with you on the Veritas - love the planes AND the company.
Fred

[Brian Nguyen]

Joe,
Not sure if you're aware, but WoodRivers are knock-offs of Stanley Bedrocks but so are the Lie-Nielsen bevel ups.

From my own experience, I have needed as much time to fettle the WoodRiver planes that I've purchased in the past as the Veritas planes. And that's to say that I've spent perhaps 5 minutes checking their flatness, and then lightly hone the irons. That's the thing with buying new, if something's wrong then just return/exchange them. I'm not sure I understand why you'd think that you would need to fettle a new WR like you would with an old Stanley. So the benefit of the higher price is still there.

I have old Stanley Baileys and Bedrocks, and new WoodRivers and Veritas and Lie-Nielsens. Veritas are my "go-to" planes because their price point are right for me. But I'm just as happy and can make lumber just as smooth with my WoodRivers as I can with my Bedrocks and the more expense LVs and even more expensive bronze LN's.

But to each his own Have a great weekend.

[Ray Newman]

Colleagues: thanks for and appreciate all the comments. The other day, I handled a Wood River #4. It felt too heavy and just did not seem to fit my hands. "Gonna" ask around about who has a LN or VERITAS and see if it can do a hands-on. Again, thanks.

[Jim Koepke]

Colleagues: thanks for and appreciate all the comments. The other day, I handled a Wood River #4. It felt too heavy and just did not seem to fit my hands. "Gonna" ask around about who has a LN or VERITAS and see if it can do a hands-on. Again, thanks.

LN usually has a 'Tool Event' in Seattle in August or September. If you aren't too far from the border, there is a Lee Valley store in Vancouver, BC. Either might be a nice day trip. Other wise maybe there is a member with one or the other closer to you. Alas, all my #4 planes are Stanley/Bailey models.

jtk

[bill epstein]

My first new plane in 30 years is a Wood River 5 1/2.

In between watching music videos and Irish People Eating Aardvarks on You Tube, I've seen a few Rob Cosman videos, meh, but a high end plain made under adult supervision cheaply in China seemed a good idea. I've been making wooden tube amplifier chassis' in the spare bedroom the past ten years on a Workmate covered with a 24x48 piece of particle board. Decided recently to make a construction lumber workbench for bigger projects and thought old, frail, me needs a #62 Jack to flatten the 12 piece top. The lighter weight and supposed slicing characteristics should be just right for this Geezer.

At Woodcraft, I had the chance to demo several models and found the 62 was too light, too narrow, and a little fussy with the adjustable this and that. The 5 1/2, though, boy did that fall to hand!

The extra weight, length, and especially width is so well balanced and the mechanism so exact out of the box it just cruised through the stock I experimented with. Took it home, filed the cap iron and mouth a tad then honed the hefty blade on my 8000 (all it needed) waterstone. Like the even older than me Englishman recommends, a quarter inch flattening of the back and a micro bevel on the angle using a pocket rule jig makes brain surgery a possibility.

See? This Dinosaur has an open mind.

I'm absolutely knocked out about my Wood River Jack Plane. OK, Cosman, what about that 20 bucks you promised me ;-}

[fritz eng]

I bought my WR #4 about 5 years ago. no issues. flat throughout. almost no work needed on the blade

[Steve Kang]

I own a full set and all of them are perfect, no notable defects. Early on I did have an issue with the no.3 and no.4. For the no.3 they had included the wrong chipbreaker and adjustment knob, which prevented the blade from projecting through the mouth. The no.4 had a slight miss stamping of the woodriver logo on the cap iron. Keep in mind this was in 2013 and I'm assuming their QA has improved since. Regardless, all it took was one short email exchange withe their CS team and both issues were promptly taken care of. I also own a LN bronze no.4, which is very comparable to the WR no.4. My take is that you get 99% of the function at a substantially reduced price (if you purchase them during woodcraft's frequent 20% of sales).

[David Sloan]

I have 3 of the Woodriver planes, the LAJ, the 4 1/2 and the 5 1/2. I bought them primarily because I regularly get Woodcraft giftcards. I have been very happy with them. The irons weren’t very sharp but that’s an easy fix. I have no regrets whatsoever.