Hello all again, as promised here, I'm pleased to detail the results of our 1st annual impromptu student "plane off". A quick background 1st. Last week many of us (i.e 1st year students at NBSS) bought used planes at the MJD tool auction in Nashua, NH. My prize was a Stanley Bailey #4 for $25.
We started this week at school learning how to tune up the #4. we flattened the sole's
Then tuned up the frog, chip breaker, and sharpened the blade. I'm using the Shapton Professional Series Waterstones and I took my blade from 225 (it was just a wee bit rusty) to 500, then 2000, 5000 and ended with 8000. Now that you know about mine, here are the other players :
1) a Clifton #4 sharpened using Shapton GlassStones up to 16,000
2) A Woodriver #4 sharpened using DMT stones up to Extra Extra Fine
3) a Lie Nielsen #4 sharpened to 6000 with a King Waterstone and stropped with Green Rouge
4) Another Stanley Bailey #4 sharpened with DMT Duosharp Plates to Extra Fine
5) a Lee Valley #4 sharpened Only with an Norton India Medium Oilstone and stropped with Yellowstone
6) The "wildcard" my low-angle Lie Nielsen #4 sharpened to 8,000 with the Shapton Professional Waterstones
The judging was based on the overall feel of the handplane through the cut, the feel of the board after the cut, and the condition of the shaving produced. All the tests were conducted on the same piece of face grain poplar and everybody in the test used all the hand planes and discussed the results after using each hand plane. The results please..................................
Coming in 1st place : The Clifton #4 to 16,000 The plane felt solid through the whole cut, produced a very smooth surface, and was a pleasure to use. This was a unanimous decision however it did not produce the smoothest surface or the nicest shaving! Still what a plane
Tie for 2nd : The Wood River sharpened with DMT and my Stanley Bailey #4 to 8000 with Shaptons : Both of these planes felt about the same in the cut, smooth but not as smooth as the Clifton, and both left a surface smoother than the Clifton. That's right, smoother than the Clifton. The shavings were nice too, but not as nice as the Clifton's
A close 3rd (and I do mean close) as we all argued about this one: The Lee Valley/Veritas #4 with only the medium oilstone and Yellowstone stropping. This was a hard one for us to get our heads around. We all spent a ridiculous amount of time sharpening our planes, but the owner of this Veritas has never done any woodworking before, and she sharpened her Brand New plane with only a medium oilstone and a strop, and you know what? This thing performed well. We couldn't believe it, super smooth through the cut, and it felt solid like the Clifton, produced "angel breath" shavings and left a surface to rival the front runners. Pretty nuts! And she did nothing to flatten the sole as it was dead flat from Veritas (the Clifton and both Lie Nielson planes were dead flat too)
And now the Spoiler--- so we had all done the tests come to a decision and agreed on a winner. The Clifton no doubt.
However, enter the wildcard, I took down my low angle Lie Nielson sharpened up to 8,000 and said "now try this" (in true Devil Went Down to Georgia Fashion) We all used this plane and we all laughed out loud, why? Well it produced the smoothest edge without question, the shaving was on par with the best, and the effort to push the plane was the lightest with that Clifton like solid feel. It was fabulous.
In Summary, this was a hoot. Super Fun, Social, Informative and I can only imagine that we will continue to have events like this throughout my 2 years at NBSS. I can't wait, hope you all enjoyed the write up!
We started this week at school learning how to tune up the #4. we flattened the sole's
Then tuned up the frog, chip breaker, and sharpened the blade. I'm using the Shapton Professional Series Waterstones and I took my blade from 225 (it was just a wee bit rusty) to 500, then 2000, 5000 and ended with 8000. Now that you know about mine, here are the other players :
1) a Clifton #4 sharpened using Shapton GlassStones up to 16,000
2) A Woodriver #4 sharpened using DMT stones up to Extra Extra Fine
3) a Lie Nielsen #4 sharpened to 6000 with a King Waterstone and stropped with Green Rouge
4) Another Stanley Bailey #4 sharpened with DMT Duosharp Plates to Extra Fine
5) a Lee Valley #4 sharpened Only with an Norton India Medium Oilstone and stropped with Yellowstone
6) The "wildcard" my low-angle Lie Nielsen #4 sharpened to 8,000 with the Shapton Professional Waterstones
The judging was based on the overall feel of the handplane through the cut, the feel of the board after the cut, and the condition of the shaving produced. All the tests were conducted on the same piece of face grain poplar and everybody in the test used all the hand planes and discussed the results after using each hand plane. The results please..................................
Coming in 1st place : The Clifton #4 to 16,000 The plane felt solid through the whole cut, produced a very smooth surface, and was a pleasure to use. This was a unanimous decision however it did not produce the smoothest surface or the nicest shaving! Still what a plane
Tie for 2nd : The Wood River sharpened with DMT and my Stanley Bailey #4 to 8000 with Shaptons : Both of these planes felt about the same in the cut, smooth but not as smooth as the Clifton, and both left a surface smoother than the Clifton. That's right, smoother than the Clifton. The shavings were nice too, but not as nice as the Clifton's
A close 3rd (and I do mean close) as we all argued about this one: The Lee Valley/Veritas #4 with only the medium oilstone and Yellowstone stropping. This was a hard one for us to get our heads around. We all spent a ridiculous amount of time sharpening our planes, but the owner of this Veritas has never done any woodworking before, and she sharpened her Brand New plane with only a medium oilstone and a strop, and you know what? This thing performed well. We couldn't believe it, super smooth through the cut, and it felt solid like the Clifton, produced "angel breath" shavings and left a surface to rival the front runners. Pretty nuts! And she did nothing to flatten the sole as it was dead flat from Veritas (the Clifton and both Lie Nielson planes were dead flat too)
And now the Spoiler--- so we had all done the tests come to a decision and agreed on a winner. The Clifton no doubt.
However, enter the wildcard, I took down my low angle Lie Nielson sharpened up to 8,000 and said "now try this" (in true Devil Went Down to Georgia Fashion) We all used this plane and we all laughed out loud, why? Well it produced the smoothest edge without question, the shaving was on par with the best, and the effort to push the plane was the lightest with that Clifton like solid feel. It was fabulous.
In Summary, this was a hoot. Super Fun, Social, Informative and I can only imagine that we will continue to have events like this throughout my 2 years at NBSS. I can't wait, hope you all enjoyed the write up!