# My first Plane (s)



## Mikhail2400 (Jun 20, 2018)

After reading so many posts on here ive noticed pretty much everyone here likes Planes. Ive never used one in my life. So I decided to see what the big deal is with Planes.
I looked at alot of Planes and found out I could pretty well spend as much or as little as I wished on them. Theres quite alot of brands and styles out there to choose from and I decided to keep my costs down. After all I may not like using a Plane so why buy the best made but I didnt want the cheapest either. So i went with a middle of the road company. 
I chose a Number 4 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078VFRTB6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and a 60 1/2 low angle block plane http://https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078V9XZ8S/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1. 
Both of them are made by a company named Caliastro. There wernt many reviews of their planes but the ones they had were good plus I liked the looks. They will be here tomorrow and Ill give yall a proper uneducated review of them then.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*The reviews sound decent*

The only really negative review I saw concerned the blade adjustment having too much free play. This would really be annoying, but maybe that was just a freak, one of a kind incident....? Typically there is some free play, but that's the mechanical nature of the parts. 

Other choices, like Woodriver are $100.00 more so, let's hear how you like yours after tuning it up by flattening the bottom/sole and giving the blade a sharp edge. You Tube has good instructions on how this is done.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*grind a camber on the blade*

In the video above Paul spends a lot of time sharpening and polishing a camber on his blade. That is simply a rounded edge rather than straight across. He also relieves the corners with a small radius. All this allows the blade to plane without leaving lines in the work where the corners have dug in. Check it out.


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## Mikhail2400 (Jun 20, 2018)

I was going to do this yesterday but didnt have time to more than unpack the planes. Packaging was ok, just the minimal needed size box but it was of a heavy grade cardboard which was packed inside one of the regular amazon boxs. Both planes arrived undamaged and on time.
The #4; the sole was flat and square to the body and all parts fit as they are supposed to. Beautiful wood handles which are comfortable to hold on to and all parts looked to be well made. Well all parts except the blade adjustment that is. As one reviewer stated there is ALOT of play when changing directions with the blade adjuster. They dropped the ball on that part though it does work. Im going to think on it for a while and see if I can come up with a better arrangement for that. Other than the blade adjustment im very happy with it and the way it works.
The 60 1/2; Just like the #4 its square and flat with all parts in working condition. There was a much much smaller amount of play in its blade adjustment which i was able to all most completely remove with the addition of 2 small washers. The biggest problem with the 60 was the amount of play in the lateral adjustment and that wasnt a deal breaker by a long shot.
Both planes are nice looking tools and they both do what they were designed to do. If the tools designers would change just a few cheaply made parts I think they would have a very popular tool. For a first set of planes I think I did okay.
If anyone wants pics just holler and ill post some and ill be sure to show the few problem areas I found.


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## JohnTC (Mar 1, 2018)

Mikhail2400 said:


> I was going to do this yesterday but didnt have time to more than unpack the planes. Packaging was ok, just the minimal needed size box but it was of a heavy grade cardboard which was packed inside one of the regular amazon boxs. Both planes arrived undamaged and on time.
> The #4; the sole was flat and square to the body and all parts fit as they are supposed to. Beautiful wood handles which are comfortable to hold on to and all parts looked to be well made. Well all parts except the blade adjustment that is. As one reviewer stated there is ALOT of play when changing directions with the blade adjuster. They dropped the ball on that part though it does work. Im going to think on it for a while and see if I can come up with a better arrangement for that. Other than the blade adjustment im very happy with it and the way it works.
> The 60 1/2; Just like the #4 its square and flat with all parts in working condition. There was a much much smaller amount of play in its blade adjustment which i was able to all most completely remove with the addition of 2 small washers. The biggest problem with the 60 was the amount of play in the lateral adjustment and that wasnt a deal breaker by a long shot.
> Both planes are nice looking tools and they both do what they were designed to do. If the tools designers would change just a few cheaply made parts I think they would have a very popular tool. For a first set of planes I think I did okay.
> If anyone wants pics just holler and ill post some and ill be sure to show the few problem areas I found.


Would love to see some pics and get an update on what you think about the experience of using them so far.


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## Mikhail2400 (Jun 20, 2018)

JohnTC said:


> Would love to see some pics and get an update on what you think about the experience of using them so far.


Ok John here you go, plane **** LOL.

They both came with an extra blade which is roughly an 1/8" thick
Heres both of them in the boxs they came in.









Ill start with the #4. I really liked the looks of it from the handles to the brass knobs it looked great. The sole and sides were flat and square with each other. The mouth was also square with the body. Heres some close up pics of it.

























A reviewer of this plane said the blade adjustment knob had some play in it so I was looking for that straight away. I found it to! Its just a piss poor design. I can turn the knob 3 1/2 turns before the mechanism re-engages when I change the direction of adjustment. I havnt tried to come up with a better design for it yet but I do plan to. This is the biggest problem with this plane. In the pic below you can see the silver piece which straddles the brass knob. Just above where it sits on the knob it has a pinned connection with the actual part which moves the blade. From the saddle on the knob to the pinned joint is where the slack is.









Now for the 60 1/2. Just like the #4 it appeared to be in perfect condition but just like the #4 there were hidden flaws. The sole and sides are square and I thought there was to much play in the lateral adj. lever. I was wrong about the lever it has zero play. There was a small amount of play in the blade adj. but 2 wafer thin washers solved that nicely.


















There were actually 2 problems with the 60 1/2. The main one took me a while to figure out. No matter what I did one side of the blade was all ways lower than the other. After taking it apart and really looking it over I figured it out. The blade leaves the frog and continues to the mouth but in between there the blade lays on the frame where it slopes down to the mouth. One sIde of the frame was higher than the other. So I sat down with a very small file, put a kindle book on screen and slowly filed that hump away as I read some sci-fi. Now the blade comes out of the mouth like it supposed to. The other problem I fixed ar the same time. The part which slides in and out to open and close the mouth sat lower on one side than the other. So once I finished the blade problem I took that same file and fixed the slides fit. Now it too works as it was supposed to.
I know why yall like planes so much now. Theres some thing very satisfying about running a freshly sharpened plane down a nice piece of wood. No motor and no layouts to follow. Just you doing a job and seeing and feeling the results as you progress.
Well thats my review of the #4 and the 60 1/2 low angle block plane from Caliastro


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## JohnTC (Mar 1, 2018)

Awesome review! I don't mind an inexpensive plane if it isn't too much work to get to work properly. Sounds like you did great. Does the depth adjustment nut spin easily? Like if you give it a flick, will it take up the slack quickly? If so, it wouldn't bother me too much. Have a couple like that. 



Got the manager of my local Lowes to sell me a Kobalt #4 for $10 that someone returned that just sat there for months as people bought the unopened planes. Figured I'd buy it to see if the guy who returned it just didn't know what he was doing. He might not have, but it was terrible. It appeared that they did nothing to the sole after casting. Could even see the slight ripples in the metal. After going at it on sandpaper on granite for quite a while, I just left it there and work on it a little now and then. The iron was terrible too, but it didn't take much time to fix it. Once I get the sole flat in a few months, it aught to be a decent plane. lol


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## Mikhail2400 (Jun 20, 2018)

JohnTC said:


> Awesome review! I don't mind an inexpensive plane if it isn't too much work to get to work properly. Sounds like you did great. Does the depth adjustment nut spin easily? Like if you give it a flick, will it take up the slack quickly? If so, it wouldn't bother me too much. Have a couple like that.
> 
> 
> 
> Got the manager of my local Lowes to sell me a Kobalt #4 for $10 that someone returned that just sat there for months as people bought the unopened planes. Figured I'd buy it to see if the guy who returned it just didn't know what he was doing. He might not have, but it was terrible. It appeared that they did nothing to the sole after casting. Could even see the slight ripples in the metal. After going at it on sandpaper on granite for quite a while, I just left it there and work on it a little now and then. The iron was terrible too, but it didn't take much time to fix it. Once I get the sole flat in a few months, it aught to be a decent plane. lol


John do you have any buddies who work at some type of mill or machine shop? If so you might could get one of them to have the millwrights in there shop mill it flat for you. Done like that might not cost you but a 12 pack of beer. Not sure what a small machine shop would charge for some thing like that.
Anyway thanks for the comments and glad you liked the review.


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## JohnTC (Mar 1, 2018)

Mikhail2400 said:


> John do you have any buddies who work at some type of mill or machine shop? If so you might could get one of them to have the millwrights in there shop mill it flat for you. Done like that might not cost you but a 12 pack of beer. Not sure what a small machine shop would charge for some thing like that.
> Anyway thanks for the comments and glad you liked the review.


I don't, but it's alright. I mainly purchased it out of curiosity, so no hurry to get it finished.


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