# Groz #4, #5, low angle block; Woodriver #3, #6.



## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

Ok, so I have had a chance to clean up and fettle my five new handplanes, hone them up and put them to board. I am not an experienced neander by any stretch, so I may use some terms incorrectly; please correct me if wrong. I got the planes for Christmas, though I may have opened them early:yes:. 
I'll start with the Groz's. The price was right and I thought I could fettle them into good users :no:. I was wrong with the #4 and returned it. I've kept the #5 and low angle block though. The #4 was a bit rough in it's finish, but I was able to fettle it to a flat mirror finish with 90 deg. sides. The blade sharpened easily but the chipbreaker needed a lot of grinding to flatten. It still clogged too much. I also tried to adjust the frog to get a tight mouth, but it wouldn't give me what I needed. I also couldn't retract the blade into the mouth, so I had huge amount of blade out so it wouldn't work. Bottom line; it didn't work and I returned it :thumbdown:. 
The #5 was also rough in the finish. The screw hole in the iron cap was cut all goofy, but it worked. I lapped it nearly flat, filed the mouth out a bit, lapped and sharpened the blade and chip breaker (same problem there with the #4). I put it together and it works well enough to keep. The iron needs upgraded as I think it is soft and not gonna hold it's edge well. I think I will get a hock blade and chip breaker for it. I decided to keep it because it is a jack and I could use a general purpose #5. 
The low angle block was also roughly finished with rough casting in the adjusteable mouth. I was able to file it smooth. The bottom was flattish, and I polished it up. The blade sucks on it. Gonna upgrade that eventually, but it'll do for now. It does work as it's supposed to, but it isn't a high end plane. 
On to the Woodrivers. I ordered the #3 and #6 when I returned the #4. They come in nice wooden boxes and are packaged very well. They come out of the box looking like my others that I spent 6+ hours polishing up; very nice finish and completely flat. The blades were also completely flat. I use a permanent marker on the areas before I lap them and all the marker came right off. The weight of these is substantially greater than the Groz. The blades and chipbreakers are also significantly thicker. They seem to hold their edge well, though I need more time to evaluate that. The adjustments on them are good and there is no chatter that I have noticed yet on ash, oak and some hard maple. The shavings turned out nicley. The handles are nice hard wood too and are very comfortable to me. I haven't used any lie nielsen, clifton, or veritas, but I can say that these woodrivers impressed me enough to order the #4 also. I also contacted Woodcrafft and they say a #7 is in the works so I will fill out my collection with that when it comes out. I really liked them and at $30 off each plane (at the time) I didn't think I could go wrong. I wish I could afford a Lie Nielsen and buy American, but for my whole collection I would buy one of them. I would also rather master the planes with a cheaper one and then upgrade later if needed, but these seem pretty sweet to me. 
All in all I would definitely recommed the Woodriver and would not recommend the Groz. Let me know what you think!


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

Ok, so I know my post above is wordy and there are no pics, so I resolved to solve that. I also decided that my Groz #5 is going back too. What a POS. :thumbdown: I did locate this nice Stanley Bedrock Type 3 608C for $100.00 is excellent condition and added that today. I also have a Woodriver #4 that should be arriving tomorrow. The router planes are projects as is the #80 scraper. The shavings are walnut. All these planes perform wonderfully and are a joy to use. I am officially hooked. :yes:


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

A few more.


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## Texas Sawduster (Apr 27, 2009)

*Planes*

Well, I don't have much in the way of experience with hand planes as of yet. I have a couple of old Stanley's and a birch jack plane that was my great grandfathers. I also have a Stanley dovetail/rabbit plane as in your pic, but, have not used that one as of yet.
If I can't find the old one's I would check with Lee-Neilson. They may good quality planes. I have see them at woodworking shows and have put my hands on them to test them at the shows. They cut great IMO. Just prepare to have cash on hand as they are not the least priced.


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## BIP (Dec 21, 2009)

Good find on the older Bedrock. All the older planes are becoming scarcer than ever. I really enjoyed finding the old Baileys and Bedrocks at garage sales and swap meets in SoCal, especially since most of them didn't know what they had. 

It was very lucrative to find them, tune them up and re-sell them, which financed my tool habit. Of course, I kept some around as users for awhile.

Haven't seen any around these parts yet, but maybe I need to get out more.:smile:

I really liked the Bailey Type 11 planes. They had the shape of the tote perfect IMHO and the castings had the right heft. At one time I had a set of Type 11's from No. 3 through No. 8. Sometimes, I wish I still had them. 

There is a great satisifaction/pay-off on taking the time to properly fettle/tweak/tune a hand plane and then watching that perfect shaving curl from the mouth. And if it you just happened to have the depth set just right, you could read the paper through them.

Congrats again on the planes...it sure is nice to listen to music when you work sometimes instead of the noise and clouds of dust.


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## dbhost (Jan 28, 2008)

Sorry to hear you had such trouble with your Groz planes. I have the #4, and although it took me a while to lap the sole to a mirror finish, everything else was pretty much dead on after honing the iron. Nice selection of planes though...


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

BIP said:


> Congrats again on the planes...it sure is nice to listen to music when you work sometimes instead of the noise and clouds of dust.


I totally agree. I like not having to wear a dust mask and ear phones when I work. Much, much nicer.

DB, I wish the Groz's would have worked too. Win some lose some. The sole was flat and wasn't the issue, it was the darn blade! Not worth a hoot if my smoother or jack is trying to take off 1/8" shavings :laughing:.

Woodriver #4 arrived yesterday. Totally flat sole, 90 deg sides, flat blade perfectly mated with the chip breaker, tight throat, and after a sharpening and honing of the blade, a beautifully tuned handplane. These Woodrivers have MASS. My #4 is not much lighter than that old 608C Jointer I have. The #6 is much heavier. 3 for 3 with these. I am sold on them. I'll post pics of it and its shavings when I get a chance.


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## cellophane (Oct 6, 2009)

newbie question - what does posting a picture of the shaving accomplish, other than being a picture of the shavings?


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## dbhost (Jan 28, 2008)

cellophane said:


> newbie question - what does posting a picture of the shaving accomplish, other than being a picture of the shavings?


A well tuned, and sharpened hand plane that doesn't chatter will produce long, very thin shavings, and a smoothly surfaced board, a poorly tuned and sharpened plane won't... The shavings prove that the plane is tuned and sharpened, and working properly...


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## BIP (Dec 21, 2009)

cellophane said:


> newbie question - what does posting a picture of the shaving accomplish, other than being a picture of the shavings?


 
A shaving that is uniform in thickness, is the width of the plane iron and as thin as a piece of paper (or thinner) is a sign that a person has taken the time to tune/sharpen/hone/adjust the plane properly, a skill with in itself as much as making a nice fitting dovetail joint.....kinda like "it's more about the journey than the destination".....


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## cellophane (Oct 6, 2009)

gotcha! thanks


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