# New Stanley Sweetheart 60 1/2 low angle block



## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

I have read the stories about Stanley's new handplanes being nice but having problems, especially the block planes which Christopher Schwarz reviewed as having a "fatal bed error". He revisited the planes several months ago and thought the new production runs were fixed and much better; useable for sure. A few months ago I went to the local Tool Depot and they had the new Stanley's in stock for the first time. I'm thinking new production run planes. Their prices were also really low. $69.99 for the blocks and shoulder planes, $119 for the #4 and low angle jack. Lower than I'd seen. I got the 92 shoulder plane. It is a charm to use and works great. I have no complaints with it, flat, square and ready to use out of the box. 

So I wanted a low angle block and figured I'd try that next. Got it yesterday and brought it home. Nice box, well packaged. Got it out and found dings in the sides at the top like it had been dropped. They were sharp. The paint on the nose was pitted and looked like it had been refinished. The brass was only a little shiny. Ok, cosmetics, C-. 

I put it to wood, and it's sharp out of the box, shave my arm sharp. Iron looks nice too. I run it on some oak and walnut and it cuts on the left part of the mouth. I adjust fire and try again. Still on the left. I fiddle and fiddle and can only get it to cut a full length shaving at way too thick a setting. I break out my square and check things. The mouth is out of square and so is the blade, by about 1 / 32 on the blade. This isn't supposed to be a skew block plane! I re-grind and sharpen it square and file the mouth a bit. Still not cutting square. I am no plane expert but I know my way around a handplane. I couldn't get it to work and since this was supposed to be a premium handplane I said forget it and returned it. I explained the issues to the store and they seemed confused but took it back. They cater more to contractors than woodworkers even though they have an excellent selection of woodworking tools and accessories. My father in law was in Lenexa for a new granddaughter and was kind enough to stop by Woodcraft and pick me up one of their V3 low angle Woodrivers. Impressions on that to come, but I KNOW it is the improved V3 version, so at least it has that going for it. The stanley has no way that I could find of telling which run it came from so I am assuming it had the "fatal bed error" that Schwarz was talking about. Oh well, the shoulder plane kicks butt!


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

That sounds frustrating. It's also not the first of these planes I've read complaints about. Hopefully the Woodriver will be better. 

Have you ever considered grabbing an older Stanley or similar Record 60-1/2? I picked up a Record 60-1/2 for ~ $30 and it's been great. AFAIK, Craftsman had a very similar version too....not sure who made it but it looks very much like a Stanley or Record.


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

My regular angle craftsman is a winner. I use it all the time. Took a little tuning but it's a champ for sure. But I expect to tune one of those, not this Stanley Sweetheart. But oh well...


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