#5-1/2 Jack Plane

After one year owning this 5 1/2, I wanted to share a few comments - Yes it's made overseas, but made to a higher quality than you might expect. I did replace the blade with an IBC but the factory one isn't bad, I kept it for a spare, which in my opinion put this plane on par with the best out there, of which I own several in other sizes. It did require a bit more set-up than an L-N , filing edges and checking squareness, if the sole had not been flat I would have ordered a replacement, that is unforgivable even in this price range. The 5 1/2 would be my only plane if I could have just one , it's useful for most anything from flattening boards, squaring edges in a shooting board, just perfect size and weight. Watch video of RC setting one up, very informative, just search Woodcraft 5 1/2 setup.

Very nice planer minimal amount of set up blade took a razor sharp edge after a few minutes of honing.

Wonderful tool. Nice heavy and solid. Few burs at the mouth, very sharp edges of the sole, small nick in one of the corners. But all filed away easily. I followed Rob Cosman’s video on tuning this plane. Definitely worth it to follow the instructions step by step. I replaced the blade with a Hock blade, after sharpening and tuning I managed to get 0.0005’ shavings on Cherry and was left with a glass-like finish. I didn’t test the sole for flatness. Perhaps I will do some work on the tote to adjust it to my hand. It does feel like a tool that will last me for the rest of my woodworking days and pass onto my kids.

I spent a long time researching and reviewing jack planes. I wanted to try to get the best bang for my buck. After watching Rob Cosman videos on Youtube, I could see that this plane was worth the money. The performance is superb, especially after following Rob's tips for initial setup and sharpening. I was able to get a paper think shaving on the fourth or fifth pass. It's truly a joy to own and use. And, thanks to Rob for the great videos.

Very high quality tool. Well machined and functions extremely well!

Chip breaker delivered broken from factory. The packaging, the hand plane itself, and everything else came fine. Which means someone at the factory drop the chip breaker and sent it in anyways. This plane is a bit overhyped thanks to YouTube. It’s just ok. I plan to rma the chip breaker, but I did get it working in the plane after an hour of surface to close the gap to the blade. My photos included are three of the defective dented side, and one of the correct side that is making proper contact.

As with every hand plane ive bought, it needed some tuning right off the bat. The sole was not flat, but did not take much to get it there. The iron (blade) came "rough carpentry sharp", but did not take too long to get a good keen "finishing' edge. I have rather large hands, making it hard to use a fair number of planes, but the tote (handle) fits my hand well with a little space to spare. It is my finish/smoothing plane now.

I did my due diligence when it arrived and ensured the sole was flat by double side taping some 120 grit sandpaper on a piece of flat mdf and marked the sole with a sharpie until the marks were fully gone (didn’t take long at all, was already near perfect). I also sharpened the blades because they never come perfectly sharp. That was all, two steps and this thing is gliding down the board getting paper thin strips. Can’t recommend enough.