Turner 5 1/2 plane

[bunya pine]

369837

Team

I just picked up a Turner 5 1/2 the other day. I bought it not because i need it, but because i was curious to see if the rumours were true. I have seen many comment about how well made the Turner planes are, but have never had the opportunity to check one out in great detail.

As you can see this one has been throught the wars and needs a good clean and the tote replacing. However when you test the sole with a straight edge its almost perfectly straight!

Other than making the sole look clean and shiny i will not need to fettle this plane. There are obvious manufacturer marks on the sole so I'm confident it has not been fettled.

What is the other readers experience with Turners? Are they generally this straight? I had a couple of new (unused old stock) stanley -titan planes given to me and they were never this straight! Was stanley getting slack or realistic in the 70's? Do we get too obsessed with perfectly flat soles? Particularly with smoothing planes and jointers?

The other thing i would like to know is if many people use 5 1/2 planes? It actually is a nice size and has a good feel about it. Given how flat it is i think i may use it as a smoothing plane? Or am i being silly?

Final question does any one know where i could get a red tote for this old girl so i can bring her back to her former glorie?

Will be keen to keen to hear back from you all.

Cheers Stewart

drum maker

[Jeffen]

I have a Turner Red tote in nice condition (will confirm condition tomorrow), would ideally swap for a Stanley wooden tote for #5 up.
If you don't have a spare tote, I'm sure we can work something reasonable out :)

Cheers, Jeff

[bunya pine]

Sounds excellent jeff! I will see if i have a no 5 tote. Cheers

drum maker

[clear out]

Nice find, I personally use a tuned up 605 1/2 as I am not a larger person.
Stanley Titan was serious about what they made it was only well after the Stanley take over of Turner that the bean counters brought in the joggled lateral levers and split sheetmetal Y levers.
That coupled with the die cast frogs inherited from Turner via Pope on the 4/5 size was an exercise in making planes as cheaply as possible.
H.

[Jeffen]

Pictures of tote, some minor scratching, but otherwise ok.
It was fitted to a stanley 4 1/2, but has the front screw hole, so I would expect it's the right size, happy to check dimensions if required.

369852369853

Sorry about the poor lighting, anyway, p.m. me to sort out further details if interested.


Regards, Jeff

[IanW]

.......The other thing i would like to know is if many people use 5 1/2 planes? It actually is a nice size and has a good feel about it. Given how flat it is i think i may use it as a smoothing plane? Or am i being silly? .....

I love my old 5 1/2, it's probably the most-used plane in my kit. Mine gets used for everything other than jointing & final smoothing, though it occasionally gets press-ganged into those jobs, too! Mine is a ~1918 model, with a lighter casting than later models, and for me it's just the perfect size & weight for a general-purpose plane.

I would rather use a more 'standard' (~225mm long) smoother, specially set up for fine finishing, myself, but you can use any plane in any role that suits you if you set it up for that job. If it works as a smoother for you, then why not? :U

Cheers,

[bunya pine]

Thanks Ian once i finish cleaning it up i will experiment with it

drum maker

[Barnaby]

I just joined the forum because of this very plane. I'm in Tokyo and collecting 5 1/2 types from different builders. I've got about ten of 'em, including an Aussie Falcon Pope which is a pretty nice tool. It's very similar to a Millers Falls in the hand. The Turner 5 1/2 is top of my want" list and has been for a while. I've heard nothing but good stuff about these. If anyone has one for sale...

I'm collecting partly for interest, but am an amateur guitar maker too, and planes are central to my work. The 5 1/2 is my go-to size for almost all bench plane tasks. It's a great smoother, hogs off stock like nobody's business and is just long enough to work well as a jointer. I usually keep three of them in circulation at any given time, so that I can keep working without needing to pause for sharpening so often.

I figure it's always going to be different for different people. For me, the 4 is a little too small and the 6 just too unwieldy. The 5 isn't quite heavy enough. Therefore, the 5 1/2 is my "Goldilocks" bench plane, but I'm 80kg and 180cm tall with big hands. A smaller or larger person might well have a different preference. My student, who is about 150cm and 40 kg, finds the 3 to be perfect for almost all bench plane tasks except jointing. For that, she uses an ordinary 5. If I had a 5 1/4, that'd probably be even better for her. Horses, as they say, for courses...

[IanW]

..... The other thing i would like to know is if many people use 5 1/2 planes? It actually is a nice size and has a good feel about it. Given how flat it is i think i may use it as a smoothing plane? Or am i being silly? ......

As I said above, I used a #5 as my do-everything bench plane for about 30 years or more, but after inheriting my dad's old (circa 1918 as near as I can determine) 5 1/2 Stanley, it has completely displaced the 5. It's hard to describe exactly why I find it so much better, it's as much a subjective thing as any real differences I can point to - the size & heft feel 'just right' for me. Mine is set up for intermediate work, with safe but fairly rapid stock removal being the prime goal.

It's possibly just habit & how I was taught at school, but I rarely use anything larger than a #4 as a smoother. I can justify that a bit on logical grounds, because I would have to re-set the cap-iron and close the mouth a bit to make the 5 1/2 function as well as a dedicated smoother, & that would detract from its other functions to some extent. Also, you often need to work at particular spots on a large surface & longer soles mean you have to take off wood over a much bigger area to get at the small defects. However, there are occasions where a long plane set up for smoothing works very well, as I'm discovering with my new infill panel-plane.

The bench-planes you use are very much individual choices, but like a life partner, the only way to find out if you've made the right choice of plane is to live with it for a while (& even then, you can change your mind after years of getting along ok!).......
:U
Cheers,

[Luke Maddux]

I'm kind of like Ian, and he's actually the one who gave me the 5 1/2 KoolAida few years ago while building a workbench. I probably use the 5 1/2, 20's era Stanley that I have more than any other plane. I keep a straight blade on it and typically use it set fairly coarse (3-5thou), for things like straightening/flattening short boards, jointing edges,cleaning up joinery, and just general plane use. If I need more aggression, a longer sole, a thinner shaving, etc., I go elsewhere, but those are kind of "specialty" planing operations and for everything else... there's the 5 1/2. It's a great size. I'd clean that thing up and not think twice.

[goodvibes]

Nice pick up, the Turner.

Certainly a brand that attempted to hit the best quality they could.

The earliest turners had EA Berg cutters, and the later Aus cutters are also very fine.

I also found out recently that the occasional other brand plane you see with a red resin handle is not an accident or a Planenstein moment. They actively marketed their handles for separate sale as an upgrade on the stock wood handles of other planes. Perhaps with some justification. I have certainly never seen a Turner tote broken and glued an inch from the bottom from the stress of work, like many Stanley totes are.

How times have changed.