Thread: Somebody hand me a rolled up newspaper...

Let's wait and see where they pitch these planes from a price point of view....

Critical area for me would be about midway between the current Stanley/Record junk planes, and say the equivalent Veritas. If they go much higher than that point, why take a chance - you'd buy the Veritas or LN.

It'll be interesting to see if they've decided to make the soles flat this time around..

Originally Posted by mic-d

To be fair, these are probably not designed to be used on the most recalcitrant timbers.

Cheers
Michael

Fair enough but you'll never realise how good or bad a tool is until you've found its limits.
What you've said has got me thinking. In these days when they advise you to use goggles and earmuffs when using hammers etc perhaps the new planes will come with warnings - do not attempt to smooth Australian native timbers etc etc
cheers,
Jim

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

Let's wait and see where they pitch these planes from a price point of view....

Critical area for me would be about midway between the current Stanley/Record junk planes, and say the equivalent Veritas. If they go much higher than that point, why take a chance - you'd buy the Veritas or LN.

It'll be interesting to see if they've decided to make the soles flat this time around..

The last new plane I bought was a Record no 4 about forty years ago. It's still doing the job well.
Yesterday I had the misfortune to see one of the present crop. Junk isn't a fair description. I quite like junk shops. Landfill is the only word that springs to mind. The finish was unbelievably poor.
Cheers, Jim

Originally Posted by jimbur

Fair enough but you'll never realise how good or bad a tool is until you've found its limits.
What you've said has got me thinking. In these days when they advise you to use goggles and earmuffs when using hammers etc perhaps the new planes will come with warnings - do not attempt to smooth Australian native timbers etc etc
cheers,
Jim

I don't think the limits you've suggested testing relate to whether it is a good tool or not. You need different geometries for different grains. I assume these are around the standard 45º bed angle, bevel-down planes which is a middling sort of geometry good for most situations. Not so good for end grain or cranky grain, but not a reflection on the tool. A low bed angle bevel-up plane with a few irons tuned to different pitches for end grain throught to cranky grain is probably the only way to widen the limits of the one tool.

Cheers
Michael

point taken Michael
I'd feel happier though if I thought they were testing them exhaustively.
Cheers, Jim

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

Let's wait and see where they pitch these planes from a price point of view....

Critical area for me would be about midway between the current Stanley/Record junk planes, and say the equivalent Veritas. If they go much higher than that point, why take a chance - you'd buy the Veritas or LN.

It'll be interesting to see if they've decided to make the soles flat this time around..

Looks like they are being marketed close to the LV prices. Woodcraft has them on their website, and the prices for the #4 compare as follows (all USD):

Stanley #4 Sweet Heart (that's what they're calling them) - $179.99
LN #4 iron bench plane (Woodcraft) - $300
Veritas #4 (from Lee Valley site) - $215

That makes secondhand prices look really good value

Taunton are selling the Veritas#4 at $us175!

Why take a chance on something that is VERY unlikely to match Veritas quality, for almost the same $$$?

Sorry - Stanley must be living on a different planet. Maybe they are unaware just how little regard people have for their current products? I don't think many punters will be giving them the benefit of the doubt for that sort of money.

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

Why take a chance on something that is VERY unlikely to match Veritas quality, for almost the same $$$?

Sorry - Stanley must be living on a different planet. Maybe they are unaware just how little regard people have for their current products? I don't think many punters will be giving them the benefit of the doubt for that sort of money.

Stanley's competitors at the moment seem to be Anant. As for being unaware of how little regard people have, it must be a case of the emperor having no clothes. no-one is willing to tell them.

No-one in the company that is. The directors obviously don't come in contact with the punters

Maybe they are working on the same principle as spam - if you attack a large enough market there'll be plenty of fools willing to give their money to a nigerian businessman.

Can't remember if it was Elizabeth Arden or Helena Rubenstein, but one of them employed the marketing strategy exploiting the perception that it's not worth having unless it's expensive and if it's expensive, it's good. Personally I prefer Elizabeth Arden prod... never mind.

Cheers
Michael

The thread seems to have drifted into the assumption that these new Stanleys are no good and overpriced.
I haven't seen a review yet that says that, and it may well turn out to be so. However, until such time why don't we give them the benefit of the doubt while we await some objective testing.
They may surprise.
I wonder if Veritas had this sort of response when they were first released?
Cheers
SG