Thread: Ray Iles A5 Coffin Smoother Review

Hiya,

I've been busy, and I must've been good too because Christmas has come early. Only it wasn't Santa, it was the UPS guy at my door this morning. I only finalised the order with Sam Iles early Friday UK time so wasn't expecting it until later in the week.

Instant gratification factor 9.95/10.

I resisted the temptation to play first, and decided to sharpen before using it because the blade was nicely ground but not honed at all - front or back. I have a small shop (I love that yankee term), so if I'm going to sharpen, I might as well sharpen everything in need at the same time. Today that meant a nice Turner 4 1/2 from the HTPAA on Sunday, the hack bailey 4 and 5s, both the ECE smoothers, and 5 chisels including that bothersome LN fishtail. Bugger.

I decided to add stropping on MDF with the Tormek paste as a final finish. Too easy and very very shinny too. Makes you want to make everything shine like a mirror. If you don't do this as part of your sharpening regime I suggest you give it a try. There goes 3 hours including coffee break and listening to the ABC replay Armstong's walk on the moon 40 years ago. Took a sicky from school that day so I could follow it on the TV all day. What did you do? Sorry about the sidetrack.

It is beautifully made plane. Really beautifully made. The mouth is tight as a fish's ...., all metal edges are finished just so, the bronze (gunmetal) lever cap gleams, and the rosewood tote and front bun are pretty good - not fantastic, just pretty good as far as a lump of wood goes. The workmanship is flawless.

What do you do when you test a plane? Find different bits of wood to try it on and plane away. It works really really nicely. Depth setting is pretty easy, although most will find a bailey adjustor more intuitive and easier to use. I did, but it works well enough if perhaps somehow a bit crude, maybe too sensitive. I'm not sure yet.

I had mixed results playing with NG Rosewood, Honduran Mahogany, Huon Pine, Celery Top Pine, Monterey Cypress, some curly Jarrah and some Cooktown Ironbark. By mixed results I mean that once I got it set nicely it was sweet, but with each species there was a "get it set right" period before everything felt nice. I think I need more experience with this tool to do it justice. Maybe I'm not cranking down on the lever cap screw enough? I found that backing of the level cap screw before adjustments help me get happy results quicker.

Enough playing. I decided to put it to use and test that silly fisheye chisel (sorry fishtail) at the same time. Because when you're just playing, you can keep on playing until everything is nice and smooth. But when you are making something you can't do that because sooner or later you'll have no wood left. Pin board is NG Rosewood, and tail board is Huon.

Verdict: I like the smoother, but it will take time to get the best out of it. The smoothed dovetailed piece has a glassy finish that makes the huon feel harder than it is - Nice. Do you know what I mean by this? And the NGR has a lovely depth to it. As nice as this finish is, it's not something I couldn't get off ANY of my planes with a really sharp blade and some patience. Yet, somehow it does feel more special to use. Blade engagement with the wood through the cutting stroke when trying to take an absolute minimum cut is unbroken. Only my ECE smoother comes close to this too. If it wasn't that I'm not exactly sure I know what I'm doing yet, I'd be rapt.

The fisheye chisel is a letdown. It's way too light weight to work well paring and FAR too light weight to strike with a mallet. So I end up reverting to my old faithful home made skews to get the job done. The fisheye looks good though. Well, at least yours might, mine was delivered with a grubby handle that someone had used for paring practice. I kid you not. But I'm not precious about tools that way, after all, I am (was) going to use it.

The A5 is absolutely crap on the shooting board. Maybe that coffin shape has something to do with it.

I hope someone found this informative.

Disclaimer: As with all me tool reviews, I have purchased this with my own cash. Therefore you should read the above knowing I have a financial interest in this tool. This means I probably won't $hit can it in case I want to sell it one day.

Cheers