- Woodriver #4 Bench Plane, V3

First off I'm not a woodworker but I'm trying to be in my older age. Though I'm not a woodworker I am a mechanic, welder, fabricator with well over 200,000 dollars in tools. I think I know tools, how they're made and how they work. I have never used a plane to build anything. My planing experience was limited to digging the old planes out of my granddads tool box to stop my door from sticking. This method severed me well for decades until I retired and started to build a woodworking shop in place of my welding shop at my home. Steel gets heaver as one gets older. The first project I attempted was a simple storage chest. I needed an edge trued up so up to the attic I went only to pull out a plane who's wooden handles had cracked from time and poor storage. The parts were badly rusted and I'm sure the surfaces were not straight. Time to buy a new plane. First time plane buyer here. Out of the 4 or 5 planes in my granddads tool box I picked the one I liked best as well as the one I used the most over the years. Now I don't even know what to call this size and type of plane? I looked it over and it had a big number 5 on both the front and the rear of the body so I thought I'd start there. I went to the web site where I know they sell nice tools. I'm sure if I put the name here all would recognize it. Lets just say LV might be part of the name? I look up planes and all the different kinds was dizzying. I typed No. 5 into the search box and sure enough granddads exact plane was still made and a beautiful photo of a brand new unit in all its glory was on my screen! What a nice tool. Wow! Made me wish I'd started in woodworking sooner. I added the No.5 to my cart as I looked at other items in their store. When it came time to check out my bill was all of 400 bucks. I thought I must have added 2 planes or some other items to my cart my error?? NO!!! That was what the cost of the plane!?! The photos in my woodworking books of the shops with hundreds of those planes on the wall?? Must be over 1/2 million in tools if this is any example of what woodworking tools cost? I thought mechanics tools were expensive? WOW! I said there must be a cheaper tool available. Off to Amazon I went to find No.5 planes from 35 to 400 plus dollars. 30 years ago if one had any Chinese tools in their box they'd be laughed out of the shop, not so much lately. I find even some of the tool truck tools are Chinese made. So a Chinese plane was for me. Now I'm not even sure where this particular plane is made but from the cost I'm assuming. Over 175 bucks is still a lot for what I thought a plane was worth so I picked this piece from the 7 reviews and the price. 35 or 40 bucks was way to low for something like this so I wanted to go mid way between 35 and 400. My plane arrived today so now to the review. This tool is an amazing piece of workmanship. The painted parts are painted well no over spray or powder coat or what ever method they use, it looks real nice. The machined surfaces are evenly cut and are dead flat according to my straight edge. The handles are real wood and well sanded and stained. I know the parts of a plane all have their own special names like frog, yoke, sole, heel, toe, etc... but I've yet to learn all of them. So bear with me. The handles are held on by what looks like brass screws. The blade adjuster looks to be brass and turns real nice. The lever cap is either chrome plated or polished stainless as it has a nice shine to it. The blade is super sharp and even the burr was removed unlike a set of chisels I bought here last week where every chisel had a huge burr. You can tell much thought and care went into building this plane. Makes me wonder what a 400 dollar plane would look like? Must have gold screws instead of brass. Just trying to be funny as I know from experience that a top of the line tool feels different to the master craftsman. 400 dollar planes have their place in the masters workshop. In the shop of a future master this is the plane for me. Thanks for reading.

I've been frustrated by cheap handplanes for a long time, so I finally took the plunge and replaced my old crummy Sears plane with this WoodRiver plane. This is the single most expensive tool I've ever purchased. It's only about half the cost of a comparable Lie-Nielsen plane, with nearly equal quality, but it's still alot to pay for a handplane. So is it worth it? Well I'd say that if a high quality bench plane is important to you then you won't be disappointed here. You certainly won't find anything better at this price point. These WoodRiver bench planes are based on the iconic Stanley Bedrock planes, which were some of the best bench planes ever produced. The Bedrock design has two advantages over other planes: 1.The frog can be moved back and forth, thereby adjusting the mouth opening, without removing the blade. 2.There is a rock-solid connection between the frog and the plane body, which improves the performance of the plane in a cut. New handplanes typically require much tune-up work before use. But not this plane. The setup work required is minimal. As other reviewers have mentioned, there was a generous coating of oil on all the metal parts that had to be wiped off. Also, the blade I received was not flat on its back, and it required more work to lap flat than I was expecting to do for this price. But otherwise there was nothing else for me to do but start making some shavings. Just about every detail of this plane is made right. The handles are well shaped and finished nicely and they feel like real wood instead of plastic. The depth and lateral adjusters work with a perfect smoothness. The sides are dead square to the sole which is important for shooting planing. The cap iron fits seamlessly on the blade, though the bevel on top of the cap iron is ground rather rough; You may want to lap this smooth. The body is cast extra thick and heavy, which gives you more momentum in a cut but might tire you out after a while, and I could find no casting flaws on the entire plane. The cap iron and blade are both a full 1/8" thick and are very stable in a cut. I have no way of accurately checking the flatness of a plane this large so I cannot comment on the flatness of the sole. All of the mating part surfaces in this plane are ground flat and smooth, which makes everything fit together nicely and reduce vibration in a cut. The only exception to this was the bed where the frog sits in the plane body; This surface had some rough milling marks. However the bed was still flat and the frog sat in it solidly. Overall this plane is solid and beautiful. I have just two minor issues with this plane. First, the enlarged depth adjustment wheel on this version of the plane makes it quite difficult to get a screwdriver to the frog adjustment screws. Second, there is quite a bit of slop in the lever on the lever cap as well as the yoke of the depth adjuster, the latter of which causes much backlash in depth adjustments. It is possible to buy a cheaper plane and spend several hours tuning it up to get (almost) the same level of fit and finish as this plane. But even then you're still stuck with an inferior casting, cutter and other parts. And finding a real antique Bedrock plane in servicable condition is getting harder all the time. It's really nice to buy something that's just built right in the first place.