St. James Bay Tool Co.

[Richard Dooling]

Anyone familiar with St. James Bay Tool Co.? Some of the prices seem very good for a small outfit that does this kind of tool making.


The scrub plane in particular interests me.

[Joel Ficke]

I have a couple of their planes and have been very satisfied. Specifically, I have a mitre plane and small router plane. Both work nicely and are well made. I can't comment on the scrub plane though....

[Roger Barlow]

I payed them (him) a visit 10 years ago (at least) and purchased a set of squares, I use them every day. They sell the smoother planes in kit form now, but back then they were made ready to go. Nice stuff.

[Charles Bodner]

My Stanley scrub came with a St James Bay blade. It holds up to the rough work extremely well.

[george wilson]

I have 2 of their castings,if I ever get back to working on them. They are good quality,though I would not encourage anyone to buy the rough castings unless they have a milling machine,or at least a 10" lathe with a milling attachment.

[Barry Vabeach]

George, I bought the rough casting for the jack plane - I didn't have a lathe or a milling machine and did it with a belt sander and files, though it took a very long time - and I wouldn't recommend it. I bought the rough machined kit for a smoother and it was much quicker. I also bought one of his adjusters - very well done. Barry

[george wilson]

you can get a machined casting,I think,if you do not want to spent a large amount of time on it.

[Richard Dooling]

Thanks everyone - this looks like a good company and a good bet.

I'll be buying a finished item. I have had to take a hard look at how I spend my very limited shop hours and although there are many things I would like to try my hand at, I need to concentrate on woodworking . . .

and maybe making a plane for the shooting board . . .

and trying to retemper those Sorby chisels . . .

and . . . dang!

[Marco Cecala]

Stopped by there about a month ago, the owner was out of town. They have some real nice stuff. I looked at some rough kits, but I work with wood, don't have tools or desire to do metal. The finish pieces are well done, and look like they will last longer than all of us.

[Erwin Graween]

Hi seems to be a nice shop.

But .... I live in France and I'm waiting for some stanley parts for more than on year and hardly get news ....

Maybe if you're in the us it's easier.

Sorry to say that ....

[Terry Beadle]

I'm working on the traditional coffin smoother casting. It is more work than the Shepard Thumb Infill Plane project I did several years ago.

The casting is excellent. Good weight, good machining and the bronze is tough. Be prepared to go through some small files to get the mouth open. I used a combination of small diamond files and my drillpress mill setup.

The adjustor is very good but as stated mainly depth of cut and not angle of attack. Still worth it. I also like the coffin style smoother because you can push or pull it easily.

Company gives good support. I've bought two blades from him and both are goers. Quick to maintain and keep an edge for quite a while. Product was as asked for, shipped when it should have, and great quality for the price.

The removal of the rough casting areas was fairly easy for me. I used power sander, files, and buffing wheels. Really a beautiful finish.

Infill material provided was excellent. Cocobolo in my case.

Expect to spend quite a bit of time on the project unless your metal working and woodworking skills are premo. I only work on my kit when I'm in the mood for some tideous work....but that's just me. After all, I bought it with stimulus package money! Thank you George Bush!

Good Luck!

[Eric Hartunian]

All of you who have made St James Bay planes (or bought them) must post pics. You know the rules, no pic, then it didn't happen:)

Eric