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Thread: Wood River #4 smoother review

  1. #1
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    Wood River #4 smoother review

    After being outbid time and again on ebay and not having the funds for a LV or LN, I took a chance and purchased a Wood River #4. Since I haven't seen a lot of reviews for the Wood River planes yet I thought I would share.

    First Impressions: It seems pretty well made to me. For comparison, I have two other planes: a Buck Brothers block and a LV BU Jointer. Overall workmanship is certainly not in Lee Valley's class, but it's miles ahead of the Buck Brothers.

    Before using. there was plenty of oily stuff to clean off and the blade did have to be sharpened.

    To test it out, I put it to work smoothing a scrap piece of walnut. Once I got it adjusted, I was very happy with the result. This was the first time I've used a smoother plane and it only took a few strokes to decide that I probably won't be buying a lot sandpaper in the future.

    At this point, I have only two complaints about the tool: First is the lateral adjuster, which is just a stamped piece with the end twisted. As others have noted, it looks like the rivet that holds it on will loosen up with time. It's really the only part of the plane that feels cheap. Second is that the handle is a little small for my hand.

    On the whole, I give it a thumbs up, but I think they should dump the wooden box it comes in and use the savings to improve the lateral adjuster.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brett Clark View Post
    At this point, I have only two complaints about the tool: First is the lateral adjuster, which is just a stamped piece with the end twisted. As others have noted, it looks like the rivet that holds it on will loosen up with time.
    I had a chance to mess with a #3 WoodRiver for awhile. On the whole I liked it, and found the same shortcoming with the lateral adjuster. Most of the plane is well made, except for the adjuster which is just stamped metal.

    I like your idea of dumping the wooden box in favor a better quality lateral.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brett Clark View Post
    After being outbid time and again on ebay and not having the funds for a LV or LN, I took a chance and purchased a Wood River #4. Since I haven't seen a lot of reviews for the Wood River planes yet I thought I would share.

    [...]

    On the whole, I give it a thumbs up, but I think they should dump the wooden box it comes in and use the savings to improve the lateral adjuster.
    Were you bidding on a Bedrock planes or Baileys?

    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Faurot View Post
    I like your idea of dumping the wooden box in favor a better quality lateral.
    The wooden box may be an idea from the marketing department.

    jim
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  4. #4
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    Brett,

    Thank you for the review. The WR planes have certainly taken a bashing on some of the forums.

    I bought a #4 just to satisfy my curiosity, and have been quite impressed with it. A newcomer to planes, with just a few basic sharpening skills, can get a very nice plane for a very few bucks.

    I would recommend the WR to anyone on a budget starting out in hand tools.

    -Jerry

  5. #5
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    You could make the handle a little larger if you take it off,and rasp away some of that grossly too large a lump of wood at the top. Rasp it so it looks nicer,more delicate.The increased hand space might help you.

  6. #6
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    The tote comment went right past me.
    As George says, it is your plane now, modify the tote and it will be a lot more enjoyable to use. Many of my planes have had wood taken away at the top and bottom curves. On some of my larger planes, this makes a lot of difference.

    jim
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  7. #7

    Wood River

    I was down at Popular Woodworking last friday to reshoot some photos. After we were done Chris told me to take a #4 Wood river and a block plane of theirs. If you get a chance to hold a LN in one hand and a WR in the other, no comparison. The WR is heavy and unbalanced, has a lot of backlash in the depth adjuster. Personaly I would rather owne 1 good plane than 2-3 crappy ones. Now as far as price point our local Woodcraft is running LN 20% off next weekend, and they ship. I have had some people tell me they can't do that, so call them yourself 614-273-0488

  8. #8
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    I had a chance to hold a WR plane a few weeks ago and I think that the comment about the tote size refers to it being to small around. Funny, the new Stanley tote looked big and poorly shaped but felt comfortable; the WR is nice and round, but very small in diameter.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Charles Murray Ohio View Post
    I was down at Popular Woodworking last friday to reshoot some photos. After we were done Chris told me to take a #4 Wood river and a block plane of theirs. If you get a chance to hold a LN in one hand and a WR in the other, no comparison. The WR is heavy and unbalanced, has a lot of backlash in the depth adjuster. Personaly I would rather owne 1 good plane than 2-3 crappy ones. Now as far as price point our local Woodcraft is running LN 20% off next weekend, and they ship. I have had some people tell me they can't do that, so call them yourself 614-273-0488
    20% off and they ship? The sale in Indy next weekend is only 15%. I may have to give them a call!

  10. #10
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    Were you bidding on a Bedrock planes or Baileys?
    I think all the ones I bid on were Baileys.

    I think that the comment about the tote size refers to it being to small around.
    My problem is that it's not quite tall enough to accommodate my wide hand comfortably. I think George has a good idea about altering it's shape. If it still bothers me when I've finished with my current project I think may do that.

    Personaly I would rather owne 1 good plane than 2-3 crappy ones. Now as far as price point our local Woodcraft is running LN 20% off next weekend,
    I would prefer to own a good plane as opposed to several crappy ones as well. But I much prefer to have decent, usable plane instead of no plane at all. At 20% off the LN is twice the cost and if I had those kinds of funds, I would've gone for a Lee Valley.

  11. #11
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    All politics aside, they looked very nicely made to me. As did the new Stanley planes.

  12. #12
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    I suspect that some of the negative/positive variation in reviews of the WR planes may be influenced by quality control, or lack thereof. I examined one of these closely a few weeks ago at a local Woodcraft, and found it completely unacceptable - the fit/finish of the machining was rough and inconsistent, and there was a great deal of slop in the mechanism.

    That said, though, many others have posted that the ones they looked at were quite good in this department, so I do wonder if there's a lot of variation in the examples on the shelf.

  13. #13
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    Maybe a lot of variations in opinions about what was good?

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by george wilson View Post
    Maybe a lot of variations in opinions about what was good?
    Also highly possible. Some folks are primarily focused on the price, and will overlook some issues, others will accept no defects, regardless of a low price. I belong in the latter camp.

  15. #15
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    David,if you want LOW price and NO defects,maybe you have BEER money and CHAMPAGNE judgement!!

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