Maybe I learned something...

[steven c newman]

Back at Christmas Time picked up a Kobalt #4. Been working on a tune up ever since. May have been a gift, but, it will be going back to Lowes.

I have a Dunlap 619.3702 almost the same size. I can make see-through shaving every time with it. Never had chunks of wood slide up under the chip breaker, either. Mouth is straight, not even a hint of waviness. Even has threads left when set to the thinness settings.

NOT this Blue POS! There is a serious wave effect going on at the mouth. I could get a see-through shaving, but the wheel would runout of threads, and fall off. Lever cap screw/bolt works loose as I plane. Lateral is floppy.

And now that Chip Breaker: Too short. Tried several times to get it to lie flat on the iron, only to see it raise right back up in use. Tried the Dunlap iron & CB for a test drive. Had to run the wheel all the way up to the frog's backside, and still getting a thicker shaving. Chattered a bit too. That is when I saw the opening......Big Sur?

Yes, this has a frog adjust screw/bolt. Kept adjusting forward, then come back and adjust again. Almost like the frog backs up in use. Yes, the two frog bolts were tight. Tote bolts were needing to be tightened up before each and every use, too.

Yep, got burned a bit. But, Lowes is just two miles down the road. I think one plane MIGHT be going back on the shelf there, so.....BEWARE!

[Jim Koepke]

The words of John Ruskin come to mind:

“There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person’s lawful prey. It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do."

I can thank Baskin Robbins for bringing this to my attention many years ago. They used to display the first sentence in their stores.

Sadly there are people making, marketing and selling items that only resemble in appearance what they are pretending to be.

jtk

[steven c newman]

Posted this as a service, so others will learn froma mistake I made. I do Have a Millers Falls #9, a Wood River #4 V3, and a Dunlap #4. Any of these three would run circles around that Blue piece of ......iron. They were also a LOT easier to tune up, and use.

Been burned a few times....Handyman #1204 was actually better than that Kobalt. The Worth/PEXTO/Parplus were about the same as the Kobalt. None of these costs more than $15 or so. Including the Millers Falls planes ( yep, even got a #8, as well)

Used to feel I could tune up any plane that wandered in the doorway. Now? Well, just about set as to what planes I'll keep around. And, they will all work like a plane should.

Hope someone will take this as a "headsup" and save for a better plane...

[Daniel Rode]

That is a great quote, Jim.

“There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person’s lawful prey. It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do."

[maximillian arango]

good to know I was wondering the same about the home cheepo's buck bros

[george wilson]

Didn't some people warn you about buying that Kobalt plane in the first place? Or,am I getting senile?

[David Weaver]

Didn't some people warn you about buying that Kobalt plane in the first place? Or,am I getting senile?

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...anes-by-Kobalt

[george wilson]

Not as senile as I thought!! Too senile to recall my own replies though. You fended off all the advice you didn't like about buying Kobalt. Did you really need another plane anyway? You have a drawer full already. Best leave out fixing up NEW planes. Some of them are already beyond hope. At least getting the rust and paint spatter off old Stanleys leaves you with a functional plane. Messing with cheap Chinese planes just leaves you with a bad impression!!

[Jim Koepke]

Used to feel I could tune up any plane that wandered in the doorway.

Sadly, I sort of felt the same way only to be proven wrong. My experience is partly responsible for my personal choice of Bailey style planes from before 1930.

Even if there was a full machine shop at my disposal there are some objects that will never be anything but something that resembles a plane in appearance. The world would be better served by these all being melted into boat anchors or any other thing that may not have ill effects from metal with unfortunate karma.

jtk

[David Weaver]

Used to feel I could tune up any plane that wandered in the doorway.

Often you can, and the plan still won't be worth the cost of shipping in a flat rate box. That becomes a problem once your drawers are getting full.

[steven c newman]

It was after all, a Christman gift.

Haven't really fixed a plane in awhile, other than normal Maintainence.

As for the crack about not making any furniture??? Haven't been looking, have you now, Boyo? Oh well, seems I am not the only one with blinders on...

Lets see IF this will postIMAG0004.jpg"Re-Furbbished" a few old Pine floor boards, with a coopered top, thamk you. IMAG0003.jpgIMAG0005.jpgIMAG0006.jpgand just finished up a Tool Chest for the shop. That one with the pine for the back. Some use plywood for a back, this one is a Frame & Panel, with panels raised with just handplanes. I'll stop here, and maybe refurb another....something or other...

[David Weaver]

We recall the progression. It went like this topically:
* I think I might get a kobalt plane. Everyone said "no don't do it"
* At Christmas you got one from someone else, anyway, and we said "well, it might not be something you'd buy but since it was a gift, you might as well make the best of it".

It didn't work out, but is a good lesson in getting nothing for something, or someone else footing the bill in nothing for something, when we'd all rather have something for nothing. Quite often something for nothing ends up instead being nothing for something.

that's just the way it goes. Plenty of us only learn a lesson when we do it, not when someone else does it and tells us not to do it. I'm not exempt from that, either.

A woodworking buddy of mine likes to say (and he always thinks I haven't heard it) is "the difference between the rockefellers vs. the guy down the street living check to check is that the rockefellers historically learned from other peoples mistakes, and the guy down the street only learns from his own".

I'm not a rockefeller, either.

Of course, he also always says "Marry for money. You can find love on the street."

[steven c newman]

Took the plane back to Lowes a little while ago, no big hassle in the return. Got a Lowes Card from it, so, wondered down and picked up two small router bits, to replace the ones I snapped off. They still had a few of those #4 hanging there, walked right on past. There was a blue, adjustable mouth Block plane there as well. Sorry, ain't getting any more from these people. IMAG0008.jpgbesides, I already have a few block planes....

[george wilson]

Yabbut,the only thing that saved Rockefeller from not keeping on being a zillionaire when the electric light was invented( He made millions selling kerosene),was the invention of the gasoline engine. Formerly,gasoline was just a nuisance by product.

I guess you just can't keep a good billionaire down. Well,at least,his starting Williamsburg gave me a good job,so I'm grateful. My vote was cast to be a craftsman,not a millionaire. Seems like all millionaires want to do when they become millionaires is become bigger millionaires. Really,it's Monopoly for real.

Jim: You got it backwards; the Chinese stuff is MADE from melted boat anchors!! (Old cars,actually.)

[David Weaver]

George, what do you think of the second saying..I added it.

My wife hates that one!!