First impressions: ECE jointer

[Patrick Chase]

I decided to take a discount plunge into wooden jointers, so I ordered an ECE. I ordered the adjuster-less version with the Lignum base from Dieter Schmid.

Some impressions:

1. The plane itself is nicely built and finished, with very flat sole and bed surfaces. The beech and lignum blanks used appear to be of high quality, with reasonably straight and clear grain.
2. The tote is a little "blocky" but still reasonably comfortable. It will probably be reshaped in the near future.
3. The blade black was not flat, with a significant depression less than 1/4" behind the edge. It took a bit of work with steel plates and diamond paste to get the parts immediately behind the edge into satisfactory shape.
4. The cap iron surface, including leading edge were very rough and burred, with a fair amount of ground-in "camber" and a non-flat underside of the leading edge. I re-ground both the bevel and the underside before honing a small ~50 deg face. The ECE cap iron has a lot of preload/engagement, so if needed you could probably do a fair amount of work on it and retain satisfactory mating. I only removed a couple mils from the underside, which doesn't impact engagement at all.
5. The blade takes a good edge and holds it reasonably well. It seems to be about on par with high-quality A2 in both regards.
6. As far as I can tell (from looking under a magnifier and comparing to photos) the sole is Bulnesia, a.k.a. Argentine Lignum Vitae.

I don't think I'll be getting rid of my metal jointers any time soon, but I can see what some of the excitement is about. The feel of wood on wood is very different than a metal plane. I personally don't notice the weight difference that much, but that's probably just subjective preference.

EDIT: Corrected inaccurate comment about pricing, clarified sole wood type.

[Pat Barry]

Obviously, without pictures, none of the above actually happened

[Reinis Kanders]

They come up use on ebay quite often as well. I have one with the plainer sole (hornbeam maybe). Nice plane. For daily use jointing I like my old No.6 the best though , since I mostly make medium size stuff and even with longer stuff I just check against the bench for flatness.

[Tom M King]

Wish I'd known you wanted one. I sold mine a couple of months ago. I'd had it for forty years, and probably hadn't used it for 39. I like a front knob.

[Patrick Chase]

They come up use on ebay quite often as well. I have one with the plainer sole (hornbeam maybe). Nice plane. For daily use jointing I like my old No.6 the best though , since I mostly make medium size stuff and even with longer stuff I just check against the bench for flatness.

Yeah, I have a Veritas #6 (the old-style pre-custom kind) with both a cambered blade for traditional "fore work" and a straight one for jointing. I use it more for jointing as I've come to prefer narrow/deep cuts for roughing. As you say it's a nice compromise for a lot of work.

With that said, I just went and jointed a couple more boards with the woodie for kicks, taking 5-6 mil shavings on Soft Maple, and the feel is growing on me. I'm not particularly sensitive to center of effort so I don't mind the high tote position, and I can live without a knob.

I think that the high tote somewhat makes up for the knob in that it inherently applies a fair amount of downforce at the toe. When you push from that far above the blade<->wood interface you unavoidably apply a forward/down rotational moment to the plane.

[Patrick Chase]

Wish I'd known you wanted one. I sold mine a couple of months ago. I'd had it for forty years, and probably hadn't used it for 39. I like a front knob.

I only decided to try one a few weeks ago, mostly influenced by Steve, Brian, Warren, etc. If I'd had the courage of my convictions I'd have ordered one from Steve (next time!), but wanted to learn with a lower-cost plane first. Of course if I were sensible I'd have bought used, but I really wanted to see what species the "lignum vitae" sole is (still not sure) and how it works in practice.

One other thing I should have said that I didn't: At the current exchange rate of $1.11 = 1 Euro it's very cost effective to order the ECEs from Dieter Schmid. Including shipping the ECE jointer costs ~$170 with hornbean sole and ~$220 with lignum vitae. Highland wants $210 for the hornbeam version...

[Warren Mickley]

I used one of these planes when I worked at a historic site in the 1970s. We weren't supposed to use "artifacts" and there wasn't much available in traditional new stuff. We also had an "English pattern" double iron jack and a coffin smoother made by Ulmia, I think.

I think the jointer had a hornbeam sole. I don't remember the handle bothering me, but maybe it was heavier than the 22 inch trying plane I had at home (5 lb 10 oz). I also once bought an iron made for this plane and used it in my trying plane. After a decade I went back to cast steel.

[Pat Barry]

Still didn't happen without pictures!

[Brian Holcombe]

I really enjoy using wooden planes and where they really show through to how great they are is in panel work.

[steven c newman]

IMAG0282.jpg
Another type of jointer. Stanley No.29
IMAG0102.jpg
Do you prefer without a knob..
IMAG0104.jpg
Or with? Both are by Ohio Tool Co. 22" long, 2-3/8" wide irons....without has a double iron, the with has a single iron. Not much difference.

[ken hatch]

Patrick,

I've had one for 30 odd or more years, it's a great joiner. Not as nice as one of Steve's but bottom line it does the job just as well but doesn't satisfy the soul as well. I hope it works for you.

ken

[Patrick Chase]

Patrick,

I've had one for 30 odd or more years, it's a great joiner. Not as nice as one of Steve's but bottom line it does the job just as well but doesn't satisfy the soul as well. I hope it works for you.

ken

Sorry about the late reply, but... I don't doubt that the plane will be a first-rate performer. It's a well-executed example of a time-tested design, and its hard to go wrong with those (other than subjective preference).

IMO there are two big reasons to buy from somebody like Steve rather than ECE/Ulmia or similar:

1. Customization. A big part of the value proposition for small-volume makers like Steve is that every plane is effectively bespoke. In this case I was/am just starting with woodies, though, so I didn't really have established preferences, and that somewhat negates the benefits of customization.

2. Supporting your local plane maker. ECE is a well-established maker manufacturing their own designs in a high-wage economy, so they don't pose the same sort of ethical challenge as, say, WoodRiver/Quang Sheng. With that said, "cottage makers" like Steve and David have been big contributors to the rebirth of quality toolmaking here in the US, and that should be supported where possible.

As I said before, next time, once I know what I want.

[ken hatch]

Sorry about the late reply, but... I don't doubt that the plane will be a first-rate performer. It's a well-executed example of a time-tested design, and its hard to go wrong with those (other than subjective preference).

IMO there are two big reasons to buy from somebody like Steve rather than ECE/Ulmia or similar:

1. Customization. A big part of the value proposition for small-volume makers like Steve is that every plane is effectively bespoke. In this case I was/am just starting with woodies, though, so I didn't really have established preferences, and that somewhat negates the benefits of customization.

2. Supporting your local plane maker. ECE is a well-established maker manufacturing their own designs in a high-wage economy, so they don't pose the same sort of ethical challenge as, say, WoodRiver/Quang Sheng. With that said, "cottage makers" like Steve and David have been big contributors to the rebirth of quality toolmaking here in the US, and that should be supported where possible.

As I said before, next time, once I know what I want.

Patrick.

I agree.

Watch eBay, I've picked up several very nice early (I like the classic/early wedge-abutment better than the current one) ECE smoothers for little money. A couple look as if they were never used.

Another very good "cottage maker" is PhillyPlane in the UK, Phil makes single iron planes that are very nice but he has a long lead time.

Steve's planes are as good as it gets and right now his lead times are short but I do not expect that will remain the case for several reasons. First is the planes are very good, second I know of no other maker making double iron planes at any price, and third his support is the best.

BTW, I've been know to support the guys making good tools :-). It is win/win.

ken

[Patrick Chase]

I've had the ECE jointer for a couple months now. I've forced myself to use this plane for most jointing in that time, and overall I'm impressed. Some observations that might be helpful to other metal-heads considering a woodie:

• I now understand what people like Brian mean when they talk about the feel of wooden planes for things like panel-jointing. It's hard to explain, but it glides over the wood in a way that makes the process easier overall.
• The ergonomics were easy to adjust to. Not having a knob felt "wrong" at first, but that only lasted a matter of days. Similarly, the high tote position and relatively shallow hang angle (they go together, for obvious reasons) were an easier transition than I expected. I prefer upright totes in metal planes, but the shallower angle somehow feels "right" on the woodie. I do find that my bench, which I optimized for my existing fleet of metal planes, feels a touch high with the ECE though. People who are very sensitive to center of effort, like Derek, might not like the high hand position.
• Iron adjustment was probably the easiest part of the transition. I'm not as quick with a hammer as with a Norris adjuster, but it's not enough of a difference to be a productivity issue. The trickiest part was learning how hard to tap the strike button to retract the iron, and also how to hold the plane when doing so (fairly loosely, as it turns out. I found that a firm hand-grip damps the impact of the button-strike and prevents it from retracting the iron).
• IMO the ECE jointer is a screaming bargain as new jointers go. As I previously noted you can get the Hornbeam-soled version for $170 + shipping, and that's for a not-ripped-off design made in a high-wage country.
• I won't give up my #7 any time soon. I'd miss the customization too much, and particularly the option of using it at lower bed angles (it's set up at 40 deg at the moment, though I use 42 more often). I also still like the feel of metal planes for some work.