WoodRiver vs Lie Nielsen block plane

[Randy Heinemann]

I bought the Wood River block plane several years ago. I love it. I don't know how much better the LN or Lee Valley planes are but I use the Wood River plane more than I use any other planes in my shop (mostly because I don't do a lot of hand work except for easing corners and some other small stuff). I like the weight and found no negatives with it.

I did buy the #101 LN Violin Maker's Plane from Lie-Neilsen (not because I'm a violin maker though). At first, it was just a cool little plane but, after I had it for awhile, I now think it was one of the best hand tool purchases I've made. It works great for some very small adjustments and, for easing edges, it just can't be beat for control and final results. Because it's bronze, the weight is really nice for a small plane.

Sorry this is a little off the topic of your question . .. so, to directly answer your question, I wholeheartedly recommend the Wood River plane based on my experience.

[Jeff Ranck]

...
Do any of you have any input on the WoodRiver block plane?
At a price point of $165 for the Lie Nielsen, is it really worth a 65% jump from the WoodRiver?
...

I first bought the woodriver block plane and got a lot of good service out of it. It worked well. Like others here have posted, I didn't like the cap that kept popping up. Also, the adjustor was hard for me to reach. It is quite a bit wider than the LN. That may or may not matter. Eventually, I sold the WR and bought the LN. I like the size a lot better as it fits my hand better. It adjusts easier and stays adjusted.

I think the WR gives a lot of value. I would not hesitate to purchase one. However, I do like the LN a lot better. Whether it is worth the price difference? I guess that depends on what you value and how much you're willing to pay.

Jeff.

[Mark Maleski]

(It is the middle plane in the three LN planes, above)

Jacob, I must disagree. The rabbet block plane is quite hazardous as an everyday block plane. The side edges of the blade are constantly projecting, and you will cut yourself .. we all do.

Agreed; not only do the blade projections draw blood but a mis-aligned blade will spoil the cut (in the wood). One of the joys of a block plane is that it’s ready to go as soon as you grasp it (provided it’s kept sharp). Every time I use my rabbet block I spend a few moments ensuring the blade is set where I want it...and these adjustments are too fiddly for most beginners.

FWIW, I have the brass LN apron block plane and the bigger LN block, and almost always find myself using the apron block. I have normal sized hands, and prefer the size. Have never touched a WoodRiver.

[Adam Grund]

Wow there's some great info and insight in these posts! Thanks for all of the opinions and reviews.
I don't love the idea of buy once cry once, mostly because I'm in unchartered territory here. I've just very recently gotten the finer woodworking bug, and I do think I'll stick with it over the span my life, but I don't know that for certain. If I applied buy once cry once to everything, I could spend $20k easily outfitting a shop just to find I suck at the craft, get uninterested and sell everything for a nickel on the dollar 😆
There's so much to learn, and tooling is so costly- it does get pretty overwhelming pretty quickly. Being an auto mechanic by trade I'm no stranger to the costs of tools and I recognize the quality difference of low and high quality tools and the effort needed to work around the shortcomings of cheap stuff. Which is ok when you know what you're doing- and can be absolutely counter productive to a person that has no experience and doesn't know what to look for.
Just looking for that sweet spot of dollar to performance value without breaking the bank. I will say though- that veritas premium ss is one beautiful plane! Completely out of my beginners proce ranfe though lol

[Tom M King]

I'll add my two cents, which really not applicable to the question, but about block planes.

I bought a Stanley 9-1/2, and a 60-1/2 new in the very early '70's. They're both the burgundy color. Years later, I bought the same models that are NOS pre-WWII. I don't find any loss of quality in the newer ones, and in fact, very little difference at all. My users are the burgundy ones. These were probably made in the '60's, but at some point later, the design was changed, and I never liked the "improvements".

The 9-1/2 finally had its iron worn down by sharpening to the point that the notches didn't leave enough iron projecting to be able to be used, so I bought a replacement Hock iron. I still use the one with the Hock iron, and never bothered to grind down the square corners, but square corners on the top of the iron are not something you want on a block plane.

I always keep one handy if for no reason other than taking off pencils marks with very thin shavings, as in the picture.

I would recommend getting the one that feels best in your hand, and I would never buy another snap on cap after the first one I bought.

[Simon MacGowen]

I don't love the idea of buy once cry once, mostly because I'm in unchartered territory here. I've just very recently gotten the finer woodworking bug, and I do think I'll stick with it over the span my life, but I don't know that for certain. If I applied buy once cry once to everything, I could spend $20k easily outfitting a shop just to find I suck at the craft, get uninterested and sell everything for a nickel on the dollar ��
l

I hear ya.

Buy once cry once is really a concept; it is not universal true on everything. I go get a HF cheapo for one-time jobs or once-in-a-blue-moon applications. But when you plan to use something very often and with high expectations, don't go cheap. With cheapos, you get frustrated because you don't know if it is the tool or yourself (skills & techniques) that results in poor work. Just take the table saw as an example, so many woodworkers struggle with sawing results from their saws. I spent $4000 on a cabinet saw with all the bells andwhistles, and done with it. Perfect cuts every time -- for the rest of my woodworking life. The cabinet saw is used in 90% of my projects. $4000 is cheap if you look at the no of times it is used and the consistent results it gives you. Before I sold my Kapex, perfect cuts every time, too.

When you buy premium tools and end up having to sell them (for whatever reasons, loss of interest, say), you get 70% or so back from your investment. I often resell my tools (Festool, Veritas, etc.) recovering between 65% and 120% of my payments. With a weak brand, you would be happy to get back 50%. I often end up paying well well below rental rates to use my tools or machines after several years. People including my neighbors wonder how I could keep buying ("exchanging" in effect) new models and new tools.

Simon

[Jim Koepke]

Wow there's some great info and insight in these posts! Thanks for all of the opinions and reviews.
I don't love the idea of buy once cry once, mostly because I'm in unchartered territory here. I've just very recently gotten the finer woodworking bug, and I do think I'll stick with it over the span my life, but I don't know that for certain. If I applied buy once cry once to everything, I could spend $20k easily outfitting a shop just to find I suck at the craft, get uninterested and sell everything for a nickel on the dollar ��
There's so much to learn, and tooling is so costly- it does get pretty overwhelming pretty quickly. Being an auto mechanic by trade I'm no stranger to the costs of tools and I recognize the quality difference of low and high quality tools and the effort needed to work around the shortcomings of cheap stuff. Which is ok when you know what you're doing- and can be absolutely counter productive to a person that has no experience and doesn't know what to look for.
Just looking for that sweet spot of dollar to performance value without breaking the bank. I will say though- that veritas premium ss is one beautiful plane! Completely out of my beginners proce ranfe though lol

There is no need to spend $20k to test if your skill and enthusiasm for the craft will be sustained. One of the advantages of starting with the quality of LN or LV is their resale value is in the 80-90% recovery range. Some foreign buyers will actually pay more since a used article can avoid the import or Value Added Taxes.

As an auto mechanic, my guess is you do have knowledge of how things should fit together and how the different geometries can affect performance of a tool such as a plane. Though it could be easy to understand why at the end of the day you don't want to fettle metal, you just want to get right to working on a woodworking project. One of the most difficult aspects of woodworking is keeping the edges of the tools sharp.

Here is a repository of information that is useful to anyone getting started in woodworking or even those who have been working wood awhile.

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?103805

jtk

[Andrew Seemann]

Being an auto mechanic by trade

If you can fix a car, you can definitely clean and tune up an old block plane. The only thing that is tricky is learning to sharpen the blade, and you need to do that regardless of whether you go new or old, premium or standard. I'm not saying whether it is worth your time to do it, but if you have that kind of skill, it is definitely a viable option.

[Adam Grund]

i have no doubt that I could clean and tune an old one up. evaluating my position right now, I think my time is better spent not having to spend the hours getting up and going, instead going right to the 'going' part.
I'm very enthusiastic about learning the craft, but at the same time I work full time, have a wife and a one year old that I value spending as much time as possible with. My time I dedicate to woodworking right now is minimal, so I'd like to make that time count.
Actually, when I put it on paper, I couldn't think of a worse time in a life to fall in love with a new hobby- but then again is there ever an opurtune time for anything?

[Andrew Seemann]

That allocation of time thing is the hard part. I used to do all my own car repairs, but now I have my mechanic do most of them, even though I still have the tools and a much better garage than I used to. It just isn't worth saving $70 to a brake job anymore. Plus the body complains a lot more about crawling under cars now compared to when I was 23. I still do some repairs, but only if I can do most of it from the topside.

I remember those days of having a one year old. Getting an extra two hours of sleep might be worth the cost of a new plane vs restoring an old one

[Rob Luter]

Sure, I’ll chime in.......

I have refurbed about a dozen Stanley block planes. I’m really good at it. At one point I had three 60 1/2 models of various vintages that I felt were excellent users. Then that year Santa brought a L-N 60 1/2. Game over. The L-N 102 followed. While I keep a vintage Stanley #18 and #65 (well tuned knuckle joint versions) they don’t even come close to the L-N planes. It’s not that the old timers don’t work well (they do) but the heft and precision of the L-N versions bring a whole different experience.

[Jim Koepke]

i have no doubt that I could clean and tune an old one up. evaluating my position right now, I think my time is better spent not having to spend the hours getting up and going, instead going right to the 'going' part.
I'm very enthusiastic about learning the craft, but at the same time I work full time, have a wife and a one year old that I value spending as much time as possible with. My time I dedicate to woodworking right now is minimal, so I'd like to make that time count.
Actually, when I put it on paper, I couldn't think of a worse time in a life to fall in love with a new hobby- but then again is there ever an opurtune time for anything?

That allocation of time thing is the hard part. I used to do all my own car repairs, but now I have my mechanic do most of them, even though I still have the tools and a much better garage than I used to. It just isn't worth saving $70 to a brake job anymore. Plus the body complains a lot more about crawling under cars now compared to when I was 23. I still do some repairs, but only if I can do most of it from the topside.

I remember those days of having a one year old. Getting an extra two hours of sleep might be worth the cost of a new plane vs restoring an old one

One of my common refrains is if you have the time but not the money, rehabilitate old tools. If you have the money and not the time, buy what you like and can afford.

With a young child in the house there are always things one can make for them like desks, tables, shelves, dressers and chairs. They may become heirlooms or passed on to friends with newborns of their own.

jtk

[Adam Grund]

With a young child in the house there are always things one can make for them like desks, tables, shelves, dressers and chairs. They may become heirlooms or passed on to friends with newborns of their own.

jtk

And that is what brings me to this current rabbit hole. My start was just building 2 sections of oddball sized cabinets for a cheap kitchen rearrangement (Which still isn't fully done. Life) and realizing how much I enjoyed it. I pretty much was only interested in case work- cabinet, pantry, bookshelf, stuff like that.
Furniture, lathe stuff, oddball creations never really appealed to me. Then one day a short while ago I was browsing an incra photo gallery and saw a really beautiful jewelry box (actually, I saw a lot of really beautiful pieces, but one really stuck out to me) and it hit me- if Some day I could build my daughter something even half as nice as that jewelry box looked, that's something she could hold on to and treasure even after I'm long gone.

[Dave Parkis]

If all you want to do is ease corners and make small chamfers, I don't think it matters too much and would suggest that you consider vintage. There are several people here that rehab and sell planes and most of us guarantee the tools we sell, so if you don't like it you can always return it. If you think you'll be venturing into joinery and trimming dovetails, I would suggest either the LN 60 1/2 low angle block or a Veritas. Lie-Nielsen tools are guaranteed forever and if you decide later on that, while there's nothing wrong with the tool, you just don't like it you can easily sell it for at least 80% of what you paid for it.

[Curt Putnam]

I only have one new point to add. When I start a new hobby (well when I did) with a steep learning curve, I have never regretted deciding to buy top-notch gear. My reasoning is/was that I wanted any failings to be clearly on me and not the tool. I have an LN 102 that I dearly love and LV LABP, Pocket plane and DX 60. I've not yet used the latter two. I also have a pair of rabbet blocks and some old, cheap Stanleys that adjust with a hammer. I may have a block plane problem. Will the WR be serviceable? Yes. But an LN or LV will lift your heart while they challenge you to do better.