Clifton Block Plane...disappointing!
Posted: 13 Jul 2019, 21:31
I recently sold a few odd n'sods elsewhere in part to fund the purchase of a Clifton Block Plane. I'd fancied one for a while and heard good things of it a while ago from Paul Chapman, late of UKW. One was duly ordered from Classic Hand Tools and it arrived in record time the very next day.
It's a heavy wee beastie and difficult to use one handed, plus I found the Norris style adjuster in a smallish plane awkward to laterally adjust the blade....it's much easier to tap it with a small knockometer. That wasn't the worst thing though by a long shot because when the mouth was closed up really righty-tighty as you'd expect for a block plane, the blade couldn't be set parallel with the sole....it was 'up' on the lhs.
Now I checked it and double checked it (possible burrs, a speck of dust raising the cutter etc etc) but every time it was the same result; the blade was out of kilter with the sole. The only possible cause was poor bed machining which raised the cutter a fraction on the lhs (as you sight down the sole)
When I'd payed nearly £300 for a block plane, I expected it to be absolutely bloody perfick straight out the box. This one wasn't , so after a very brief call on the dog n'bone yesterday morning, it's now merrily on it's way back to CHT and a full refund will shortly be appearing in my bank account - Rob
It's a heavy wee beastie and difficult to use one handed, plus I found the Norris style adjuster in a smallish plane awkward to laterally adjust the blade....it's much easier to tap it with a small knockometer. That wasn't the worst thing though by a long shot because when the mouth was closed up really righty-tighty as you'd expect for a block plane, the blade couldn't be set parallel with the sole....it was 'up' on the lhs.
Now I checked it and double checked it (possible burrs, a speck of dust raising the cutter etc etc) but every time it was the same result; the blade was out of kilter with the sole. The only possible cause was poor bed machining which raised the cutter a fraction on the lhs (as you sight down the sole)
When I'd payed nearly £300 for a block plane, I expected it to be absolutely bloody perfick straight out the box. This one wasn't , so after a very brief call on the dog n'bone yesterday morning, it's now merrily on it's way back to CHT and a full refund will shortly be appearing in my bank account - Rob