STANLEY Hand Planer, Black (12-220)

Good product. They make better but if you don’t need it a ton it’s perfect.

I'm fairly new to woodworking, been slowly moving from dimensional pine and cedar lumber to more hardwood custom pieces. Decided I was tired of going through loads of sand paper and it was time to get a planer. Now, I am not near ready to spend $100+ on a small block planer.. that just seems insane. I did a LOT of research and I know Stanley has a good name in the business and this seemed a decent entry level model. I knew I was going to have to do some fine tuning of the plane once I got it, but I was surprised by how much work I actually had to do to get this thing working smoothly.I watched a lot of videos and how to's on tuning up a plane. Most recommend using a flat surface like a pane of glass and various grits of sand paper, I specifically bought a $2 marble tile for this, flat as can be. To start with flattening the sole (bottom) of the plane and removing machining marks they recommend using ~120 grit. I went at it with 100grit back and forth for about an hour and still was not getting the nose or heel of the plane. After about 3 sheets I moved it up to 60 grit. Another 30mins and man I still hadn't touched the toe or heel of this thing, it must have looked like a banana from the factory. I finally gave up put it in a vice, made sure it was level, and got out the orbital sander with 180grit. Using consistent back and forth movement I was still not hitting the low spots. I bumped it up to 60grit and was finally able to get the whole sole a nice matte after another 20 or so minutes. Took it out of the vice, then went back to doing it by hand back to 100 grit, 140, 180, and finished at 320. Luckily this is pretty much only a 1 time tuning, but I was not really prepared for how much work it took. Put some paste wax on the sole to prevent rust and took a break.BTW..do this outside and wear a mask and gloves. The aluminum dust gets everywhere and can't be good for you.With the sole flat and smooth, i moved to the actual blade. This was easier but still took a fair amount or work. You will need a angle guide, you can find them for ~$25 on Amazon here. People say you can do it by feel.. but just get a guide it will save you a lot of headache.Once that was done and sharpened up to 800 grit (highest I have, people do much higher usually though and strop it) I re-assembled it and cut nice shavings. Then I used it to remove glue from a joint and level the matting surfaces. Took only a couple passes. Then used it to level out some misaligned end grain, which is where block planes shine. I had a bit of tear out on the pine, but that was my fault for not sandwiching the piece.So I'm sure the more expensive planes have their reasons for being more expensive like an adjustable mouth (hole that the blade protrudes from makes it so you can adjust how thick the shaving is somewhat) but this thing works for the basics. It just took a lot of elbow grease initially to grind it into shape.

When it comes to this Stanley hand plane I have no complaints I've had it for 2 years now and it was sharp out of the box I use it almost every day for the money for somebody on a budget starting out woodworking it is your best block plane that you can buy out of the box it's Sharp you can work with it right off the bat and know that you won't have to sharpen it right away good quality blades flattened right out of the box it is the best hand plane you can buy when you're on a budget even for somebody like me that doing woodworking for 27 years now and haven't used hand tools much but need a new block plane and it's the best one I ever bought

I'm a fan of Stanley wood planes; I've always gotten good products from them, but based on things I've read and other Amazon reviews there does appear to be some quality control issues at their factory(s). My advice is if you get one that is going to require hours of work to get "right" just send it back! The block plane I received was almost ready to use out of the box... it just needed to be sharpened (I don't expect any tool to come out of the factory all that sharp). The blade is manufactured in England (see picture), I'm not sure where the rest of the plane is manufactured because I threw away the packaging. The sole was almost perfectly flat, but had some sort of clear lacquer or paint on it which I removed... probably didn't need to, but I was worried about it gumming up. The grind on the sole and sides of the plane are a little rough looking, but that has zero impact on its function... as long as it's flat!Just FYI - there is no throat adjustor on this plane.

It feels like it’s good quality. I just can’t get it to work well. I’ve never used one and I’m learning. But so far I find myself using my wood scrapers instead.

I was hoping this would be a good one judging by some reviews, it turns out I must have gotten a great one or some of the other reviewers were super carpenters. I did start sanding the bottom, but didn't see any reason to put much time into it because in a half hour's time I was more than satisfied. I did sharpen It at the same angle it came with, in no time with a few grades of stoned it had an edge that would shave Your thumb nail if You wanted it to. Using My old Junior High methods I adjusted it and started playing with it. I'd bought some old Oak tanned saddle leather mostly about 1/4" thick and stiff. I tried every kind of Skiver I could find on line and the one I finally ended up was from Tandy's, which would Skiev really well but uneven "push it like a chisel". I tried this plane and It leveled things out very well. Now I can turn that leather into usable, among a big bunch of other chores. As My old wood shop Teacher always said "Set them sharp planes on their sides" Yup. ~ :- }

This is a decent little plane out of the box. I did grid the sale with sheets of sandpaper on glass. It didnt take too long and the result was pretty good. I also lapped and sharpened the blade which also came out nice. I reccomend this plane.

Good product, I should have ordered extra blade