Faithfull No.7 Jointing Plane

I bought this plane expecting to have to spend several hours tuning it up before I was able to use it. It didn't take as long as I expected however, and once tuned the plane works perfectly. I did have a few issues with the plane, but nothing that would force me to discourage others from purchasing one. The first is the ordering process. It took several weeks for the plane to arrive, and no tracking was provided. However, it did come from overseas, so that's to be expected. If you're someone who gets jumpy when you don't know where your merchandise is you might want to see if you can find it domestically or order a different plane. Second, the packaging is sub-par. Compared to a Stanley plane I recently bought, the packaging for this tool looked like something you'd find at Harbor Freight. The cardboard was thin, and tended to deform while the package was being shipped. It was kind of a shock to pull the box out of the shipping package and wonder "What the hell, did I just waste a bunch of money on a piece of junk?" when you see a cheap cardboard package. Once you get the plane out of the box, it's clear that they really only scrimped on the package. Note that the packaging is so bad you may not be able to get the tool back in the box if you take it out. I had mine delivered to my office, and had to carry the plane home naked after I took it out to show some of my co-workers.... These issues really had nothing to do with the plane itself. The plane was generally in good condition, and all the parts were machined relatively well. The sole was mostly flat, and only took about 20, maybe 25 minutes to get it completely true. The blade and chip breaker were in good condition for the most part, however the back side of the blade had serious cupping, and took a long time to get flat when I was sharpening the blade. Since tuning it, I haven't had any issues, however. A great tool and a good price if you're willing to put in a few hours work to get it set up perfectly.

I am somewhat new to woodworking hand tools, although have purchased quality items like Lie-Nielson in the past. Started to get back into the hobby and have been using more hand tools like planes and chisels. When my electric jointer needed to be serviced, I ordered a Stanley Sweetheart No 67 low-angle jack plan and the Stanley No 7 jointer plane, both planes were >$150 USD each. The Sweet Heart plane came first and pretty quickly. It is made in Mexico and is beautiful and works wonderfully right out of the box. The Stanley No. 7 was delayed. I started reading some of the reviews for it and was pretty concerned. I realize I may need to put some work into a plane but many really had poor results with the Stanley No 7, so I cancelled that order and ordered the Faithful No.7. The Faithful plane was <$90 USD. Many reviewers also complained about the Faithful plane, particularly on the shipping from the UK. I received my Faithful plane today in perfect condition. The sole is square and flat. Wooden handles (not plastic). and it even cut well before honing the blade - which is recommended. All in all I am very happy with my purchase; this seems like a great plane and worth the work to tweak it so it operates well. While I am a big Lie Nielson fan, their No 7 is 5 times the cost of this Faithful and currently unavailable. For me, I think I will still rely mostly on my electric jointer, but the Faithful will be a very cost-effective back-up

Tool is ok, but the blade required to be resharpened a couple of times. It was not sharp enough to cut into soft wood.

Amazon delivered the package in my hands and I immediately took out of the box started working. So impressed what a bargain. All the flat surfaces looks like it had been finished on a flat belt sander. Checked for flatness very acceptable. The sides are out of square slightly no biggie. If you’re looking for something that’s precisely machined THIS is not it. Honestly, not necessary and after taking it out of the box and being unable to start working immediately. I thought for sure I would have to sharpen the blade before I use it, was NOT necessary. By the way, I used this to finish all surfaces on a workbench made out of poplar that measures 3 inches thick by 30“ x 48“. Cut like butter. the heavy weight actually worked to my advantage. I would never spend 4 to 5 times the price. bottom line, it does the job‼️ if you want pretty go ahead and spend the extra $$$ that you could use to purchase other tools. This one is not an ugly duckling. it does the job Period. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST PURCHASES I’VE EVER MADE ON AMAZON.

First off I bought it from Great British Tools and they were great, had excellent communication, the packaging was sufficient and it arrived realitively quick, no complaints with the seller. But let's talk about the tool, it's rough, for how cheap it is you expect that you'll have to do some work to it, but my gawd there's work and then there's just despair really. So the minor issues are that the blade had some chips, not too bad took me about 45 mins to get the blade to a perfect 25 degree angle with a 30 degree tertiary bevel, then I had to file the throat a little bit, again not too bad. Now we kind start running into some issues starting with the chip breaker, first off it wasn't square, it was excessively sprung, the main issue with it though is the sloppiness of the threads, it's got quite a bit of play to it and tighten it down cause the whole thing to move makes it a nightmare to set up. Let's move on to the frog, the lateral adjustment is just shit, the adjustment knob is sloppy af, y yoke is just weird and cheap, the frog isn't really adjustable cause of sloppy machining, either the hole wasn't tapped straight or the circular adjustment screw isn't completely circular. Where the frog seats might be some of the worst machining I've ever seen, looks like some hacked the metal out with a chiesel. Screw on the front knob sits proud of the wood so it's quite uncomfortable to use. Etc. Etc. So ya it's a cheap ugly looking plane, it'll get the job done but it's not gonna last you a lifetime and it's not a tool you'll really enjoy using.

Update: Was adjusting the frog and the frog casting broke. So as other reviewers have noted, this plane requires some labor to get it right. I bought both a number 6 and 7. I'm fairly new to bench planes but have come up to speed rather quickly. These were additions to a Spear and Jackson no 5, which I'd guess are made at the same factory as you can't really distinguish any differences in the casting and knobs. First off, packaging was poor, and when received, the no 7 black was sticking out of the shipping box! Fix that please! Yeah, the surface wasn't flat, but that was easy enough to fix, maybe 30 minutes for both. Initially, I was very frustrated especially with the no 6. as I could not get it adjusted so I could get both the blade out and retracted because of the sever backlash. The chip breaker also needed some work to get it to be flat against the blade. Yeah the blades needed some flatening too but not to bad. Really was thinking they were probably going back. I'd gotten a Hock blade for my no. 5 and that really improved the plane so much. Make it easy to adjust and cut like a dream. Stays sharp for a very long time. I'd recommend that. The no. 7 was usable stock, but what was weird about both is when I sharpened on my diamond stones, I never would get a burr. They do on all other steel I've sharpened. They would cut but that was weird. Maybe not hardened correctly? Another reviewer mentioned the blades and breaker were poor so I bought a wood river blade. ~$40. That made a huge difference in the performance right away. Now I had a useful jointer plane for sure, and am happy with it. For the no. 6, I bought a Veritas PM V11 blade and chip breaker. All the sudden the HUGE backlash issue was wrong. The stamped hole for the depth adjustment was oversized was the root cause. The VERITAS chip breaker slot was much smaller, like 0.190" vs 0.218". So now my no. 6 works wonderfully, but it doubled the price. I'd recommend that if you are considering these that you might want to factor in the price of a new blade and chip breaker. I think the Hock is really good. The PM V11 is good too, but those cost about $85, so now you need to think about other options like bench k9's and the like. If I were to do it again, not sure I'd go with Faithful again. What I have now are good functioning planes with probably about an hour each of fussing and two new blades and one new chip breaker for about $120 to make both planes really work well IMO. Note here that the no 7 got a woodriver blade. The woodriver, veritas PMV 11, and the HOCK are all excellent upgrades. My no 7 chip breaker (or the part that fits into it for depth adjustment just had less slop. I would not take away from this that the no 7 is better than the no 6 I think it was just quality variability. I ordered mine on July 4, 2024, so maybe they will fix the blade/breaker quality issue in the future. It took a few weeks for them to arrive! So I think if you assume you will spend another $85 on a upgraded blade and chip breaker, AND you are okay with some sweat equity, they can work as well as any other. Then again, I think if I had it to do all over again, maybe I would have bought a Lie Nielson for 2x the cost in the end and had something that worked out of the box like a dream. Oh, the frog needed ( or at least got) some smoother work and the machining between the frog and the bed were very crudely machined. I might have more than an hour into getting them tuned. Valve grinding compound seemed to help smooth that out a bit. Not sure how good of an idea it is though. I recently added a no. 4 premium stanley. that worked really well by comparison with very little fussing at 2x the price and it is stock. So 5 minutes to get wafer thin chips vs lots more. If it isn't fun for you to make a silk purse out of a sows ear, don't get them. If it is, they can be very impressive planes. Would I recommend them.... I think I would NOT buy them without factoring in the potential for needing to upgrade steel!

When you buy this, You are buying it to "true it up." It is not fair to give this product a bad review for simply sanding the sole, and honing the blade and chip breaker. You get what you pay for, but it terms of quality its great. No "extreme" issues. You are buying a rough plane here. Lie Neilson adjusts the cost for it to be done at the factory. Lie Neilson was once a rough plane in its manufacturing process. --THINK ABOUT IT-- The only problem that is important that I have found, is the Yoke or "Y lever" seems TOO short, and maybe not as precise because of this reason. Its an integral part of the plane, and that is why it is important. This can be solved in removing the pin and placing another style on it. [...] has some for sale. Easy to fix! The second but minor problem is the pitting on the cap iron. -To me I like a tool that looks nice. The third problem that you are running a risk of if you were to buy this FAITHFULL product line of hand planes, is the "Tilt blade adjusting lever" or "lateral adjusting lever" that moves the blade right to left. It may be a little off. Or it may be the frog itself causing it to be off. You will run a risk of this in buying these hand planes. But may I remind you, that it is very hard to get the lateral adjusting lever working in symmetry with the frog. So, its not bad, Just a little bit off. Once they pin this lever on, ITS ON THERE! You cant fix it. Unless, you get a new frog, and re-center it for symmetry. But other than that, a quality plane. one that can contend with the high dollar ones, as long as you put a little work into them. It saved me a good bit of money, but sometimes you just got to compromise. Brush it up a little bit. Its not going to kill ya.'

Context: I’m new to using planes and this is only the second one I’ve owned. Bottom line is that it’s great, I like it, great results, and it needs tuning before it’s ready to use. I’ve been getting great results and created an almost machine finish flat workbench top out of laminated pine 108” long 2x4’s. I don’t know of any plane that’s new or used that is 100% ready to use the moment you get it. I put a couple of hours into tuning this thing and it works great. Here’s a list of what I’ve done to it so far. - smoothed/flattened the sole on 220 sandpaper spray mounted onto a flat piece of glass. There’s still a minimal hollow spot on the toe and heal but the sides are flat and smooth from front to back. - leveled and smoothed the frog on that same sandpaper setup. The sides came into true quickly but it will take more to get to the slight hollow of the center. - prepped the iron and chip breaker. Standard stuff that every plane needs. A couple of good stones and a strop are a must. Gripes: - my hands aren’t the biggest, but the handle on the back is a little small, even with a 3 finger grip. - the frog adjustment screw can’t be adjusted until the rear handle and the depth adjustment wheel (which is a nice brass one) has been removed.

Came flat and sharp, started planing within 5 minutes of opening the box. I prefer the screw instead of the lever, easy to set up. Only design flaw is that the sharp end of the lever cap can't be used to tighten the chipbreaker screw. Depth adjustment screw is pretty fine which is nice. Was able to flatten a board cross-grain easily.

Not perfect 90 deg between sides and sole, but otherwise nice quality.

J’ai du faire quelques modif pour que se soit parfait

. صناعة جيدة والشفرة مستقيمة لاتحتاج الى عمل كثير.. ليس مذكور صناعة وين. ولكن اظن صناعة هندي او صيني

So I received this thing today and I have to admit I had trepidation. The price is quite low and it is certainly not a well establish name like Stanley, Lei Neilson or Veritas. SURPRISE! The shoe is straight, the mouth is square and straight, the adjustable frog is flat on the face and mounts flat on the shoe. The chip break is properly fitted and fits tightly against the iron and the pressure plate has been milled to put good event pressure on the blade assembly. AND, the iron was sharp, right out of the box. All of the components are beefy and the side of the shoe are square to the base. After minor adjustment the plane passed smoothly through the material (4 inch wide mahogany). If this company can continue to deliver this quality, I can’t imagine ever wanting to buy another brand. Take this from a guy that was jack planing white oak on a 28 foot home built boat hull (chines and batons) at 11 years of age. The plane? A Miller Falls #5. This plane is as good or better than any vintage Stanley I’ve ever owned and I've owned them all.