Customer Reviews

Stanley 12-247 Block Plane

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I saw this plane at Ace Hardware and thought, what the heck, I've always wanted a block plane. I had a $5 off coupon if I spent $15, and the plane was $17. Wasn't really expecting much from it. Got it home, tuned it up, slapped a board up on the bench and tried it out. Boy was I shocked, this little gem out planed a planer I spent three times as much on. I was amazed at the long smooth planing strokes across the full lengh of the board, with not a single chatter. I would definitly say I got my moneys worth.

At $15, I didn't expect much from this plane. I bought it mostly as a "beater" plane that I could get banged up. Out of the box, the plane is horrible but after about 4 hours of fine tuning, it worked great. What took the longest was flattening the sole. The millmarks on the sole were deep and the sole was slightly concave.
I flattened the sole, the front of the cap (where it meets the blade), the bed, and the back of the plane blade. Then I sharpened the blade and put a microbevel on it. I waxed the sole and was ready to go.
Now it works great. I never had a plane I had to put so much work into. Maybe I just got a bad one but I did get it to work fine in the end.
Can't complain for $15.

Great little plane. For the price it's a charm. Just needed some fine tuning in the sharpening dept. and it has done a fantastic job in my shop. I even got rid of a large plane due to this little plane.

I saw another reviewer got a plane that he had to retool and rework to get good results from. I bought mine for one small project, and after struggling with this plane for a little while, I quickly gave up and used another approach instead. I've used other planes, and never had so much difficulty. I may get it back out and see if I can retool it to work better as the previous reviewer did, but reviewing it as the plane I received rather than one I had to repair after receiving, I can't give it more than two stars.