Customer Reviews

Stanley 12-920 6-1/4-Inch Contractor Grade Block Plane

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're a carpenter, you probably have one of these in your bag. If you're not a carpenter, you should know that even in this age of all sorts of sophisticated power tools, there's no replacement for a quality block plane. There's no other tool that will shape and smooth wood as effortlessly and as accurately.

For the price of a cheap, throwaway power tool, this is a precision tool that with care will outlast more than one owner. You can spend more, but the Stanley has all the necessary features- a decent blade, an adjustible throat and solid steel and brass parts. With a little tuning (a half hour's work with some sandpaper and a sheet of plate glass) it'll cut as well as the fancy $250 planes. For most woodworkers it's probably the only hand plane they'll ever need.

This is a solidly built block plane that will give you years of service once you spend a little time and tune it up right. Nearly every plane made requires some fine adjustment out of the box so that should not be considered a negative when purchasing this item.

The cap iron may need a little lapping at the front bottom to fit smoothly against the plane iron. The blade comes with a serviceable factory edge but I honed mine nonetheless. Check the blade for flatness and lap the back if necessary. The bottom of the plane should be checked for flat and the sides for square before you commit to using this on your finer projects.

Again, most planes need this kind of tuneup as they come out of the box. The only fault I have with this plane is that the rear adjustment screw has a bit too much free play (a sixteenth of an inch) between the adjustment screw collar and the blade adjustment. I fixed that by disassembling the mechanism and fitting a brass shim around it.

Stanley has been making planes for a long time. They do know what they are doing. I have a few of these around for general purpose work . I also have some Lie Nielsons and I love them but I keep them safe and out of reach of others'. I don't care who uses the Stanleys. I know if they get ruined , I'm not out much. With a little tuning a stanley will do a respectable job. Lap the sole and the iron ,put a good bevel on it and it will cut aggressively or produce a fine shaving. The adjustable throat is a must for avoiding tearout. I like the low angle version of this plane a little better. It is easier to control .It also makes a finer cut. It won't cut as deep however. To get a better plane you will have to spend at least twice as much so this is not a bad deal.

I purchased one of these planes a few weeks ago. I was impressed by the smoothness of the moving mechanisms, and the sole appears to be of good quality. The cutting iron was not flat but I guess this is typical. It took some work to get it flat. I don't have a diamond sharpening stone so I was using sandpaper - pretty slow because I didn't want to use a heavy grit to get it down. Using various grades of wet/dry sandpaper I was able to get it nice and sharp. The sole was pretty flat, but it was cupped in the middle just a bit. I lapped it flat as well. While not as critical as other components, the cap iron left much to be desired. I was not at all pleased with the quality here. The edge that meets the cutting iron was not straight. It was all lumpy. I thought maybe it was just thick excess paint, but when I ground it flat with some rough sandpaper I had to go through the paint to the bare metal. It was a terrible casting. It wasn't too hard to make it flat, but I had to take off quite a bit of material before I had solid metal from edge to edge - it was that bad. You might want to open the box and inspect the plane before buying it. It is unbelievable that a so-called quality tool would have such a defect. Having said that, I must say that overall I am pleased with the tool. I knew it was going to take some tuning to make it worth using. It does a great job now. Very handy to have around. Don't expect it to perform well right out of the box.

This is a solidly made plane at a reasonable price. Stanley has been making planes for many decades, and this, which is their latest version of a block plane is well made with the features most pros look for in a day to day plane. The construction is solid and it stands up well to work on the job site. It's not up to the highest standards of say, a Lie-Nielsen bronze plane, but if you are looking for a well ctafted plane that will stand up to the rigors of every day use by a professional carpenter...this is the plane for you.

I bought the plane and learned that all the previous reviews are true. The pressure plate was a rough casting all covered in paint and the bottom had hollow spots in the middle of the base and in the forward plate and the iron was dull and not flat on the back. Three sheets of coarse emery cloth, two sheets of medium emery cloth, two sheets of fine emery cloth, 1 sheet of 400 WD paper, two water stones, and about 3 hours of work turned this plane into something that sings through walnut producing 12inch curls of .001 thickness with ease. Some reviews mentioned that the controls were too stiff, but that was not my experience. While I missed a few hours of TV, I now have a plane that meets my needs and I still have a lot of money that didn't go for the more expensive model that i coveted.

With a little tuning this plane performs nicely. Sure you can buy much more expensive planes that will perform better out of the box but for the moderate user this plane is a great value. Trueing your plane only takes a little time and is well worth the effort. I'm sure those who have rated this tool poorly do not know how to tune a plane. The mechanism is not quite up to par with really expensive planes but with a little work can be made to perform within good limits. Microns do not necessarily good woodwork/furniture make...

Mine came without a flat bottom (so did my expensive Veritas). Flatten the bottom and sharpen and this is a fine block plane. Don't get me wrong - my Veritas is a much nicer tool with a much nicer blade but I keep this one adjusted differently and use it almost as much. In soft woods with a sharp blade the difference is not noticeable.

If you have some time and skill to fine tune this plane, it has the potential to be a useful tool. I was initially taken aback by how much refining the plane needed. I dont mean just honing. It comes with an edge that needs work before it can be honed to the point I would call it sharp. The other parts fit tightly, causing you to fight them just to make an adjustment. I expected better fit and finish. I like a plane, or any other tool to work smoothly, like it was passed down to you from your grandfather.
It isn't something that a little time and patience can't fix. And I suppose that you could make the argument that this fine tuning will make you more familar and thus more confident with this tool.
All in all, it's worth the price. Just plan on breaking it in.

This is a good general purpose plane for trimming long grain edges and for chanfering. I recomend the low angle block plane for end grain work though. What really impressed me though was how tough it was. I accidently dropped it about 4 feet onto a concrete floor and it didn't have a scratch or crack on it.