STANLEY Hand Planer, No.4, Adjustable, 2-Inch Cutter (12-404)

Many of the reviews here say you have to do a lot of work to make this plane functional. You have to grind the heal, machine the manifold, steam the iron with rhubarb, run the screws through the flux capacitor and send it through a trash compactor to get it to work. As My Cousin Vinny said, everything that guy just said is bullsh...I have to say that mine worked great right out of the box. I didn't even sharpen the iron. However, I did sharpen it after about an hour of use and it again worked great, possibly slightly more so than new. Since this is a lower end, entry level plane, I think it may be shipped with a decently sharp blade, ie, not everybody has a nice Arkansas stone sitting around.The instructions for the plane are abysmal. Do you run the plane straight ahead or at a slight bias? How much is a "hair" of blade? What is the "adjustable" part and what is the effect? None of these things are covered adequately.The solution is simple - pull out the plane and practice on some sacrificial wood.Pros:* $15 at the moment for a very versatile, all around plane* Works right out of the box* Adjusting will make it work even betterCons:* Handle is too small for my sasquatch hands. Have to pretend you're a kid in the '70s playing cops and robbers and form a gun with your hand to handle the tote handle. No "criss-cross applesauce" up in this joint.* No chipbreaker* Horrible instructionsWho is this plane intended for? I needed to plane some boards for a specific reason - a butcher block. I could have bought a full on thickness planer, an electric planer, or a wood planer. I wasn't sure how much I'd use an electric job so another tool sitting idle sounded like a bad idea. This and possibly the larger jack plane are supposed to be the most versatile, all around planes, so I went for it. Now that I know I like planes, I can't wait to try out a nicer plane, maybe a block plane and a jack. Could this be my only plane? Probably. I am no New Yankee Workshop. But it has opened my eyes to what it can do. I've now generated about 4 small baskets of wood shavings and it was way easier than I ever imagined, and downright fun. It's much funner than stealing the remote from the wife or hiding the kid's cell phone so get one now.

Great plane. Strong, sharp, sturdy. Will last a lifetime.

This bench plane is GREAT for the price. however know that because your paying so little for it.. I would highly suggest you take 350 grit sand paper and Rub this on it for about an hour or 2... (for me at about 10 mins at a time).. It's painful but well needed.. This is NOT level and needs to be properly leveled out before used. KNOW this before you buy. you cannot just get this and start using it. it will be terrible if you go to do this. Take the 1-2 hours.. level this out and it will be a GREAT tool that will last you a very long time. Also note that it also helps to sharpen the blade before use each and every time. And inbetween long sessions of you using it. (about 20-30 mins) ESP on soft woods that will dull the blade faster.

For the price, good value. Sharpens up well. Adjustment takes a bit of time but once done works well. Just make sure you sand the handles down or you'll have blisters!! Oh yeah, the base needs a bit of work but mine was actually quite true. It just needs smoothing with a finer grit sandpaper than the factory used!

Let me start by saying a high quality plane will hold its value, and you will more than likely be able to sell it for nearly as much as you paid for it (or more if you get a deal on a vintage one). With cheap planes, on the other hand, even if you put hours of work into it like I have, it's nearly worthless as soon as you open the manufacture's packaging.I knew what I was getting into with this plane. I'm a beginner woodworker on a very tight budget, so this seemed perfect for me. I didn't mind the idea of having to lap (flatten) the bottom and sharpen the blade, because these are things I want to be able to do anyway. Boy was I in for it.I spent $10 on wet/dry sandpaper right off the bat, and got to flattening. I made some progress at first, then after a while I didn't seem to be going anywhere. I spent 10 more dollars on even coarser sandpaper, and went through that too. Then I spent $5 on metal grinding compound, and that seemed to speed up the process a lot, but there is still a LOT more work that needs to go into it.To be clear, I'm not expecting a perfectly flat outcome here. After all my work, there are still outrageously high spots near the blade that render this plane unusable for anything close to fine work.I've seen a video of someone having better results than me with this plane, so maybe you'll get lucky. In my case, the bottom is horribly concaved front to back, and not level side to side, and this isn't evident until you've put in hours of work. With that said, I wouldn't be interested in a replacement even if the company offered me one. I don't have another five hours or another $20 to put toward grinding products. I'm going to do what I suggest that you do: Save up for a proper bench plane. Most of my tools are inexpensive and they work great, but my lesson learned is that a bench plane is not something to cheap out on.Tldr; You might get unlucky and end up with a plane that's concaved and unlevel to the point that it's not a usable tool, which is not evident until you've put in at least an hour of elbow grease and wasted money on wet/dry sandpaper that could have gone toward a proper plane.

As a new woodworker, I underestimated the usefulness of a bench plane - it just didn't seem as versatile as some of the other gadgets. Bench planes are listed in almost all the beginners' wood working resources as a necessity, so I figured I'd give it a try - the price was fair. Boy I am glad I did! It's such an easily controlled precision instrument. Using it is easy once you get the general sense of it, and it has a zen-like quality to use well. This one has good fine adjustments, a decent blade, and can pull very thin layers of the top of the wood. I'll probably also build up some good forearm muscles with the amount I am using it though, a bonus from a workout perspective I suppose!