Quangsheng #7 try/jointer plane

I sold my collection of hand planes retaining my Bailey#3 and Millers Falls block plane to fund the purchase of a Chinese copy of the Lie Nielsen copy of the Stanley bedrock design. This plane is a dream. They have a different brand name in the US and Australia but I recommend highly getting one at over half the price of Lie Nielsen. Sole is flat and the blade is a superb piece of carbon steel. I planed up a piece of birdseye maple hammered with eyes and had no tearout. The finish was so good it required no sanding.

So now I have a very long hand plane for truing and jointing, a short compact smoothing plane for headstocks and fingerboards and a cool little block plane for end grain truing etc, instead of a pile of planes some of which I rarely used. Gonna attack the chisel rack next! Also, when I step into the dark side later this year to build those Weissenborns and that Guitar this long hand plane is going to come into its own with those extra long seams. If you bookmatch by hand this plane is a must with the #6 coming a close second. However the #6 has a design fault in that the tote is set too far back from the the blade advance wheel and you cannot adjust with the forefinger while grasping the tote unless you are ET.

Lastly it is very heavy and a day using this, you will be well on the way to the semi finals of the world arm wrestling championships!

In North America these are marketed under the brand name "Wood River".

Let's see a picture, Pete. Sounds like a good purchase.

Is this the one Pete?

This is the one I use. Gotta love a hand crafted plane made by an Aussie from some beautiful Australian hardwood.

Yes it is and THAT is one mutha of a wooden plane Allen! Although I admire the artistry of it I like the utiliterian nature of a metal bodied plane. This Chinese thing is so well made it really is worth sacrificng a bit of Zen to use it

Interesting to see Chinese products costing so much. This opens up opportunity, innit...

I think where Western concerns have a hand in Chinese production the price is going to reflect this. These particular hand planes are actually comparable to Veritas and Lie Nielsen falling just a little bit short in the final finish dept. The body casting isn't 100% but the trueness of the casting is. Also, the frog advance mechanism is a great improvement on the original bedrock design.

Chinese consummersim is pushing up wages and prices in all areas. I think the era of really good value for money goods from China is upon us as they realise that we have had enough of the low end stuff. The more prominent they become, the morer accountable they are and hence the quaklity should improve We can hope...

Terry Gordons planes are just a joy to use. I know that wooden planes really scare quite a few people, but a well made one is very easy to set up. Adjustments are just the smallest tap with a mallet. That handle pulled out and is tapered so you can use it on it's side on a shooting board with the handle sticking straight up.