Draper Expert 250mm Smoothing Beech Wood Plane | 50mm Blade Hand Tools | High Carbon Steel Manual Tool | Wooden Handle and Knob | 45241

Excellent quality, sharp & did the job

This plane is well made but I would not recommend it for beginners who don't know how to sharpen and adjust a plane. It is made of very good materials and mine came with a properly flat polished, smooth and level base and a reasonable setup out of the box. It also comes with a spare iron (the blade of this type of plane is known as an iron). The handles are wood, the brass adjustment knobs and screws are very solid and it feels like a first-class piece of equipment. In spite of the above there was some work to do before I could use this item. On the box it says "Fully adjustable high-carbon steel iron correctly hardened, tempered and ground". Nice if it were true, but the last part isn't for sure. The iron fitted needs careful work before use to put a proper edge on it and so does the spare. This isn't a problem for me but for many people who want something they can use immediately the result would be disappointment. Sharpening the iron isn't hard once you've done it a few times but some people find it hard to learn. YouTube might be your friend, take a look at a few tutorials on there before you decide if this is for you. If you have much doubt about your ability to do the sharpening, spend more money on a plane that has its iron already sharp. Because I have the stones and the oil and I know how to create an edge this is a real bargain for me, as a plane of this quality would cost quite a bit more if all that was already done. Just be aware that you're saving money but buying half an hour's work if you know what you're doing. If you haven't done the grinding before though, it may take you a couple of hours of study and work to get this plane ready for use.

Great value took a little time and YouTube videos of how to use, now works great

I’ve had this plane for just over two years. It’s a good starter plane for anyone new to woodworking, just be prepared to outgrow it. The blade will need some work to get the back flat and to take the hollow out of the bevel. If you have the right tools such as sharpening stones it’ll take no time at all. Once it’s flat and honed it will be razor sharp, and the plane works very well. The casting isn’t perfect and the plane is lighter than it’s higher quality competitors. You’re paying a fraction of the price though, and the light weight actually isn’t terrible for smoothing work. The sole of the plane is pretty flat and required very little work. Some bees wax or machine oil makes it fly along.

Superb piece of kit.

I am not sure what sheerness and thickness as above mean in the context of this hand plane. I wanted a plane to replace the one I have and having looked at the reviews of planes on Amazon I realised I was more of a novice than I already thought. After looking at the various reviews I decided on the Draper expert and it arrived quickly and well packaged. I was in a bit of a hurry with a DIY project so used the plane from the box with minimal adjustment and it worked fine for the piece of wood I wanted to reduce in thickness. I was very happy with the plane after this first use and I got what I wanted done. Now at a more leisured pace I can look again at the video suggested in the reviews and see if further adjustment is needed. Having already got a plane some 60 or so years of age I can see that materials now might not be what they once were but I am happy with this hand plane , it does the job and I think it is reasonable for the price and is a worthwhile purchase. My fears when I placed the order were groundless.

Opened the box and discovered the blade locking plate was loose. May have been packed that way, the box lid illustration claims it has under gone stringent quality control. If so they should sack the person doing the quality control. The two blades in the box (One on the plane, one packed) where both very, very blunt and unusable without sharpening. The wooden handles are of such poor quality that I will be stripping them and sanding the surfaces as they are ridged and rough as they have been varnished by someone with a a pot of varnish and sand mix also the rear handle was very loose. The fore handle Knob had deep scratches and if I used this I would guess I would get blisters due to the rough textured surface (No it isn't for added grip. No its added grit to the varnish). I didn't expect the same quality as say a top end Stanley Bailey smoothing blade but the quality is really bad. I will strip and redo all the wood handles and sharpen the blade, the baily style mechanism seems to work so fingers crossed. If it wasn't such a mare I would send it back for a refund. I awarded 1 star and I may be able to salvage a suitable tool when I am finished redoing the plane. In hindsight I should have bought a second hand Stanley smoothing plane off Ebay and refurbished it and if required bought a new blade. If you area professional tradesman DO NOT buy this as you will curse the day it arrived. Moral of the story is Buy Cheap Buy twice and be out of pocket.

At first glance, a replica of a Stanley/Record No 4. Nicely made and finished, but not as efficient as the original makes. It tends to rattle a lot when in use, the blades seem too soft a steel as they sharpened within seconds, and the settings of iron and cap have to be spot on the have the blade projecting. Probably worth the money for doing odd jobs, or where the plane iron may get damaged, but not a serious contender for quality. The spare blade is useful since the steel is softer and a sharp spare saves the task of honing, as the first will blunt quickly.

Needs a good deal of work out of the box, but that's par for the course with a plane at this price point. Sole and frog needed flattening, throat needed to be squared, and I ended up sanding the finish off the totes and replacing it, as I could scrape off the original finish with my fingernail (it also appeared that they were finished while they were attached to the plane, as there was some varnish on the blade and the sole of the plane...). The adjustment wheel and yoke have a huge amount of slack. After a couple months owning this plane, I've noticed that the blades (comes with 2) don't hold an edge whatsoever, the steel is quite soft. I bought an old Stanley Defiance from around the fifties at a flea market shortly after buying this, and I actually prefer this one; it's heavier, with a little more cast iron to it, and the wood on the totes is actually quite nice after I stripped the varnish. If you're prepared to spend some time tuning it, and some money on a new blade along with it, it's a decent tool

MUY BIEN , pero debe conocer el uso y ajuste inicial de esta herramiemta . bien ajustada , funciona muy bien

Op het oog een goede schaaf, heb deze schaaf nu een tijd in gebruik en merk dat het gereedschap veel onderhoud nodig heeft: veel en vaak slijpen, blijven afstellen. De houten knop op de voorkant laat al los. Het aftelmechanisme van de schaaf (li-re) is nogal gammel.

Presa usata ma arrivata praticamente nuova. Ovviamente la qualità è bassa ma il prezzo è bassissimo. Dato che non sono un professionista, con un po di olio di gomito e pazienza la sto rendendo utilizzabile e i risultati sono più che soddisfacenti

Ich habe den Hobel als günstigen Hobel für den Einstieg gekauft auch vor dem Hintergrund, dass er nur etwa ein Fünftel von dem kostet, was man für einen Stanley Bailey No. 4 bezahlen müsste. Ich bin positiv überrascht - der Hobel funktioniert einwandfrei und ich konnte auch keine scharfen Grate oder so etwas finden. Ebenfalls ist nach meiner Einschätzung die Sohle plan - ich habe sie auf eine Glasplatte gelegt und konnte keine Wölbung erkennen, es wackelt auch nichts. Die Klinge selbst ist durch die Konstruktion fein einstellbar und sitzt bombenfest. Bei der Mutter für die Tiefeneinstellung sparsam sein, höchstens eine Viertelumdrehung auf einmal machen. Es sind zwei Klingen dabei, die beide zuerst geschärft werden müssen. Das vielleicht als kleiner Kritikpunkt. Direkt loshobeln kann man also nicht. Bei meinem Exemplar war der Griff etwas lose, ich habe das beim Draper Kundendienst moniert und unkompliziert einen Ersatz bekommen, musste den Hobel nicht einsenden. Insgesamt also ein brauchbarer Metallhobel mit einem sehr günstigen Preis. Zudem unbürokratischer Kundendienst. Passt für mich!