Draper 45241 Expert Smoothing Beech Wood Plane, 250mm , Blue
Draper 45241 Expert Smoothing Beech Wood Plane, 250mm , Blue
| Weight: | 2 kg |
| Size: | 250mm |
| Dimensions: | 26.59 x 14.81 x 7.01 cm; 2 Kilograms |
| Model: | 45241 |
| Part: | 45241 |
| Colour: | Blue |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Batteries Required: | No |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Manufacture: | Draper |
| Dimensions: | 26.59 x 14.81 x 7.01 cm; 2 Kilograms |
| Quantity: | 1 |
| Size: | 250mm |
What a good value for money plane this is that would recommend
Liked it, did the job and sharp as a sword
Full review to follow after I have used for longe
This is very well made and strong should last a long time not at all flimsy .
almost like they used to make them!
Cannot really review this myself because it was a Christmas present for my dad. He had a really old cheap one so was over the moon when he opened it on Christmas Day. All in all was a great idea and perfect prese
For a beginner you need to learn how to use it, after I learned to to use I was very excited and happy because this made my projects really easy, this tool should be in your tool box.
Once initialised and sharpened could not fault it. Don’t really know why it specifically mentions Beech Wood as it worked fine on a number of woods. Hard and soft. Though i am only a DIY user so probably don’t understand the intricacies. Seems well made and sturdy and easy to use once set up.
For the price it is what it is a inexpensive plane it’ll get the job done when set up the wooden handles feel great honestly for the money even if it doesn’t work for you as a go to smoother it will still make a more than adequate scrub plane mine came with an extra iron so I’ll probably use it for both smoother and scrub until I’ve enough cash to splurge on a more expensive plane if I feel the need to but this little plane feels solid so who knows .
Given the price and reading the reviews from the usual bunch of Tool-Snobs i took a chance on this plane anyway, yes the blade needs sharpening so buy a whetstone if you dont have one (at this price you cant expect a razor sharp blade out of the box) the blade isnt dull when it arrives its just not very sharp and doesnt have a clean edge. I spent 30/40 minutes to strip the plane down cleaned of the oil (the tool is coated in oil when it arrives this is obviously to mitigate rust during storage) sharpened the blade set it back up and it works perfectly well! Honing the blade is easy it just takes a little time its a skill worth learning and 2 minutes on youtube will show you how.
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.
A quality plane that is comfortable to use and produces nice, fine shavings after the usual sharpening. Mine had a slight ledge on the chip breaker where it meets the plane iron. This needed exact flattening to remove the ledge and ensure the chip breaker smoothly meets the iron – a matter of 10 minutes on the diamond stone that made a huge difference to the plane. All adjustments work well. The handles are made from nice hardwood and feel good in the hand. I cannot fault this plane and it is excellent value for money.
Pretty solid hand plane. My only complaint is the lack of instruction on the proper way to set up a hand plane from the start (and perhaps that is simply my inexperience talking), but that’s nothing that a couple Youtube videos and some trial and error can’t overcome.
And for anyone who thinks I’m being disingenuous go to the Englishwoodworker site – an artisan who makes wonderful furniture and used to make very high end workbenches for his take on hand planes.
Anyway. out of the box this will get a decent shaving on pine. It is of course styled the same as the old Bailey design and which has not been bettered – and I include the newer super heavyweight Lie-Nielsons etc in this. I have one and I never use it because frankly it’s too heavy and the A2 plane iron is a pain in the butt to sharpen.
I have therefore a bunch of old Stanley planes set differently with irons of varying degrees of curve on them. This one I bought for my son as he is now in his own gaff and is now discovering the realities of fixing up an old house with the woodwork to go with it.
Anyway, out of the box this works. But naturally you will want to do something with the blade to make it work better and I put a slight curve on it and hone the edge down to 8000 grit on a waterstone. It works just as well as any other plane.
It’s light enough in hand to be easy to use. Quality is decent enough. Not going to set the world alight but with a bit of polishing on the sole and honing the blade its perfectly good enough for just about everything.
Best of all its cheap so you can buy more than one and set them up differently.
Lovely looking plane. Quite heavy which is good for the job, but weighty for the toolbag.
Only time will tell on build quality.
This is a ‘Draper Expert’ plane, which it doesn’t say in the description.
It took a bit of effort for a novice to set it up but with perseverance, you’ll work it out. Couldn’t find much on youtube.
The brass screw on the top was properly tight and took a lot of force to unscrew but I got there eventually.
The blade was reasonably sharp and took off some shavings after I set it up.
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.
That said don’t expect to get a plane that is ready to go straight out of the box. The sole on mine was actually reasonably flat from the factory and required very little work. The frog, and the seating of the frog, required a fair bit of cleaning up and smoothing down to get a good even contact, but you might very well have to do that on a Stanley plane too.
The biggest job was to sharpen then extra plane iron that comes with this plane (the one that was already fitted had a good 25 degree bevel and only needed the final honing/30 degree secondary bevel). I’ve attached pictures taken of the extra plane iron straight out of the bag it came in, and it obviously required a fair bit of grinding to reach a workable bevel.
It took me about an hour to get the plane up and running (not including the spare iron), and I must say that with a sharp iron and the adjustments set right, you get some fairly good results with this plane, and certainly a lot better than I had expected. The adjustments seem to work well but I have not yet used the plane enough to say how long it will maintain the adjustments. The UP/DOWN adjustment of the iron has a lot of slack on the adjustment wheel, which can be annoying if you have to adjust the depth very often.
All in all I believe that this plane is good value for the money – finished a lot better than other brands in the price range – and I can recommend this product for home/DIY use.
Nice tool with good wooden handles that feel nicer than the expensive Stanley planes plastic ones.
Its cheap because they obviously haven’t spent any money putting an edge on the blades.
If you’re good at sharpening and setting up planes then this is fine, otherwise go for a more expensive model.
I personally think it’s great value for money when compared to others at twice the price.