Spear & Jackson 3 Inch Smoothing Plane

For the price its fantastic I paid $21.76 including tax and shipping! I have been experimenting with these modern hand planes from India under various names Grizzly, Draper and Spear & Jackson.I think there is a larger degree of variability with many of these planes from India, some are better machined and made and require a little less work. This plane by S & J was one such plane? It required the least amount of work out the 3 recent planes I have gotten. They all require flattening the sole and this was no exception just that it was closer to flat to start with. The blade and chipbreaker weren't bad either and was able to flatten and sharpen them in short order. I did not check the side squareness to sole since I had not planned on using it on a shooting board. The handles were nicely finished a bit more like the handles from Grizzly they were nicely shaped and finished with only like light oil or wax finish which is the way I prefer them, you can actually feel the wood this way. I had to fuss with the plane a little to get the blade and mouth adjusted properly but then it would take nice shavings, I may convert the plane into a scrub plane with a convex sharpening of blade? Overall very worthwhile plane! and I might look and see about ordering other sizes of S&J?

Es una buena compra por el precio que tiene.Yo tuve que cambiarlo por otro igual porque el primero que llegó tenía una rotura profunda de las fibras en el mango, que aunque estaba "reparada con masilla" hubiera dado problemas al cepillar porque se habría roto.El cepillo se cambió y todo bien con el siguiente.Buen acero en la hoja, que cuando se afila corta muy muy bien. Buenos acabados en la cama del cepillo, bien el mecanizado de todos los tornillos. Perfecto para cepillo de alisado.La suela no es perfectamente plana, el contrahierro hay que darle un repasito para que no tenga luz con la hoja y esas cosas que hay que hacerle a casi todos los cepillos.Recomiendo la compra.

Esteticamente bella.. Alla fine è una n'3.... Ottima per chi vuol provare a spianare la suola e capirne i meccanismi.La lama da 2mm di spessore non è affilata e si piega avvicinando il controferro. Per il prezzo che ha (anche senza sconto) non so quanto valga la pena comprare una lama nuova che costa nettamente di più. Ottima come soprammobile o per chi è alle prime armi e vuol provare a rettificarla. (dal prezzo si evince che non potrà mai essere una pialla ottima e pronta all'uso)

Bardzo dobry stosunek ceny do jakości. Polecam

Overall, this might be good to learn to fettle a plane or if you already know how. A true beginner might be very frustrated with this tool. For the price, it is a good value as long as you know what you are getting into. I have to commend S&J for making a number 3 at this price, and compared to any other source of number 3 planes, this is a tremendous deal. After many months, still there it is at a great price, it is a great thing that S&J even offer it. But there were some quality control issues that could trip up a beginner.The casting was dead flat on the sole and perfectly square on both sides. This was excellent. It is a thick casting that feels very solid.The chip breaker is on the cheap side, just a slab of metal, but not too bad and doesn't need to be fancy to work. The blade and chipbreaker were ground well enough and didn't require much to make perfectly flat. The chipbreaker did have a rounded edge I didn't like, so I spent 30 min turning that into a bevel-type edge and ensuring it was flat against the blade. After using, I think the iron quality is basically fine, no obvious issues there.The wheel mechanism is OK, better than some other cheapo models. It is smooth, but it does have some slop. The pressed metal piece that links with the blade itself to advance it was too loose against its mounting pin. So I hammered a nail to remove that cross pin from the frog, and then hammered the eyelet openings the pin runs through to smush them a bit and make the fit tighter. No more slop there.The frog is the big problem. Mine had a casting that wasn't properly milled, as the factory left a wad of iron next to the screw hole that interfered with the screw height. It raised the screw head against the blade until it made the blade ride above the frog bed! (My photo shows the location...like a blob of iron that was not milled out.) I used a drill and a thin HSS chisel to gouge that blob of iron out so that the blade would seat properly. A normal person would send it back rather than do this.There were also some small chips on the edges of the frog bed casting, but nothing that affects performance.The mouth had some extra iron near a corner that needed very careful filing out for the blade to seat properly on the mouth. The mouth is pretty open for a smoother, so I bought a thicker iron that's in the mail now.I used a hand file to go over the frog bed and other parts that needed to be flat. Overall except for the big stupid errors, the castings of the frog and body are quite good, if that makes sense...and especially compared to other planes in its class. It's as if nobody checked this one, quite strange.The handle will need some TLC to get it more comfortable. It's a nice wood and not sloppy at all but truly needs reshaping with files because some edges bit into the palm too much.After spending an afternoon getting everything as tuned as I could, I got decent 2-2.5 thou shavings and pretty good performance. I still think there's more fine tuning possible based on the results I'm getting so far. It doesn't feel as smooth as an old stanley 4, but I hope I can improve that.Overall, I'm happy to have a no 3 size for the price, and I'm treating it like a thrift store find, so I'm happy to put in work as its own project. In truth, nobody needs a number 3, so most people will regard this as a side project. For that, it is rewarding.I do wish the S&J markings were more than a light little etch on the side. But that's just me. A stamp on the iron would be a nice touch, for instance. A proper chipbreaker would also be fitting.Edit: Months later it is working flawless, the blade has held up well, I get full width shavings and it is really nice to use. The number 3 size is thinner and lighter than most similar smoothers, so I like to have it nearby. Also I see I am listed as Vine Voice. I just joined this week and bought this plane months ago with my own money. Just FYI.