New Hand Planes Coming Out - NEW Pictures!

Sean Wright

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WNY, Buffalo Area
This isn't meant to be an ad or sales pitch for WoodCraft. I just wanted to let everyone know about something that is coming out soon.

In the very near future WoodCraft will be carrying their own line of hand planes (Wood River brand name). They are featured on the cover of the latest catalog (not on their website yet). We are giving out this catalog at our store, but I haven't gotten mine in the mail yet.

They are going to be 4 or 5 models based on the Stanley Bedrock line. Supposedly they are better than the Groz planes, but of course not as good as the L-N Planes. The pricing (which I don't have at hand) seems reasonable. I have been trying to find out who is making them for WoodCraft, but I haven't had any luck yet.

I am interested to see how they stack up to the current planes that are on the market.
 
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This isn't meant to be an ad or sales pitch for WoodCraft. I just wanted to let everyone know about something that is coming out soon.

In the very near future WoodCraft will be carrying their own line of hand planes (Wood River brand name). They are featured on the cover of the latest catalog (not on their website yet). We are giving out this catalog at our store, but I haven't gotten mine in the mail yet.

They are going to be 4 or 5 models based on the Stanley Bedrock line. Supposedly they are better than the Groz planes, but of course not as good as the L-N Planes. The pricing (which I don't have at hand) seems reasonable. I have been trying to find out who is making them for WoodCraft, but I haven't had any luck yet.

I am interested to see how they stack up to the current planes that are on the market.

they had a Blip on them in the latest Woodvraft Magazine also, but don't "THINK" they said who makes them, (IIRC).
 
They're out....

I work at a Woodcraft store, and the first set of the new planes came in last Friday. I examined them thoroughly, and though there are a few sharp edges, they don't need much (if any) tuning right out of the box. They are VERY NICE for the price, and the are designed to fit LN blades. I was extremely impressed with them, and they most certainly are better than new Stanley and Groz......by leaps and bounds. They are priced very well, and I think they will quickly become a best seller in the world of hand planes.

I am not promoting these planes because I work there, truly. I really am astounded at what nice tools they are!

Hutch
 
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Thanks for the update, Matt. I've read some positive comments about them. (And of course, a bunch of naysayers who don't figure it's possible to make a plane that's somewhere between a new Stanley and a LN or LV plane in both price and quality.) If the Wood River line is a success, I wouldn't be surprised to see other companies follow suit.

A couple of years ago I bought a Groz #4 from my local Rockler that one of the employees had tuned up somewhat, including flattening the bottom and honing the iron. It hasn't been a bad plane in the limited use it's had. Now that I know a bit more about setting up and sharpening planes, I need to get it out and play with it a bit more. For starters, a trip to the Tormek would be in order. ;)
 
...a bunch of naysayers who don't figure it's possible to make a plane that's somewhere between a new Stanley and a LN or LV plane in both price and quality.....

Vaughn, it's not about the possibility, it's about not wanting to support yet another loss of manufacturing to the far east.

NAY NAY NAY.
NAY.

best regards,
Ken
 
I understand the desire to have something good for less, it all comes down to a personal choice. For me, if I were in the market for a new plane, I'd buy a Veritas in a heartbeat over the new Wood River plane, I'd rather cry once over the price, and know I now own an heirloom quality tool, but that might just be me.

I'm sure that they will sell a lot of these planes, they do look good, but I VERY much doubt that they have the R&D that has gone into the Veritas planes :dunno:

To me it is just a bonus that I'd be supporting a Canadian company while doing this.

Cheers!
 
LOL

Well Stu and Ken, I don't blame you one bit. :) If it comes down to location of manufacture, than I certainly would purchase American or Canadian if possible. With the rough economy, I truly appreciate any and all who put up the extra cash for home grown quality. It's sorta like my dream of starting a woodturning based business...sorta. Tons of people go to the low quality mass producers of turned parts, but they will never be able to match the quality I can provide, though it's more expensive.

Truthfully, I haven't had the opportunity to use any Veritas planes. Veritas will only sell certain things through Woodcraft, and refuses to distribute certain tools. My claims to the Woodriver planes' quality/pros has nothing to do with economics or country of manufacture.

I certainly encourage a person to judge a tool after it's in their hands. But I also feel it's completely legitimate to ignore a tool based on location of manufacture, and at times I even promote that in one's decision making process. However, in this case, I still can't get over how well machined these planes are. The unexpected quality certainly has thrown me off. Now all that needs to happen is to have a person with a Veritas plane stop by and give me a chance to try it as well. ;)

Hutch
 
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The new Wood River planes came in at my store last week. One of the first things I did was to pull out the no.6 and the no.6 Groz and do a quick side by side comparison.

The Wood River is noticably heavier than the Groz. As advertized the blade is thicker as well. The machining seems to be well done. The brass knobs are beefy too. I didn't get a chance to get out a square and check the sole. The tote felt comfortable in my hand. The blade seemed to have a decent bevel on it, though it will still a need a light touch up.

The store's owner said that he was looking forward to adding one to the class room shop. I can't wait to give it a try when he does.

I am going to see if I can bring my camera in and do some side by side shots of say a no.5 in the Wood River, Groz & L-N. If the boss is ok with this, I'll get the pictures up for everyone to look at.

I'm not going to get into the any of the debates on these planes..... Rip off of Stanley's/ L-N's design or the one on which over seas country made these. My first impression, after holding one, is that it appears to be a quality tool that is being sold at a reasonale price. I think there is a market for these, as being much better made than Groz, but not costing a fortune like the L-Ns.
 
The new Wood River planes came in at my store last week...I am going to see if I can bring my camera in and do some side by side shots of say a no.5 in the Wood River, Groz & L-N. If the boss is ok with this, I'll get the pictures up for everyone to look at. ...

Sean,
If you do get to take the pics, I'd be very interested in seeing the frog attachment mechanism. Is it like the old Bedrocks and the L-Ns, or is it more akin to the 'regular Stanleys?

Even if it's a 'kit' plane, I'd be interested in trying out a #4 (too bad they don't have a 4½) to tune up and use. Might be an interesting project.

I'd like to do a 'hands on' prior to buying one, but the closest Woodcraft store - at least on that has any amount of merchandise in stock - is 175 miles away, in Columbus.
 
Jim,

If you are planning to go to the Woodcraft that is "near you", I would give them a call and ask if they have the one you want to see in stock. Maybe have them put your name on it.

My store only received one of each type in...in the initial shipment of them. I wouldn't want you to drive all that way only to find out that the plane you want to look at is out of stock.

If I can take the pictures, I'll take one "apart"--not any screws, but the parts that can come off by hand.

I only work there 2 nights a week, so I have to wait until the next night in....and it has to be a quiet night too... if we are busy that has to come first.

Sean,
If you do get to take the pics, I'd be very interested in seeing the frog attachment mechanism. Is it like the old Bedrocks and the L-Ns, or is it more akin to the 'regular Stanleys?

Even if it's a 'kit' plane, I'd be interested in trying out a #4 (too bad they don't have a 4½) to tune up and use. Might be an interesting project.

I'd like to do a 'hands on' prior to buying one, but the closest Woodcraft store - at least on that has any amount of merchandise in stock - is 175 miles away, in Columbus.
 
Picture Set1

I was able to take some pictures of the Groz #5, Wood River #5, and the L-N #5 for comparison last night. When pictures of individual plane/plane parts are shown, the order is Groz, Wood River, then L-N.

Note: I took these pictures with the permission of the store owner.
 

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Picture Set2

More Pictures...
 

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Picture Set3

More Pictures... The first 2 pictures are the Groz and Wood River. The 2nd 2 pictures are the Wood River and L-N.
 

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Sean,
Thanx much for the pictures! They give a really good comparison among the three, and they also told me a lot of what I wanted to know about the Wood River planes, without my actually handling one.

Were you able to evaluate sole flatness, or blade back-flatness? Is the W-R blade as thick as the LN?

Overall, it appears that the W-R compares fairly favorably to the LN, and is miles ahead of the Groz.

There may be a W-R in my future - just for 'evaluation purposes, of course... I do wish they'd make a 4½, though.
 
It looks like Wood River not only copied the old Stanley Bedrocks, like Lie Nielsen did, but they also copied the Lie Nielsen improvements like the improved chipbreaker. I am kind of thinking that is a slap to face of Lie Nielson by Woodcraft. I don't want to start a dogfight over this issue like the one at Woodnet, but I am starting to see what the fight is about. Thanks Sean (and Matt) for providing the information and the pictorial comparision. One thing is clear, Wood River is clearly a better looking product than Groz and should pull sales away from Lie Nielsen and Lee Valley.
 
I haven't read the stuff on Woodnet, but I don't understand why someone would complain about one company using the non-protected design improvements that another company has made. That's the way we make progress as a society. One company makes an improvement and sells a product based on that. Then another company comes along and uses the non-protected ideas of the first company, adds their own improvements, and sells that. The process just keeps going, gradually improving the products we buy. There are ways for a company to protect their original design improvements (patents, copyrights, etc.).

One immediate improvement in the Wood River planes is the lower price (that's a significant improvement in the market).

As Netwon said, "If I have seen further, it is because I've stood on the shoulders of giants."

It's the way the world works and it works well for all of us.

Mike
 
Sean,
Thanx much for the pictures! They give a really good comparison among the three, and they also told me a lot of what I wanted to know about the Wood River planes, without my actually handling one.

Were you able to evaluate sole flatness, or blade back-flatness? Is the W-R blade as thick as the LN?

Overall, it appears that the W-R compares fairly favorably to the LN, and is miles ahead of the Groz.

There may be a W-R in my future - just for 'evaluation purposes, of course... I do wish they'd make a 4½, though.

Jim,

I haven't had a chance to check on the sole flatness or blade flatness yet. However the Wood River blade seems to be as thick as the L-N. I didn't get out a caliper or anything, but by eye, it looks to be about the same. The Groz is notably thinner.

Also in handling all three, the Wood River is notably heavier than the Groz. The L-N seems to be just slightly heavier than the Wood River, but again not by much.

As of right now, the current models are a Low Angle Block (12 1/2 deg), Bench plane numbers #3, #4, #5, & #6 (noted as a fore plane). Sorry no #4 1/2 yet:(
 
but just how do we determine where they were made?

Ned,

In looking at the Wood River Plane, I didn't see any marking of country of origin on it. The planes came in on a day I wasn't working and were put directly into the display case. I haven't see the boxes that they shipped in yet. I'm sure we still have them at the store some where. If I find then, and they say where they were made, I'll let everyone know.
 
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