jointer plane

I have a very old Stanley #8 type-4 It’s pretty good but I would go with a bedrock #608 or the L&N #8 (patterned after the 608).

-- Chris

I’ve been using Bed Rocks and type 11-13 Stanleys for years. Honestly, I don’t see that much difference in performance once you get any of them ”tuned.” Currently, I use a type 13 #7 smooth sole. After tuning the plane, I upgraded the iron to a Hock and a Clifton Stay-Set cap iron. The stiffer blade matched with a stiffer chipbreaker really showed me how well the plane could work and I use it on every project including upside-down! Check it out here…

http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/jcees/blog/4145

If you’ve got the dough, go for a Lie-Nielsen as they’re ready to rock right out of the box. Older Stanley’s are still available and can be had for a fair price even on eBay. I sold a #8 and a fixer-upper #608 a few weeks ago for under $100 each. A tuneup and $65 dollars more for a new iron and chipbreaker and either of them will take .001” shavings easily. I did however find my first Bed Rock at a flea market. Schweet!

I’ve also got a type 3 #608 with corrugated sole to tune up. I want to slightly camber the iron for the purpose of smoothing my bench top. I’ll blog the tuneup process as soon as the weather cools a bit. Till then, enjoy your search.

always,
J.C.

-- "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein

Have you considered the LN LA Jointer $350. I own the jack and am very pleased with it. There is a description of it listed under “block planes” on the LN web Page. It is in that group because it is bevel up.

-- Ciao, gth.

I have a Lee Valley bevel up jointer and it works great, love using it, very easy to work with and cost $245.

-- "You get what you inspect, not what you expect"

Another vote for the LV BU Jointer (with the extra steeper angle irons as well). It works great even on harder/figured wood.
But for < $100, I’ve also got a lowly Anant (not even the newer/improved Kamal version) that does a pretty respectable job.

-- Use the fence Luke

You didn’t really tell us why you didn’t like the Record. That makes it hard to recommend anything else.

The record was not flat at all, hard to adjust and would not hold an edge. Could be remedied, but got a bad taste for it, let it sit around for years ( I wasn’t doing woodwork then either), then sold it.

I bought an old Ohio Tool Co. No 7 off of ebay and spent a few hours working on it. Works pretty good.

Veritas and Lie Neilson are going to be the few all cast iron planes that don’t need some initial outlay of time and effort to get a good plane.