SlickPlane (1/16" Radius Plane) - Review

Ah, sounds like your heading down the slippery slope. Next stop, Lie-Nielson. Seriously, let us know how it works out after a few months. It looks pretty handy.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

I don’t know about Lie-Nielson yet, Wayne. The local woodworking club here doesn’t meet in the summer months. I think I will want to test drive a borrowed “nice” plane before that investment. I have some not quite bottom shelf planes that are great for small projects. They dull fast and don’t adjust as nicely as I imagine the $100+ dollar ones do. I just saw a circa 1850 30” plane in a local classified ad here for $25. 30” seems huge for a plane. Might be worth it just to play with it.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

You will have to try a LN Low Angle Block Plane. You will be hooked. Also, you can get pretty good results with Hock blades in a Stanley plane. 30” sounds like a jointer plane. Be sure to check for a narrow mouth, plenty of iron left and for cracks.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

I like something Adam Cheribini said in an article in PW. He said one should get a $5 yard sale plane and learn to tune it until it works right. By then you will have earned the $250 pretty plane but will probably continue to use the first one. I certainly agree about the Hock blades, Wayne. When I wear out my irons I will replace with Hock. I tryed a Clifton two piece chip breaker in one of my #3’s but didn’t like it. It seemed to be two big. Jeff, you’ll get hooked on useing hand tools along with the power. It balances the approach to fine woodworking.

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

I think you’re right Thos. I’ve started to enjoy using a few hand tools for certain applications. Plus, I do like to put some time in the shop at night when the kids are asleep. Nice to have a couple quiet tools to use. I can get my Stanley Planes in pretty good shape, but they seem to require constant sharpening. I might look into the Hock blades as suggested.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

UPDATE: Ok, I’ve used this tool for about a month now and wanted to follow up on my initital impressions. In the month since the purchase, I’ve been working on a 2X4 wall mounted lumber rack, a walnut jewelry box, and a “Norm” style router table. All three remain incomplete as I have a short attention span. The plane still softens the edges fast and with little effort. The only limitation that I didn’t realize last post was that it is useless on smaller projects for the most part. It is really designed to make chamfers on stock longer than a foot or so. I also did more harm than good on a curved edge. I think with practice, it could handle the curve though. Still a good buy for less than $20.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

Following up on my initial thoughts: Been using the plane sparingly for a couple months now. My opinion has changed drastically. The cutters are cheap and prone to chatter. The frame is prone to splitting if tightened toom much. My opinion, save your money. Won’t be using it anymore.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

Too late. You talked me into one. Now you drop the other shoe.

Sorry. I bought one about 5 years ago and I don’t think I ever used it.

Now I know why.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

I have one. After much fussing to get the cutters the right depth and centered, I had really bad chatter and tear out. Might be able to sharpen the blades, but then I’d just have to set up all over again.

-- Coffee is best with a fine layer of sawdust on top. -- http://www.north40custom.com

I had the same problem with cracking when tightening the jack screws or lateral adjustment screws (allen heads).
Easier to take a pass or two with a block plane and soften/refine with sandpaper. Or set-up the roundover bit in the router table.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Well it sounds like several of us Lumber Jocks fell for that little novelty plane – including me. I’m happy to hear that I’m not the only one that had no luck with it. It does look good hanging on the peg board though.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

I fell for it too…

Quickly opted out and opted in to the router-roundover combo…ahhh

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Many years ago I bought a set of edging tools (pictured below). You can get them from Lee Valley for $26.50 (american). The set has two giving a total of 4 radii. They are sharpened using sand paper wrapped around a rubber form which comes with the set. They are quick to resharpen and seem to hold an edge reasonably well. For small projects they are my go to tool. They don’t work as well as I’d like on end grain, which probably means I’m not getting them as sharp as they should be. The only difficulty I’ve had is when the grain direction changes on the edge of a board. The tool, or perhaps it’s the user, is quick to dig in when confronted with a grain direction change.

-- Chelle http://artsgranddaughter.blogspot.com

I almost bought one of these many times over the last 20 years or so. Glad I never did. It seems you can do the job with a block plane pretty easy. The outfit Chelle has is real similar to an edger we use on leather called a Bissonette edger. I tried it to trim edge band one time with no luck. The ones Chelle have probably have a different edge angle.

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

I have a dedicated router for this.
It was about $30.00
I can evade tear out with this set up.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

I think you got the right idea, Bob. I’ve been meaning toi order a couple laminate routers from Grizzly for “dedicated” jobs. They aren’t quite Bosch Colt caliber, but will more than get the job done for dedicated round-over or chamfer applications. I’ve looked at the Lee Valley edge tool that Chelle posted above a few times, but I think I’ll stick to a block plane or router.

-- Jeff, South Carolina