# That's Not Right



## LittleBlackDuck

Nice honest write up *pinto'*... I appreciate when a person can admit they may have erred on the side of saving that extra "precious" shekel.

Unfortunately the emphasis has transgressed from quality to cost in an exponential basis… people just don't realise that often the sacrifice of quality will result in additional cost in the long term (be it in the cost of additional labour to rectify the loss of quality).


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## RichT

This was very thorough and helpful. In defense of the wide blade, with my LN rabbet plane, I tend to work right-handed and keep the blade flush with the left side of the mouth. However, the rest of the negatives you found are real deal breakers.


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## pintodeluxe

Yeah, if it were an option to slide the blade flush with the left side of the plane body, that would work fine. Unfortunately, the blade is too wide to go flush with either side. You have to grind / file it.


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## RichT

> Yeah, if it were an option to slide the blade flush with the left side of the plane body, that would work fine. Unfortunately, the blade is too wide to go flush with either side. You have to grind / file it.
> 
> - pintodeluxe


Yeah, that's bad. I withdraw my defense of the blade


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## Redoak49

Good review…I have the LV med shoulder plane and like it.


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## rad457

Like the shape of that plane, I went with the Veritas small shoulder plane 1/2" and the Lie Nielson Medium 3/4" based only on how they felt to hold/use. Still love them both, that was a few years back when our $ was actually a Dollar
Lucky to have a Lee Valley close by and was able to attend a L.N. tool fair a few years ago which cost me a few endearing comments from the Wifey!


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## Peteybadboy

Good review. I won't be buying this plane.


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## pottz

i just checked out the reviews on rockler and of the 11, 7 were 5 and 4 were 4.ive always heard that rockler is known for removing the negative one's,maybe?


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## pintodeluxe

No, I wouldn't say they remove negative reviews. They just sort them down to the bottom. Rockler is a good company. I just think these Bench Dog planes are fairly new through Rockler, and they don't have many reviews yet. Then you'll see the occasional review that states "I unboxed it and it looked pretty good. I haven't used it yet." Those type of reviews aren't too helpful I guess. 
I hate writing negative reviews. I have many Bench Dog tools that are really useful.


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## pottz

> No, I wouldn t say they remove negative reviews. They just sort them down to the bottom. Rockler is a good company. I just think these Bench Dog planes are fairly new through Rockler, and they don t have many reviews yet. Then you ll see the occasional review that states "I unboxed it and it looked pretty good. I haven t used it yet." Those type of reviews aren t too helpful I guess.
> I hate writing negative reviews. I have many Bench Dog tools that are really useful.
> 
> - pintodeluxe


there is one review on the jointer plane that the guy said the plane was a pos! i have a couple of the planes i bought back when they had a sale,i havn't had a chance to test drive em yet,hopefully i didn't make a mistake.i fully anticipate doing some tune up of the soles and blades though so if thats it ill be staitsfied.


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## therealSteveN

> Good review…I have the LV med shoulder plane and like it.
> 
> - Redoak49


I do too. I had the luxury of trying all the LV, and LN shoulders at a Woodworking in America several years ago, and after trying them all for almost 2 days, popped for the LV Medium. Initially I had the thought if needed I might get a second size. Haven't felt the need. I would say it is probably the universal size.


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## therealSteveN

> i just checked out the reviews on rockler and of the 11, 7 were 5 and 4 were 4.ive always heard that rockler is known for removing the negative one s,maybe?
> 
> - pottz


I know they do. I had ordered 2 sheets of that laminated BB for router tops several years ago, it was on a buy 2 get em almost free sale, and I thought hmmmm. Anyhow the corners of both sheets were just fully broken off, not dented, but off all 4 sides, all the way around. Something large hit them, crushed them, to do that. I even posted pictures with my poor review. The box they came in was 100% complete, no dents, or tears, so somebody stuffed them into a box broken. It never got posted, and I did get a "Thank you for posting a review" e-mail after submitting it.

No refund, no return, they denied both. I went through my credit card bank, and got the charges dropped, then they were all about gee we would like to see these damaged panels. When I told them they already had pics, they denied that. I just resent them the e-mail.

Got a $100.00 shopping card later in snail mail, but never did my review darken their website. Since then I will only buy Rockler if I'm standing in the store holding it in my hand.

If they won't allow the truth, don't ask for reviews at all.

When I look at reviews I only look at the ones, and twos. I want the truth about the product. 5 guys all say the left side handle falls off in an hour. I'm thinking the left side handle is junke. Buncha gladass, ohhhh gee I love my XYZ, doesn't tell me squat.


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## Dwain

Hey, this is a really timely review. I just saw these planes reviewed in the most recent copy of Fine Wood Working. Though their reviews tend to be light on detail, and criticism, I noticed how much they DIDN'T like the shoulder plane. I guess we are getting close to a consensus on this plane. Hopefully Bench Dog sees the reviews and improves their product. Their is a considerable market for these mid value planes, if you can get them right. Wood River seems to be doing very well. I don't know about Stanley.

Thanks for the review.


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## JimDwight

Good review. I have the Stanley and it's blade was about the right width but it was only roughly ground and I had to spend a lot of time sharpening it the first time. It works fine now.


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## professore

I haven't tries the BD shoulder planes. I have tried their #5 bench plane and their 311 plane. The #5 came is very nice looking box an the plane was very pretty coming out of the box. The blade was ground on a skew and when I reground it square I found out why. The seat in the plane body was not square to the sole. It went back for a refund.

The 311 style plane (shoulder, bull nose, chisel plane) has alignment pins to line up the end for shoulder and bull nose sections. The pins in the bull nose section extended from the wrong face. It went back for a refund.

No more Bench Dog products for this guy.

Frank S in IA


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop

Reading the teview, I'm surprised you gave it three stars vs. two.


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## ssnvet

Your Bench Dog looks EXACTLY like the China made shoulder plane that I bought from Grizzly … with the exact same set of problems.

I picked one up, knowing that it would have issues, but at 1/3 the price of one from Lee Valley.

I brought it into work and our machinist helped me square it up, flatten the sole and correct size the blade on the surface grinder.

We even made a new blade from O-1 stock and heat treated it to ~R60+

I took a bunch of pics and always intended to post a write up, but never got around to it.

It was an inexpensive starting point, but if one doesn't have the machine shop tools and know how to fix it's flaws, then it was pretty much unusable.


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## LittleBlackDuck

> Your Bench Dog looks EXACTLY like the China made shoulder plane that I bought from Grizzly … with the exact same set of problems.
> 
> ..... at 1/3 the price of one from Lee Valley…. and our machinist helped me square it up, flatten the sole and correct size the blade….. made a new blade from O-1 stock and heat treated it to ~R60+
> 
> - Mainiac Matt


This has been my soapbox stance for quite a while *M'M'*,









A shekel saved (on the skimpy side) costs an exponential number of shekels to fix. If you consider time spend, and time is NOT FREE… as the saying goes… penny wise… crappy tools!


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