# Kobalt hand planes???upon further review



## bandit571

Was in Lowes tonight. Looking around in the tool section, found out the Stanley planes were no longer in their spot. Seems they have been replaced by three planes with the blue paint and Kobalt on them. Two block planes, eh, weren't that great looking. However, the third offering by Kobalt was a 9-3/4" long, very heavy casting, #4 size plane. 
they call it a bench plane.

Looked up for any reviews on the planes. Usual stuff, like about the depth adjuster having some sloppiness, irons needed to be sharpened. They did note the sole was flat.

Hey, for about $30 +tax, might be a good beginners plane?

Anyone else seen these new items??


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## marcuscraft

I noticed them about a week ago as well. Did the same thing you did..stop, say "thats interesting", and moved along.


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## BentheViking

haven't yet, but I will next time im at lowes


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## bandit571

There was also a red block plane sitting there, and will remain sitting there! not even worth the effort to take it off the hook to look at.

From what I could see through the packaging, the bench plane does look decent, handles are not too bad. Chipbreaker looks a might thin, iron looks like a normal stanley iron. It uses a regular lever cap. Very thick casting for the base, and in gray iron.

Neither block plane has an adjustable mouth, at least I didn't see any. Irons will need to be worked over, though. From the reviews I could find, irons do need to be sharpened before use. Bench plane iron not as much as the blocks do.


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## Loren

Well, since it's a local store you can return the tool if
it's bad.

Some things to look out for on off-brand bench planes
is poor machining of the frog, stamped steel rather 
than cast iron frog, and a lack of ability to close
the mouth for fine cuts.


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## bandit571

This one has a cast iron frog, with the frog adjust bolts. Kobalt had it cranked all the way to the rear, in the package.


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## bandit571

Seems this has provoked a nasty response over at the SMC, aka Rob Lee's cheerleader section. MY, my, and not a one of the respondents had even LOOKED at the planes in question. I doubt if some of them would even be caught dead in a Lowes store….

might try to swing the 30 something to get the bench plane, try it out for awhile, then, take it back for my refund. At least, I am willing to go look at the planes. Except that red block plane, seen all I need to see with that POS.


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## BTimmons

Save up just a little more and invest in vintage planes. Much better quality, and you'll learn how to work on them in the process.


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## bandit571

vintage planes? 
Lets see:
Millers Falls #8 t4, and a #9 t4
stanley four square junior jack plane
bailey #5
DE6c
Wards Master #3
Wards #78
Dunlap #3 with York pitch frog
Stanley Defiance #4
Sargent #306, and #307
Stanley #110
and just because i can use them 
Windsor #33 scrub plane
Corsair C-5 jack with an 8" cambered iron
and a "New" Wood River #4 V3.

All are tuned up and ready to use


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## BillWhite

Don't waste your time or money on the borg planes of today. They are price-point stuff for the person(s) who don't know what a plane is supposed to do, nor is that person expected to sharpen/tune/etc.
Hope that doesn't sound snobbish, but they are what they are.
Bill


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## bandit571

Lets see, BORG would be Home Depot? That would mean Buck Brothers planes? Total POS planes.

Menards has the newer Stanley planes, including a Bailey block plane for about $30.00…. and a #4 ugly thing.

Lowes HAD Stanleys as well, until a few weeks ago. Now they have a Bailey look alike set of planes.

Interesting…..

Also note the above list? These are what gets the work done in my little shop…


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## Bogeyguy

If it's in packaging I tend to believe that they are trying to hide something. If I can't get my hands on it, I'll pass it by. just mu opinion.


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## Sanding2day

I purchased the mentioned Kobalt "bench plane" a couple weeks ago just because I was spending Bday money at Lowes and have actually liked several products from the Kobalt brand. Have been looking for "vintage" planes but not had much luck as of yet. I am not an experienced plane user but did get some nice shavings from this plane right out of the package and better still after a bit of honing/adjusting… Not thinking it is the best deal out there by any means but looks and feels to be a lifelong worker to me…


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## BassBully

I just purchased two of these planes for my two younger boys. I have to say, I am pleasantly surprised by their performance. Right out of the package we dialed them in and created very good shavings. All of the adjustments have worked very well and the blade has stayed intact while using them. I haven't had the time to take them apart and check the machining but for $30 per unit I can't complain.

That said, if I ever have time, I'd like to plane different boards each using different quality planes from cheap to expensive. Then apply a finish to those boards and have people rate the quality of the boards themselves. Maybe this has already been done, if so, let me know. Thanks.


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## bandit571

Kobalt #4 bench plane









After a few trips on some sandpaper. Sole is as flat as any plane I have. Iron did need some flattening, and a good hone. Handles were a tad loose, but that's an easy fix. Thing is quite heavy, but easy to push along. Seems to worth at least the $30+ tax i spent on it.


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## BentheViking

Bassbully i'd love to see the results of that test if you ever end up doing it.


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## january

Good info here. I may pick up one of these and test it out. I'm in the market for a beginner's plane.


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## lusk

I've been eyeing the Kobalt 6 1/4" block plane. It does have an adjustable mouth and looks pretty much identical to a Stanley block plane. If the iron quality is good I wouldn't have an issue dropping the ~$15 on it even if it did take some sanding on the sole to flatten it. Good planes are hard to come by around here and $15 won't get you a good vintage plane no matter what the condition when you can actually find one.

And I saw that nasty red block plane hanging there as well. I have one very similar to it that I've had since I was a child. It came in a set of tools for a small shop/beginning woodworker. I dug it out after seeing the one at Lowes and decided to see what would happen if I gave it some TLC. Shockingly it took a very good shaving after all was said and done, but I'd spend the extra $3.50 on the adjustable mouth Kobalt any day.


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## bandit571

The #4 Kobalt handplane I have…will be going back to Lowes.

Lousy, too short, flimsy Chip breaker

Iron took forever to get sharp and flat

Mouth could have been machined a little bit better

If I sat the chipbreaker within a 1/64" of the edge of the iron, nothing will come out the bottom of the sole. The adjuster wheel would run out of threads, and fall off before this would cut. Had to set the chipbreaker BACK to almost a 1/4" away from the edge,just for a smoother cut. Wood chips were just sliding up under the chip breaker. Even on Pine.

Lever cap's bolt will work loose as one uses the plane. Lateral will move to wherever it wants to go. One very loose feeling plane.

I happened to have an Old Dunlap ( by Stanley) handy. Traded out the irons. Had to run the depth adjust wheel all the way to the frog's backside, to get a thin shaving. That is when I got a good look at the mouth opening. Aren't they supposed to be straight across? Never a wave shape, right?

It is a big, long heavy plane. If I were to keep it…..I would part it out to more deserving planes….

Oh, jusy $30. Might even get it all back.


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## lusk

I know everyone else seems interested in the bench plane, but I did break down and get the 6 1/4" adjustable mouth block plane about a week ago. Last night I finally got the time to flatten the sole, work on the mouth and hone the iron. The sole was already pretty darn flat, just had to get out the mill marks which took no time at all with good abrasive paper. Then I moved on to cleaning up the mouth with a file, which was my biggest complaint about the plane. As bandit571 mentioned about the #4 the mouth could have been machined much better, but what do you expect from a cheap plane? Anyway, the filing went smoothly and didn't take long. The iron was also quite flat and, with a diamond hone, took very little time to get to a very sharp edge. I'm an oddball who only hones to 1500 grit because… it works for me.

All-in-all this is a very good plane for the money. Good casting, decent milling, decent steel for the iron. Even planes like this that cost more money are going to need similar work, if not even more, to get them up to par for the workshop. I am willing to save money even if it means a few minutes more in the shop getting the plane ready.


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## Manning64

Just got the adjustable mouth Kobalt from Lowes, it was a little rough around the edges, however if you are looking for an out of the box perfect plane don't go to Lowes and expect to pay $100 plus for it. This little bugger took about and hours worth of work to tune it up, having said that, 40 minutes of it was flattening a machine mark in the iron. The plane body was mostly flat, sole and sides. The castings needed a little filing in some rough spots, and the paint(that's what I am going to call it) was a bit overzealous and sloppy in spots. The results of the hours work were great, once the iron was flat it sharpened nicely took smooth thin shavings and surfaced a piece of pine very well. I shot some end grain with excellent results and all in all I am terribly happy with the $14.99 purchase. If the iron did not have the scratch in it I would have been about 20 minutes work, but I am a perfectionist about things(as I am sure you all are) and I had to have the iron perfect. One last note the plane came out of the package covered In grease from top to bottom, bad first impression but cleaned easily.









I am going to attach some pics of the process and some of the iron so you can see the scratch.


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## rwe2156

> Hey, for about $30 +tax, might be a good beginners plane?


Without even seeing it the answer is *NO*.
Those plane are made for the bottom of a carpenters bag, not on a ww'ers bench, period.

Think about it-how can a plane sold for $30 can be any good for more than trimming a door, when a LV or LN #4 is over $400? Heck, you can't even pick up a rusty old Stanley for much less than $40 !

My question to you is why do so many guys have the idea beginners tools should be low quality and cheap?

Here's my philosphy:

Don't try to learn with a cheapy, junky tool. You won't learn anything and you'll just get frustrated.
Don't sell you our your skills so short. 
Get the best you can and grow into your tools.
(There's a reason why I know this ;-)

The best value in a plane right now is a WoodRiver from Woodcraft.

Get a decent plane and some decent sharpening stuff and learn to hone b4 you do anything.

- bandit571
[/QUOTE]


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## Manning64

Good blog from a great hand tool craftsman about cheap tools.
Also look up his take on Aldi chisels might give everybody something to think about. Never hurts to be open to everything you never know when you will be surprised.
https://paulsellers.com/2012/08/buying-good-tools-cheap-or-cheaper/


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## RichardHillius

My first set of chisels where from Harbor Freight and I could never get even close to sharp so they sat in the bottom of my toolbox while I reached for things like sandpaper and used power tools to try and do things they where a lot better at accomplishing. My first block plane was a buck bothers from Home Depot and resulted in much the same.

It wasn't until I took some classes at Roy Underhill's school and used sharp well tuned tools that I started to understand a big part of my problem with hand tools up till that point was the tools I was trying to use. Learning how to sharpen and tune hand tools is a big part of the battle but even recently when I tired to tune up these original hand tools after all I have learned and tired to use them side by side with my go to tools they can not compete in results. I can probably get them to give me ok results but the amount of headaches and frustration it would take to get there isn't worth the trouble especially if you are new. Getting a good tight mouth opening on these big box planes is probably been the biggest challenge for me.

I don't think a person should spend thousands on a full set of LN planes and chisels either when just getting started but get a few good quality new or antique tools like a couple chisels, a block plane and maybe a smoother and tune them up as good as you can. Than use them a bit and tune them up again a bit better, rinse and repeat. You will be much better served in the long run.


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## bandit571

These are the ones I use nowadays….









yep, there IS a HD Buck Brothers block plane in there, somewhere.

Biggest problem with the Bench plane from Kobalt? Both the iron and the chipbreaker were way too thin. iron wasn't too bad, but that chipbreaker was almost like making one out of a pop can. It would bend just "tuning it" up.

Of course, I did latch onto a NIW Millers Falls #9 for $17…..


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## rwe2156

> These are the ones I use nowadays….
> 
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> - bandit571


Seriously, you use all these planes?

Fess up. The first step to getting better is admit you have a problem )


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## BubbaIBA

A #4 Woodriver plane is $145 USD new in the box and ready to go to work, 90% of the time with no more effort than a quick hone of the iron. This Kobalt blue tool shaped object from Lowes is $30 USD in a shrink pack and needing much more than a quick hone. In fact it may need a different iron and chipbreaker plus I would guess other work. An O1 iron and chipbreaker from Veritas is $58 USD. That takes the cost up around $90 USD and you still have a POS. I don't know about others but my time is worth a lot more than the $55 you might save even if the plane was great.

Pretty much the same applies to someone that hasn't a clue about planes starting with an eBay Stanley. In the long run if you want to work wood instead of collecting rust….go with some Woodrivers to start, it's cheaper and you can work on building furniture instead of rebuilding tools.

As always with anything wood….YMMV


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## splatman

The nice thing about having multiples of each size plane, is when one gets dull, you go on to the next one. When you get to the last one, you get out your sharpening stuff, and have a Sharp-A-Thon. Easier than getting out your sharpening stuff every time one needs it.


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## bandit571

Been using almost all of those, and a few others as well

Each is set up just a little different from the others of each size. 
Tired from work? I step down a size. Like from a #6 size down to a 5-1/2 size, and evne to a 5-1/4 size. Same with the #4s vs the #3s.

Block planes? Trying to keep the herd at less than 10 ( 7 right now)

When to Menards the other day…..They have a look-a-like #4 for a little less than the Kobalt. made by Great Neck…..... For about the same amount in that store, I could get a "new" Stanley Bailey Block Plane…..with the sock, to boot!. Opted for the Millers Falls #9 ( #4 size) and a #8 ( #3 size). Also have one of the M-F low angle blocks…..New In Box #1455.

Used the refund on other planes, as I get the entire amount, counting sales tax back. Was between projects anyway, wasn't that big a deal.

I do happen to have a Buck Brothers block plane. It tagged along with about four others…..for free. Included was a Stanley #9-1/2 Type 2, a Stanley #9-1/4, a Stanley #220…....those alone were worth the free price…
Buck Brothers block is not cast iron, more of a Pot Metal. It does tune up nicely, though.









The Flock of Free. And









After a clean up. That BB Block?









Seems to do ok..


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## wormil

I have a little Buck Bros block plane, it is cast iron. Took very little to tune it up and the iron holds an edge well. If it had a smaller mouth it would be a go-to plane.


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## woodenwarrior

I wouldn't bother. I would put money on it being a rebranded Buck Bros POS. 
Go to a flea market or antique shop and get yourself a vintage #4 or 5 for $20 or so and spend a few hours reconditioning it. You'll love it and more importantly use it a lot more because it takes away the frustration of using a subpar tool. My newly reconditioned #4 1/2 I picked up for $5 has quickly become my new favorite hand plane.


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## bandit571

In that palne till I pictured? The MOST spent to buy any of those was $17, plus a road trip ( went to the wrong store, and bought a second #3 plane) That also was to pick up the GrandBRATS for the weekend. Win-win all around.

Started out back in the 80s, watching Norm, Roy and scott philips. Have a Great Neck #4, A Blue Stanley #110, a Union #3, and a Stanley #129. Seemed to do …ok. mainly to flatten out panels made from reclaimed pallet lumber. The #4 was way too loose, the #3 was in need of a sharpening by someone who knew how. The block was THE workhorse of the shop, then. The rest was modeled after Norm's place…..


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## rwe2156

Bandit

Geez, you've got it bad, dude….....))


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## abie

FYI "Kobalt" is Lowes house brand, could be from anyone..


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## TRHeath

I have both the #4 bench plane and the adjustable mouth block plane. The block plane has worked great once I lapped the sole and sharpened the blade. The #4 is another story. It took extensive lapping to get the sole flat but the biggest problem I've had with it is the chipbreaker. It just doesn't mate up well to the blade and doesn't give it enough support. It works good but I want it to work better. I actually just ordered a blade and matched chipbreaker set for it from Woodcraft a few hours ago. It puts the total cost of it at about $100 at this point. It works well enough that I don't want to get rid of it because it is tuned up well and lapped flat so the extra $70 or so for a new blade and chipbreaker seems reasonable. Vintage planes can be had for less money but I'm always worried I'll be buying someone else's problem. I do have to say that had I known that the TOTAL cost would have been $100 up front, I would have just gone with a higher quality plane. It is certainly worth the $30 though but expect to spend a good bit of time tuning it up.


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