# Good, but small, plough plane



## Oldtool (May 27, 2012)

Good to know, thanks.


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## jayseedub (Jan 7, 2013)

Great concise review-thanks for introducing me to this!


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## Mosquito (Feb 15, 2012)

Hold up… This has me a little confused



> but *for half the price* of what you would pay for a Record


Where have you been seeing Record 043's going for $300+? If so, I have a few extras I need to sell!

I currently have 3 and I usually see 043s that can be had for closer to 60-75% the cost of the Luban, assuming you buy and ship from the UK.

I probably wouldn't even try to put any fingers in the hole/handle on it to be honest. The Records, and their derivatives, were solid and meant as more of a palm grip. I'm sure the open handle was just for material cost savings. Too bad you can't get the kerfing attachment when buying from from AliExpress. Still, might be the only way we'll ever be able to get them in the US


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## DavePolaschek (Oct 21, 2016)

I had looked for Record 043s on eBay here in the US. It seemed all of them I saw for sale were in the UK with $50 or so for shipping, but maybe I was doing bad math on the exchange rate. The only ones I saw for sale in the US had multiple missing parts, which means a lot more expense if you decide you need them.

I was looking at the kerfing attachment too, and I think a guy with more metalworking tools than I have could probably make the kerfing attachments pretty easily using the cheap Great Neck saws I buy for their saw plates.


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## Mosquito (Feb 15, 2012)

If you're looking at Ebay UK listings through the US site (that is UK listings that will ship to US), it'll do the conversion for you. When the shipping nearly tripled a few years ago, that kinda made most things coming out of the UK a tough sell, unless it was already a high dollar item where $50 shipping didn't add that much percentage wise :-( Finding the for sale in the US isn't very easy, since we never got them when they were new. Most over here are held on to


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## DavePolaschek (Oct 21, 2016)

Yeah, I think I set my eBay US setting to only show this from North America when shipping prices went crazy, so if I want to search for UK things, I go to eBay.co.uk instead. But that means I have to convert in my head, which is apparently sometimes faulty.


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## MikeB_UK (Jul 27, 2015)

You do get more bits with the UK version, but it's spendier.
Still not had a chance to play with it - I'd probably have plumped for the record instead TBH, or just stuck with the drawer bottom or plough planes I have - but fancied having a play with the kerfing saw, well, and new toy.


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## DavePolaschek (Oct 21, 2016)

I used mine to cut grooves for a box-top and bottom on Monday and today. Works well, but the blade sizes from China are metric, so I used the 6mm and ran my ¼ inch ash boards through the planer and took off enough so they'd fit. Could've raised the panel too, but I was feeling lazy. Let the tailed apprentice do the work.

I like the fence they provided with it. Very pretty piece of red pear on the enlarged fence I got, plus the 3, 6, 9, and 12mm blades.


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## MikeB_UK (Jul 27, 2015)

Yeah, that pear fence does look pretty.

Realistically the extra 4 imperial irons are so close to the metric that it makes no difference, well the way I work at least, if you machine the panels it probably does, but if you machine the panels you probably aren't buying a plough plane, so meh.


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## DavePolaschek (Oct 21, 2016)

Yeah. I don't mind the metric irons. It's just that in this case I had a board I had made ¼ against some future need, then it didn't quite fit in a 6mm groove.


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## DavePolaschek (Oct 21, 2016)

I suspect I’ll be looking for a ¼" blade for this at some point. I’ve been using some true quarter-inch plywood lately (as opposed to the more common 6mm) and having to raise the panel on plywood isn't especially fun. I’d think about just grinding down the 9mm, but I find I’m actually using that quite a bit with boards I’ve resawed from a ¾ inch board. I tweaked my bandsaw fence and now I pretty reliably get a 9mm piece (after planing it smooth) and a 6mm piece from the ¾ board I started with.


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## EricFai (Sep 30, 2018)

Good write up Dave, When I'm out antique hunting I need to keep my eyes open to something like this. Sounds like a great tool to have for building boxes.


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## DavePolaschek (Oct 21, 2016)

Metal plough planes aren’t something I’ve ever seen used here in the states, Eric, but if you see one, it’s definitely a handy tool to have. I use my Veritas Combination Plane for different things all the time, but this Luban is pretty much always set up either for a 6mm groove for box or drawer bottoms, or I’ll swap in the 9mm blade for cutting a rabbet around a box top or bottom to make it fit the 6mm groove.


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