# anyone see the new pinnacle scrub plane?



## bobasaurus (Sep 6, 2009)

I got an email from Woodcraft this morning announcing the Pinnacle 40 1/2 scrub plane. It looks pretty fantastic for coarse stock removal, but then I noticed the price. At $170, it costs more than both the Lie-Nielsen and Veritas equivalent planes. I'm skeptical that this plane is any better than the two leading plane makers' models. I'm always sorely tempted by newly released planes (I even sprung for the veritas shooting plane last month). I don't mind paying extra for a finely crafted tool, especially US made, but this seems a little over-priced. Anyone have thoughts on this new tool?


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## JustJoe (Oct 26, 2012)

The woodcraft blog compares it to the Stanley 40-1/2, which is what I have (along with a #40). But they don't mention that the Stanley 40-1/2 can be bought on fleabay for 45-100.


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## 12strings (Nov 15, 2011)

Perhaps I am alone here, but I see a scrub plane as one area where you absolutely have no need for a top-of-the-line tool. Smoothing plane, yes, scrub, no…

-Sole flatness needs to only be approximate.
-mouth opening does not need tight tolerances.
-Any iron can be ground to an aggressive camber.

I have a wooden plane I use for this type of work (planning down 1/2 or more of material off the edge of a board). It is incapable of fine smoothing work, but it doesn't matter. I've heard of people using the $10 harbor freight plane as a scrub plane…that sounds like a good solution to me.

If I had $170 to spend on a tool, it wouldn't be a scrub plane.

That's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it.


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## TerryDowning (Aug 8, 2012)

Or you can convert a crummy Stanley handyman smoother or jack to do the same thing. It's coarse stock removal not precision work going on here.

Cambering a blade is not a complicated undertaking.

Easing the edges of the sole 5 minutes with a decent mill file

While it is a pretty plane too much money for not enough bang IMHO.


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## OggieOglethorpe (Aug 15, 2012)

Joining the choir…

This is the perfect use for any old, or cheesy plane, even those with the mouth enlarged too much fom fine shavings.


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## bobasaurus (Sep 6, 2009)

Very good points here. I have an ECE wooden jack plane that's very finicky about taking fine shavings… might convert it into a scrub, or try to ebay an old stanley 40 1/2.


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## mnkraft (Oct 2, 2013)

My 2 cents:

I have a LV scrub and a Stanley #40. I plan on selling both when I get around to taking pictures/posting online, since I haven't used either for a while.

I personally use a beat up old stanley #5. I could care less if it gets beat up by a rough board, etc. Using a reclaimed board I once caught a nail that I missed/couldn't see and chipped the blade. Had that been an expensive plane, I probably would have cared, but since it was my #5-I reground, sharpened, and moved on.


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## bobasaurus (Sep 6, 2009)

mnkraft, I actually have most of an old franken-jack (a sargent #5 equivalent with weird mismatched parts). Maybe I'll tune it up and get it scrubified. Is the length of the #5 too long, or just about right? Is the weight fatiguing while hogging off lots of wood?


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## JohnChung (Sep 20, 2012)

I do have a scrub plane and plan to keep it. Don't use it much nowadays since the wood I work with is not
so twisted / cupped. You can camber your blade and widen the jack plane mouth but the weight is not
comparable to a scrub plane. Scrub planes are much lighter.


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## MrFid (Mar 9, 2013)

I use a Bailey No 5 for my scrub. The length feels good to me, but I've also never used a proper scrub, so I'm certainly not an authority on that question. What I am an authority on is how fast it does its job. Can't imagine a better scrub plane. Regarding fatigue, I don't feel it so much but again I don't know how a thoroughbred scrub would feel fatigue-wise. Best of luck!


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## dkirtley (Mar 11, 2010)

If you are getting rough lumber, the scrub is much more aggressive than a converted jack or such. The single narrow iron and wide mouth eat through wood. It is not that common now for me to be working with lumber that is rough enough to bring it out. Especially if I can pull out the bandsaw and just rip off what I need. Only thing I have used mine for in a long time was shaping some foils for a sailboat. Removing up to 1/2 in of wood on each side made it worthwhile.

As to that one, I have no idea. Can't say I would buy that one at that price (but I do have a #40 that I brought back to life). You can make a Krenov style plane with a chunk of wood and a cheap block plane iron for under $15 assuming you are buying new parts at retail prices. You would even have money left over from buying a top quality blade or a kit from Ron Hock.


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## mnkraft (Oct 2, 2013)

@bobasaurus, I don't think the weight of a #5 is any more fatiguing than using a scrub. In my opinion, it's easy to go overboard when using an actual scrub. Personally, I only use an actual scrub as mostly just stock removal-not really flattening. They're so thin/narrow/short, you really need to be careful not to exaggerate hollows/twist/etc. With my #5, the longer/wider body doesn't allow me to mess things up as easily.

My LV scrub was one of the first planes I purchased a few years ago, after watching Rob Cossman's rough to ready DVD. Mostly because, like half of the tools I own, I thought I needed it. At first, I would take 4/4 boards and by the time they were actually flat, I'd have 1/2" at best. From the DVD, it looks like you just hit the board guns-a-blazin' with the scrub. I've since learned to be less aggressive than that.


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## JayT (May 6, 2012)

Wow, I feel out of place if people are talking about the weight of a 5 vs a scrub-I use a #6 as a fore plane for rough lumber. Cuts wider, but not quite as deep, so takes about the same amount of effort. I prefer the extra mass and length. Admittedly, I've never used an actual scrub plane, but do have both a #4 and #5 set up for rough work, as well. They rarely get used, 'cause I reach for the #6 first.

Back on OP's topic, I totally agree with the other that $170 seems way too much to spend for a plane to do rough work.


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

My hand did not instinctively reach for my wallet when I saw it like it has with so many other planes. Guessing they will not sell a bunch of these guys.


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

I use the cheapo $12 Harbor Freight plane as my scrub. A few minutes on the grinder and a quick and dirty sharpening, and I was ready to rock. It's got the big wide mouth and a small footprint, everything you need for a scrub.


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## felkadelic (Jun 12, 2011)

According to their Facebook post (in response to a comment I made that a scrub plane seemed like an odd choice to release first) they'll soon be releasing a 4 1/2 and a 5 1/2 also.


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## JustJoe (Oct 26, 2012)

*My LV scrub was one of the first planes I purchased a few years ago, after watching Rob Cossman's rough to ready DVD. *
I haven't seen the video. I'd be interested in knowing how fat the lumber is that he started with, and how rough it really was. I've always thought the scrub was only used to remove the ugliest of the butt-ugly to get a slab of something to semi-resemble a board or timber. I've got two and I've only used them once or twice in the last 20 years. The lumberyard just doesn't sell boards [email protected] enough to need them, and if they did I'm not spending my money on such lumber. I believe the people who think they're scrubbing when they use a highly-cambered #5/6/7 are really just planing, but they think because it's the first step on that piece of wood it must be "scrubbing." 
I haven't read anything on the subject from any of the old masters like Krenov or Frid but one of the newer experts on the subject wrote this about it.


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## WhoMe (Jul 9, 2009)

WOW, it's made in the USA. I didn't think wc carried anything made in the US unless it was LN products.
Learn something new every day. But wanting a scrub more for novelty than serious use, I surely wouldn't pay that price for one. Give me an intact old Stanley for 1/3 the price or less and id be a happy camper.
And as a new plane based on an old design, you would think they would have designed a better cap. Since that is the most common thing to break on the old ones.
It does look nice though.


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## JohnChung (Sep 20, 2012)

The price for the tool is not justified *170*. A scrub plane is much easier to machine. Very few parts and less
tight tolerance.

Chris article explains the use very well. It is not a definite must have tool but a good tool to own when 
the need arises. I own it for the special occasions. If you are looking for planes to get there
are so many other tools to get like the shoulder plane , apron plane or block plane.

I do use shoulder planes when it comes to tenons and mortise which is my primary joins and apron plane 
for a quick shave.

So bobasaurus - what planes are you lacking currently?


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## ColonelTravis (Mar 19, 2013)

I watched the video yesterday and the guy does a good job explaining it but not a good job selling it. He wasn't exactly the second coming of Billy Mays to begin with, but I agree the price is steep.


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## mnkraft (Oct 2, 2013)

JustJoe, the board he had really wasn't that bad. A little bruised if I remember correctly, but pretty decent. He used it on both sides of the board. Mostly I think he was demonstrating the tool, but he should have pointed out that normally a scrub is overkill. For the longest time I thought it was a required/normal step.


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## toolmike (Apr 1, 2013)

American plane history revitalized. Really? Hasn't LN has been making its Stanley 40 1/2-like scrub plane for a while? Anyways, I would say $170 is not warranted. The LV one is $139 with the A2 blade, the LN $165. From the pictures I don't know if the build quality is as good as LN or LV. I could understand a plane introduced at a lower price point, circa $100-120. Just doesn't seem as fine a build as either of the others.

Might have been better to introduce a "Made in USA" block plane first at a lower price point… might bump out the Stanley's which I notice are being made in Mexico.


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## azwoodworker (Jul 9, 2013)

I think there is a lost art on the use of a scrub plane. Even a rough board gotten from a mill in the 1800's beginning or the industrial revolution when Stanley made its first scrub plane, you would not use the scrub plane taking 1/2 in off a rough board is a lot of waste. It may have been used by framers and finish carpenters for shaving the ends to boards like Chris Schwarz speculates. Yet the Scrub was used heavily by German woodworkers who came to American when the English workers were too lazy. The plane is used on green wood or dried for a week wood after its been split radial off 3 to 4 ft log. The large mouth allows you to shave wet wood flat after it has been split from the logs. German Piece furniture was heavily carved and this allowed them to carve the oak when still wet for furniture and they could quickly carve out a elaborate carving on a flat board. This is covered pretty well on the woodwright shop eps on Carving.

If you have access to fresh cut hardwood and can split logs into radial boards a good scrub plane that did not rust easily would be a good useful tool.


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## newwoodbutcher (Aug 6, 2010)

Thank you all. This was, for me, a good learning. Been thinking about getting a scrub.


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