JORGENSEN No.4 10" Wood Plane, Professional Hand Planer for Woodworking

This plane tunes up very well with some work, and does everything a number 4 should. I have a large collection of Veritas (Lee Valley), Lie-Nielsen, and classic Stanley planes, including a couple previous #4s (an iron-sole L-N and a Veritas Custom 4). I bought this one as a "rough work" / carpentry plane and to loan to friends who inevitably need help with their planing, but it's perfectly capable of fine woodworking if you tune it properly. The casting on mine was dead flat and square as shipped, with no lapping or flat-sanding required. The plane iron (blade) had a typical amount of warp for a "non-premium" plane maker like this - it took more work to lap flat and sharp than a Veritas, Lie-Nielsen, or Hock would, but not so much as to be a major time-waster. The iron sharpened about as well and stayed sharp as long as I would expect from any O1 iron. The cap-iron (aka "chip-breaker") needed some lapping to obtain a gapless interface to the iron, but this is also to be expected from any non-premium plane maker. I also reshaped the leading edge of the cap-iron for better chip breaking performance by adding a small leading edge with a >60 degree bevel. Once tuned and set ~0.2 mm back from the blade edge the cap-iron prevented tearout when planing against the grain, as expected. The mouth is controlled by moving the frog as in any Bailey-pattern plane, and I was able to achieve a very small mouth when smoothing with a flat blade as well as a very wide one for roughing with a heavily radiused blade (I bought a spare and shaped it with a 5" tip radius so that I could use this plane for both) The plane is on the heavy side for a 4 as is typical for these lower-tier planes. Such makers use extra-thick castings to accommodate more material removal when correcting casting warp, and the result is a heavy sole casting. Some people see that as an advantage, others dislike it, but for me it's a neutral observation for a plane of this size. The adjusters are a bit stiffer than premium planes with more backlash, but are entirely functional and usable. The tote is similarly on the "chunky" side with simple shaping. It's comfortable for my large-ish hands, others might prefer a more "fully-shaped" tote.

Pros: it works mostly well right out of the box. How? Here’s how: • the iron is sharp enough to pop hairs. • it’s almost perfectly flat heel to toe (flat enough for 99% of people and the other 1% know how to get it perfectly flat which took less than an hour). • all of the adjustments work nice and move smoothly. • the chip breaker sits flush on the iron with no daylight between the two. Other pros: The iron is a good quality steel and the adjustment screws (stainless steel), the body/sole are nicely cast, and the handle/knob are beechwood which will last for a long time with the rest of the plane. It’s pretty affordable. Besides old Stanley’s, I have not found a hand plane under $100 that actually works or can even become functional with fine tuning. Harbor freight, Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Menards were all extremely expensive or cheap trash that will never work no matter how much you try to fix the issues. Lastly the adjustable mouth opening makes this plane extremely versatile. It says smoothing plane which you can use it as such, but you can also open the mouth up and adjust the cut depth for more roughing in work. Cons: It is somewhat heavy for its size. Also for a SMOOTHING plane it won’t work quite right for you out of the box because the irons edge is cut straight corner to corner. For a smoothing plane especially, you want to round the edge so the corners are maybe 1/64th of an inch behind the rest of the edge. That way they don’t cut and you don’t get lines on your surface.

I could do a bit of fine touchups, however, this plane worked like a charm right out of the box! It is heavy and just gets the job done like a professional! So nice to have a hand plane where the blade holds its position throughout the work, doesn’t change angles nor does it pop out of position. Yes, I have been using some pretty poor planes until I got this one. The only minor difficulty I have with this plane (and it is probably just me) is adjusting the depth of cut. I probably have to read the directions that came with it. I just haven’t figured out how to do this smoothly without massive transitions in blade length. But this is likely just my problem learning how to use my new plane. I could not be happier otherwise! It is hefty, beautiful and most importantly, it gets the job done & done well!

Pros: heavy body weight, good quality material, comfortable to use, Cons: blade needs to adjusted pretty often, I do not have other no. 4 planes to compare it to, but I think it is pretty good tool, and I use it here and there. There are no other issues except constant misalignments of the blade and loose screws on the handles.

This is actually so incredible. Smooth and easy to operate, minimal adjusting, super sharp, and incredibly sturdy. 100% buy.

I purchased several of these Jorgeson planes to be able to leave them on job sites where I might not want to leave Nielsen Planes or older Stanley I was pleasantly surprised there was no deflection on the soul. The blade came very sharp. It’s a tremendous value. If you don’t want to spring for some of the higher and planes or if they’re unavailable, this plane is very much suitable for most work. I have had a cabinet shop and restoration furniture shop for about 50 years so have a fairly good understanding of hand planes, and how they operate, and I would consider buying this at any level of a woodworker that you might be.

Bottom doesnt seem very flat. Blade comes very sharp. Does what I need it to do. I'm sure it will be even better once I tune it. Edit: Took blade out to sharpen and found that the back of the blade isn't flat... taking forever to flatten.

Good No.4 with a bit of tuning and flattening.

Absolute Empfehlung, funktioniert hervorragend und ist sehr gut verarbeitet und das für das Geld :o . Habe gerundet 60 Euro bezahlt und die ist er auf jeden fall wert (normalerweise mehr vor allem wenn ein anderer Name drauf stehen würde ... aber pssst). Direkt aus der Box heraus ist er schon brauchbar scharf, läßt sich sehr einfach einstellen mit wenig Spiel und die Seiten sind plan sowie rechtwinkelig. Allerdings muss man ein wenig mit dem Lappen überschüssiges Öl abwischen. Und klar natürlich sollte man sich definitiv zumindest ein wenig damit auseinandersetzen und es läßt sich hier und da nach Bedarf auf jeden Fall noch etwas personalisiert feintunen im Bezug auf Schärfe, Einstellungen, Ergonomie usw.. Hier ist die zu bekommende Basis bezogen für das Geld wirklich sehr gut bis extrem gut und falls der Preis in oder nah an dem von mir gezahlten Bereich von 60 Euro bleiben sollte eine absolute Kaufempfehlung. Nur die Farbe erinnert doch sehr stark an einen Fernostversender mit T als Anfangsbuchstabe und einem mu am Ende xD

bulky and uncomfortable grip, for this price I expected way better product

Buen mecanizado del cuerpo y muy buen acero en la cuchilla ,de peso está bien equilibrado . Viene bien afilado aunque con un buen asentado del filo sacas virutas como papel de fumar , muy recomendable.

Me encanto, buen producto.

Excelente plaina. Simples mas todos os controles funcionam bem, firmes. Segura regulagem. Ótima qualidade pelo preço