#4-1/2 Smoothing Plane Reviews

3.3 Rating 17 Reviews

About Woodcraft:

Woodcraft Supply, LLC is one of the nation's oldest and largest suppliers of quality woodworking tools and supplies. You'll find Woodcraft stores in more than 70 major metropolitan areas across the U.S.; and Woodcraft annually distributes 1.5 million catalogs featuring more than 10,000 items to all 50 states and 117 foreign countries. The Woodcraft catalog is a standard among woodworkers as the most complete offering of first rate products for woodworking available anywhere. Woodcraft also publishes six issues of Woodcraft Magazine annually.

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Phone:

800-535-4486

Location:

1177 Rosemar Rd,
Parkersburg
West Virginia
26105

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“This is a review of the WoodRiver #4 Â½ Bedrock style bench plane which I purchased yesterday. Iâ€™ll lead with the summary to save you some time. The details follow if youâ€™re interested. In my opinion, this plane is a bargain. At $175 it appears to have most of the quality of my much more expensive bench planes. Although I did wince a little at â€œmade in Chinaâ€”

2 Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Jv From New Milford

Verified Reviewer

“I've been using Woodriver 4-1/2 Smoother, 5 Jack, and 7 Jointer for the last year. No complaints. They're a joy to use. That's all.”

1 Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

JH From Sugar Land

Verified Reviewer

“I've had this plane for nearly a year and have had issues with the blade from the start. The blade dulled quickly, usually with the freshly honed blade edge to rolling over to the flat side, creating something that felt like a large "bur", requiring flattening and re-honing. Never had this issue with any of my old Stanley's. I kept re-sharpening and giving it another go. Finally, a small divot formed and I put the plane away and used my old Stanley's. Received a a worksharp 3000 for Christmas and decided sharpen/grind and honed the blade very sharp. While smoothing a large poplar board, the plane performed well until I saw a line/track in the board and discovered the blade had chipped again. I love the heft, fit and finish of the WR 4 1/2, but I'm done with that iron. I guess I will need to buy an after market blade.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Very nice plane. Very much like to fit, finish and the heft. Very disappointed with the blade. It continues to chip. After the second time of having to grind it down and re-hone, it chipped again. I put it away in my plane till and continued to used my old Stanleys. Received a Worksharp 3000 for Christmas and decided to give it another chance. Ground and honed the blade very sharp. After leveling some large poplar rough sawn boards with my old Stanley #7, I smoothed 2 of them with the WR #4 1/2. Decided to hone the blade and found another chip. The plane was not abused as it was normal work on a fairly soft wood. Also have had the same blade issues with a Wood River low angle block plane. I rarely post reviews, but this has aggravated me enough to cause me to complain out loud. I guess I need to but a replacement blade. Will try the Hock blade I guess. My intention was to buy the WR #62 low angle jack plane. But have decided against it because of the bad luck I have had with the wood river irons. Guess I will pony up the money for a LN or Veritas”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

TK From Gladstone

Verified Reviewer

“Well. Out of the box the shape of the plane is appealing. A few things I didnâ€™t like was the handle is not comfortable. The blade was not flat and took me an hour to flatten sharpen the blade. Once sharp it took awhile to tune it. But once it was tuned it worked very well. So In total it took about 2-2.5 hours for ready use.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

EE From Granger

Verified Reviewer

“This plane is very good. It is not a Lie Nielsen but at 1/2 the cost you are getting 80% of the capability. A great value. Check out www.reliabletoolreviews.com for a more detailed review.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“I own several old Baileys and the new boutique makers. This one stands up respectably to the lot. I find I tend to reach for the WoodRiver more and more of late.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

DT From SOUTH PARK

Verified Reviewer

“Let me start off by saying that after a little work, this plane is capable of doing anything a plane costing almost 3 times more would do. I had one issue with mine that involved the blade. One corner of the back (flat) side of the blade was ground too deep and required me to take about .0045" off the back of the blade. I was able to do this because I have access to machinery that can accomplish this easily. The plus to that was that when I was done, the entire blade surface was flat to .0001" and ground to an equivalent surface finish you would get from a 4000 grit stone. (yes, one ten-thousandths of an inch) For most people without access to the equipment I do, this would have been a reason to return the plane for a replacement. If you watch Rob Cosman's video on this plane, even he mentions that if the blade is out of flat too much to return it. I did consider this, but since I was able to fix it myself with little effort, I just did it. That is the reason I took off one star. Otherwise, the plane is darn near perfect. Woodcraft, you can take this as a reason to watch your quality control just a bit more closely. (while I was in the shop grinding the blade I checked the hardness. 61 Rockwell C. Exactly what they claim.) Interestingly enough, the back end of the blade was in the 35rC range. Something I never knew about plane blades, that they were not hard all along the length of the blade. I may check my other planes sometime to verify they are all that way. So, the rest of the plane was just great. The sole was flat within .0005" right out of the box. Probably better than the spec for that plane. Before I redid the blade or did any kind of sharpening, it was able to take .0015" shavings off a board with an almost perfectly smooth surface. After I reground the blade and sharpened it, I was able to shave endgrain pine to a smooth surface with a continuous shaving coming off the plane. Hard maple shavings I could get down to less than .001" and so thin they stuck fast to your hand with static, leaving a glass smooth surface behind. The sides of the plane were square with the sole to within .002 total. (that's about .06 degrees.) easily good enough. The depth adjustment for the blade was smooth and precise. No complaints there. The weight of the plane is just right to make it easy to smooth the wood surface, not too light and not too heavy. Bottom line, this plane is worth every penny I paid for it, and probably more, since I got it on sale for $159. At that price, or even the regular price, there is nothing on the market that can touch it. If it wasn't for the issue with the blade, it easily would have gotten 5 stars. If you are looking for this size plane, you just can't go wrong with this one. Again, I could have returned it because of the blade and Woodcraft would have exchanged it for me with no problems but I was able to fix that myself. I only mention it so if someone ever gets a Woodriver product with a problem they will take care of you. Highly recommended”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago