#4-1/2 Smoothing Plane Reviews

3.4 Rating 18 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.

Visit Product Page

Phone:

800-535-4486

Location:

1177 Rosemar Rd,
Parkersburg
West Virginia
26105

Visit Product Page

CB From Helena

Verified Reviewer

“This is my first, and so far, only Woodriver hand plane, and I love using it. Follow Rob Cosman's set up videos for these (or any) hand plane, just search Youtube, he has several videos on this. The blade flat when I went to sharpen it, I use the ruler trick and recommend everybody should, its a huge time saver and your blades will be wicked sharp. The thick heavy blade makes sharpening it easy, and it does not flex or chatter when planing. The size of the plane is ideal. I would say I have average sized hands, and the plane fits my hands nicely. It has nice weight to it, and that really helps getting through the wood. Even though the price has gone up on all the Woodriver planes, and the price point is much closer to the competitors than they used to be, id still recommend these Woodriver planes.”

2 Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“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.”

1 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 7 years ago