The Quangsheng No. 5½ Plane is a popular choice with students and beginners. It is comfortable, well balanced and if set up carefully makes a reasonable compromise if you can't have dedicated try and smoothing planes.
In many ways it is better to think of the 5½ as a short try plane or panel plane, rather than a broad jack plane. It takes a broad, shallow shaving, so if you work with reasonably straight or pre-machined material it will deal with small corrections on wide surfaces very efficiently.
Conversely, if you work with timber that starts off like a propeller blade, the narrower No.5 honed with a steep camber and used across the grain (the traditional function of a jack plane) might be more suitable.
Specifications:
Precision ground, unbreakable CR40 alloy steel casting.
Engineered lateral adjuster with guide bearing and brass tab.
Low profile cap iron.
Brushed finish stainless steel lever cap.
Cherry wood handles.
Conforms to British Standard.
Cutting iron: ⅛" (3mm) thick 2⅜" (60.3mm)
Cutting iron made from T10 carbon steel hardened to RC63.
Sole Dimensions: 380mm x 73mm.
Please note that we are unable to ship Quangsheng products to North America due to retail exclusivity restrictions.
