Quangsheng No. 5½ Bedrock Pattern Jack Plane Reviews

4.9 Rating 20 Reviews

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.

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“It's a lovely plane but lacking in quality control, annoying niggles really, see photos. Contacted workshop heaven about this but they have ignored my email. So will think twice about buying from them again.”

1 Helpful Report

Posted 4 months ago

“I've got a collection of old planes,mainly Stanley and Millers falls,this Quangsheng has been a revelation,Stanley planes even good ones take an hour or two to tune and set up,the iron in this Plane was incredibly flat straight out of the box,so good it was suctioning itself to all my diamond plates and wet stones 10 to 15 minutes and it's planing like a Beast,there was a ding in the cap iron but managed to hone it out quite nicely,definitely looking and some of their other planes,service was top notch too”

1 Helpful Report

Posted 7 months ago

“Wow, just Wow. A bit of context... I'm NOT a pro woodworker by a long shot, I am only an amateur. I've found woodworking as a fulfilling hobby a few years back. I have no 4 and 5 Stanley Vintage planes, both purchased used and I restored them a bit adding new thick cap irons and new Stanley irons. I have the two Stanleys sharp, very sharp. I can get a very smooth surface from them, but it takes a lot of effort as the irons don't stay sharp. Squaring stock takes real effort and getting a flat face with my Stanleys is almost impossible. I decided I want to upgrade my planes. I can't justify spending LN money so I looked at Woodriver, the pricing was ok'ish but shipping from the US to New Zealand was outrageous. I was very pleased to find the Quangsheng range from Workshop Heaven. They ticked all the boxes for me. I made contact with them checking if they'd be prepared to do a QA for me prior to dispatching my order, the sales team agreed with the request at no additional cost. Eventually ordered a 4 1/2 and a 5 1/2 a couple of days before they re-opened for 2026. My order was shipped with 2 days after opening and it took DHL only 3 working days to get it to me in New Zealand from Oxford UK. I have my new 5 1/2 taking wisp shavings leaving a glass-like surface behind. Both planes are within specs, the soles are dead flat, sides are dead square to the sole - I was able to flatten the surface of 4x Walnut boards in less time it would normally take me to sharpen the Stanley blades. These planes are simply on another level - they feel solid, it's effortless in use - how did I get by without them?? The cap iron and plane iron took a little bit of work which is pretty normal from my understanding watching too many YT videos. The no 4 1/2 I received had an issue with the cap iron and iron not marrying up - I made contact with Workshop Heaven about this and they had a replacement set dispatched to me the next day - NO QUESTIONS ASKED!! All I can say is WOW and thank you Workshop Heaven!! I now know I can trust you to have my back when buying from you. You will definitely get orders from me. Anyone on fence about ordering a Quangsheng Plane from Workshop Heaven - you can buy with confidence, you basically have ZERO RISK. Very happy with my purchase and I can recommend Workshop Heaven. Thank you ever so much!!”

1 Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

“Outstanding Hand Plane, very well packaged and prepared. Super fine shavings after a few minutes of set up (removing machine oil and honing a secondary bevel). Excellent service from Workshop Heaven.”

1 Helpful Report

Posted 11 months ago

“Super impressed with this plane. It's very solid and flat, and makes for easy planing. The lever cap and chip breaker needed some work to make flat and full contact, but no issues after that. I did expect more robust packaging from Quangsheng given the cost. Thankfully Workshop Heaven shipped this securely.”

1 Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“I'm only an amateur but this plane looks and feels very high quality. It is a fair bit heavier than my Stanley 5 1/2 but in a positive way. It's not so heavy that it's tiring to use but heavy enough that it has momentum to keep going. It was also sharp enough to use out of the box and left a very smooth finish but I would imagine will benefit further with some fine stone sharpening. Over all I am more than happy with it and would purchase again.”

1 Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Superb quality product arrived quickly and in pristine condition. I will enjoy using this plane. Thank you for a great service.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“This is the first serious plane I've ever bought (had cheap ones before but decided to splurge this time). The build quality is excellent. It's only just arrived so haven't had the chance to use it properly but initial impressions are... WOW!. Did a bit of research and found out (hope it's true) that Quangsheng, Luban, Juuma and Woodriver all share the same manufacturer. With that in mind a bit more research on reviews and Youtube vids and it seems this Quangsheng 5-1/2 comes a very close second in quality to Lie-Neilsen and at a fraction of the cost. Well, that's more than good enough for me. I am really looking forward to putting this plane through its paces.”

2 Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago