He gave a very informative seminar about hand plane use and maintenance and was demonstrating with the Wood River #6. I Couldnt get over the quality of the plane for the price, and when taking a turn to try it out, really liked the feel of it. I ended up buying one off him at the show for the show special price of $175. I was extra happy because he pulled it out of the box and checked it over for and wasnt happy with the first one, so he pulled out a second, then spent 20 minutes tuning it up and honing the blade until the plane was producing the fine even shavings that he is typically able to produce during his demonstration.
As for the plane itself, I find that the quality level is superb for a made in china product. The casting is flawless and the sole is perfectly flat, the sides are square and the movement and adjustment is smooth. The frog is nice and flat and the knob and tote are sturdy and comfortable. I enjoy the extra thick blade and chip breaker and have had zero issues with chatter or tear out at this point. The supplied blade holds a good edge that lasts quite well, I was first considering upgrading to an IBC or Lee Valley blade, but I’ll stick with the one that came with it for now.
I used the plane last weekend to prepare some old cherry boards for use. Had no problem doing the rough work to take off thick and heavy shavings evenly and smoothly. At 7.9 lbs, this thing has a lot of heft and glides smoothly through a cut. As you can see from the photos above, I was able to shave down four 6 foot 4/4 boards of dry cherry to 3/4” starting with a freshly sharpened blade, i did all the rough work, then resharpened and smoothed the boards to a fine finish.
I have found this plane to be quite the workhorse, capable of doing heavy rough work on tough grains and also able to take super thin whisps, smoothing boards to a perfect finish, free of tear-out or plane tracks.
After buying this plane, I have been following the Rob Cosman sharpening method, using a Norton 1000/8000 grit water stone (See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL2qFO4UUSQ ) and have been very happy with the results. I find i get a great edge that lasts.
Overall, I can’t see why one would need to spend much more to get a great quality plane. I have not tried a lie-nielsen plane, but i am so pleased with how well this plane works I can’t see myself doling out the cash for one in the near future.
Photos 2 & 3 just show the rough progress, as you can see, the boards started off with the weathered/aged look you see in the background, which smoothed down beautifly to a nice coloured cherry.
I’ve handled a few Woodriver planes in the store and they seem very nice to me. Very heavy and solid, and a good price for that kind of quality!
It is amazing how expensive good hand tools are. It’s great to find a bargin. Thanks for the review.
Thanks for the review! I have 3 Woodriver planes (the standard block, the low-angle block, and the #5), and they’re all great.
Thanks for the video link. I think I’ll order the equipment and try his sharpening system, since my current way with oil stones takes forever and a half.
Is the quality constant across the specimen ?
Did the tune-up seems easy to do?
Sylvain: I should have been more detailed about that.
Rob indicated that the first run of the V3 were shipped with blades that were not 100% flat across the back, and he was finding 1 in 10 were like that. Rather than spending the time to flatten the back and prepare it, he rejected that one and found one that was much better. As for the tuning up, he spent some time on the diamond stone making sure the back of the blade was perfectly flat, then did and repeated his sharpening/honing technique as per the video that I posted above.
Thanks for the review and the link to Robs site. I hadn’t heard of him until I saw this and went to his site. I was happily surprised to see his shop is here in New Brunswick, only an hour and a half away from home. I like the look of some of his saws that he manufactures himself as well.
Approximately one year ago, when on sale at Woodcraft, I purchased the WoodRiver V3 No. 4, No. 6 Handplanes and the Low Angle Block Plane. While good out of the box, with a little flattening of the blades and honing, they now make beautiful shavings. At this price point I could not be more pleased. After this experience with the thicker blades and chip breakers, I purchased the IBC/Crosman matched sets for my Bedrocks 605 & 607, and Bailey 4 1/2. Wow, what a difference a heavier blade set can make. Again, with a little honing, these replacement blades allow the planes to sing as they slice wood.