Clifton Bench Planes?

Re: Clifton Bench Planes?

deanj

>A Jack plane, used in a traditional manner need not be of LN quality. I have LN planes and love them, but my Jack is a old Miller Falls I paid 25 bucks for. Works fine for the job of a Jack in a traditional shop. I don't know what your plan is for the Jack, so this may not be a useful answer.

Having said that, you can't go wrong with a Clifton, they make nice tools. The Lee Valley 5 1/2 would fit the bill as well.

Dean

Re: Clifton Bench Planes?

Brad Smith

>I've been lurking here a while, so I thought I'd try a post....

I have a few LN planes, and I have a Clifton #6 and a Clifton #410 shoulder plane. I would say that "almost LN quality" is a good description of my Clifton #6. After spending some time tuning it I've got it working pretty well, but it still isn't quite as nice to use as the LN's. It's a bit hard to quantify, but in general my LN planes just seem to perform a bit better. (Smoother adjustment, flatter sole right out of the box, blade that holds an edge longer, etc.) It's not night and day, but to me there's a noticeable difference. For future bench plane purchases I'll probably save up and get the LN, but I wouldn't necessarily say you'd go wrong by getting a Clifton.

FWIW, one interesting quirk of the Clifton is its two-piece chipbreaker. I think the idea is that you can remove the portion nearest the edge of the blade in order to sharpen the blade without having to remove and re-position the whole chipbreaker, but for me this isn't a great feature. I find it more annoying to deal with the "loose" part of the chipbreaker than to have to re-position the whole thing after sharpening. Just MHO; I'm sure others would disagree!

Now the #410, on the other hand, is a wonderful tool. I haven't tried any of the LN or Veritas shoulder planes, but that 410 is a nice little plane.

Brad

Re: Clifton Bench Planes?

Dan Clermont in Burnaby

>I have never used a Clifton but have heard they are of good quallity, but not the quality of LN.

Allot of people I know highly recommend the LN 5 1/2 and if you talk to people like Rob Cosman and David Charlesworth they will highly recommend it for final smoothing as it works much like a heavy panel plane.

It is a plane I would like to own someday...

Dan Clermont

Re: Clifton Bench Planes?

Tom Colligan, Peoria

>John, I just spent a total of 8-9 hours tuning up a Stanley #5 and then compared it to the Clifton Jack that I've had since Clifton reintroduced this line. There's no comparison; the Clifton significantly outperformed the Stanley which made me think it was largely a waste of energy to 'refurbish' the Stanley. It's a fine product. But I didn't think the difference in price between LN and Clifton was very much with the pound being so high now. Good luck,

Unless I'm mistaken

Derek

>The LN is made of ductile iron which is very tough and very hard to crack or break but the clifton is not. I believe the clifton is cast iron and may break if dropped (accidents do happen in th shop).

Also, the LN's have the new heavy chipbreaker which may also be worth something. This may be more of an advantage for a smoother than a jack.

This may be worth something to you.

LV LA Jack

Hoa Dinh

>John,

I just received my order from LV that includes a LA jack and an extra hight angle blade. I haven't had a chance to try it yet but judging from its fit and finish, look and feel, as well as the flatness of the sole, it is much much better than my trusty #5 Stanley, even with a LV A2 blade.

I'm sure LV LA jack owner will jump in with their direct experience....

-- Hoa

Re: LV LA Jack

Richard Gillespie

>In August, my LOML gave me a LV LA Jack Plane for a wedding anniversary present. There was an initial problem with the fulcrum screw being too short but Rob Lee took care of that. Even with the screw problem the plane was impressive out of the box.

I have been using it on a personal project for the past week. I've used it to joint 33" x 9/16" boards for glue up and then to smooth them afterwords. I am extremely pleased with the results and am now considering placing a number of my other planes up for sale on Ebay.

I've yet to acquire the high angle blade for the plane but that is a future acquisition.

Re: Clifton Bench Planes?

Robin Frierson

>I have a number of Clifton Bench planes and like them very much. I think their tote is the most comfortable one out there. They do however need some extra fettling, but once tuned perform as well as my LN's.

However, if I was looking for a new jack plane, I would definetly go with the new LV LA jack, the 62 1/2. Its a real performer, one of my best planes, and a lot more versatile than a bevel down plane. Its cheaper too and use that savings to get an extra blade.

Re: Clifton Bench Planes?

Victor Parisian - Houston

>my $.02 worth...

Buy a clean user type 11 or 12 Stanley on ebay or at a flea market.

I got my first plane, a No 5 jack, at a flea market. Guy who sold it to me had it tuned up real nice. Paid $50.00 for it and a Starret centering thingy. Used them both right away with delightful results. Besides, if the shop is broken into by the local crack heads, they tend to ignore old in favor of new and pretty.

Victor (sounding like an expert)

Re: Clifton Bench Planes?

Greg Sloop

>If the crack heads break into my shop, I expect they'll pull on the wrong item, the whole stack will fall on them and the drill press falling over on top will crush them. LOL (Boy, wouldn't that be a satifying find!)

I third or fourth the LA Jack idea. I've got the LN 62. Frankly, from all I've heard, I'd rather have the LV 62.5 LA Jack.

If I was doing it over today, I'd try the LV one first.

Cheers,

Greg

Re: Clifton Bench Planes?

Frank Mutchler in Colorado Springs

>John, if you can get a Clifton for $100 less than a LN you may be ahead by buying it and you may break even....depends.

I have most of the Clifton planes, many of which I bought on close-out from Woodcraft. I have the LN 164 and also their 66 beader. Unlike the LN which is made of ductile cast Iron, the bodies of the Clifton bench planes are made of grey cast iron. The LN planes won't break when dropped or when hit with a sledge hammer (read their torture test!), The Cliftons will. The LN planes require no fettling/tuning, some Cliftons do and some don't.

I prefer the appearance of the Cliftons to the LNs, just my personal taste (or lack thereof). The LN is a more refined tool but I think you will find that, plane for plane, they perform similarly on similar wood.

Re: Clifton Bench Planes?

Ted Shuck, Centennial, CO

>I have Clifton planes in #4 and #7 sizes and Stanley Bedrocks in #3, #5, and #6. The #5 that I use most is a type 13 Bailey though. I use the Bedrock #5 as a small jointer.

The Cliftons are heavier than the Bedrocks for a given size. I have found that I have to do about the same amount of fettling on both types though. Both of my Cliftons were bought at the Woodcraft closeout sale and both had concave soles. The performance of both planes was improved considerably by flattening the soles.

I find the tote on the #4 Clifton to be very comfortable, but the horn of the tote on the #7 digs into my hand when I pick up the plane. I wish they had put a longer horn on this tote and not left such a sharp point at the end.

If you buy the Clifton plane, you may have to do some fettling. Then again, maybe their quality control has improved since that closeout sale...

Ted

Re: LV LA Jack

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>I have had mine for a few weeks and it's fantastic I'm hoping they make it in a #8 size. I bought the high angle blade and it does make a huge difference in tiger maple. On the subject of a #5 I purchased about a year ago a bedrock off of e-bay and unpgraded the iron with a Sheperd replacement iron it's a real go to plane.

Re: Not OT, Not a hijack either!

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>You really should bolt that drill press to the floor, or at least to a large steel plate if you think you will need to move it around.

Safety is always on topic.

Re: Clifton Bench Planes?

Alice Frampton, UK

>Then again, maybe their quality control has improved since that closeout sale...

I believe it has improved considerably in the last year or so. I don't have any myself, but that's the vibe I'm getting from owners on the UK forums.

Cheers, Alf