Anant #5
Ron Smith
>I saw a post by a guy who had bought this plane and he liked it. I was intrigued, and ordered one a month ago. It was $46.00 delivered. Undaunted by the admonition printed boldly on the box . . "For Industrial Use Only" I just ripped it right open to see what I had. Whoa! . . I was impressed (What do I know) good machining, fit-and-finish . . smooth and clean. I put a Starret rule to it and the sole looked good. Checked the frog (square and true) torqued all the screws and sharpened the too-thin iron. Mounted the already nicely fitting cap-iron and set the plane. Took a 4 foot piece of 2 X 4 and used a spoke shave to carve some impressive divots along its length. With the #5 set coarse 20 stokes had it smooth and straight. Re-set to a fine cut and I had .0015 shaving ! ! . . full width and more-or-less full length. I am impressed ! ! . . .At nine bucks a pound this is the best deal I have found. In fairness I must say my longest plane before was a #4. I had made all the doors (thousands it seems) out of edge-jointed 1 X 4s, some 45 inches tall and 24 inches wide . .and with no battens, frames, or other support. It took a lot of effort to true them with a #4. With this #5 my 4 foot board was true enough to edge glue in 15 20 stokes. I would say a 'factory' sawn 1 X 4 would be ready in three or four passes.
Next, I want a #7 . . and won't be spending 400 bucks on a LN.
Twenty-two inches is a LONG plane . . and flatness of the sole is a major consideration. I'll let you know how that goes. But at $125 for BOTH planes you will probably hear no complaints. Especially since these babies are "For Industrial Use Only"