ECE 711 smoother
Tony Zaffuto
>I recently purchased a ECE 711 smoothing plane, and was very impressed with the "out of the box performance". Actually the only thing I did (initially) was to put some wax on the sole.
The material I happened to have handy was some very figured cherry and although the thickness of the shavings were similar to what I already got from my other smoothing planes, what I was impressed with was the better surface appearance--almost a shiny, burnished look and feel with absolutely no tear-out.
Given the difference of design in the ECE planes, how have any of you who have used this plane, "fettled" for better performance? I already flattened the back of the blade and smoothed and reset the chip breaker. The mouth is closed as tight as I can.
Given my positives about the ECE, there are some negatives! I think the plane is ugly and I do not like the black plastic tensioning knob! Further, the metal portions of the plane had some rough, rather unfinished edges.
However, that surface finish blew me away!