Quangsheng Low Angle Block Plane (Type 3)

Have you bought this plane yet? No? WTF is wrong with you? I got this lovely piece of kit recently, and I'm in love. It was 100% usable straight out the box. But because I love a bit of a fiddle, I fine-tuned the blade on a fine water stone. And I've had it in my hand a lot since (I've been fine-tuning a few pieces of wood) and it is addictively capable. For the money, this is easily a mile ahead of anything else. In fact, I'd say it's as good as anything at least twice the price, if not more. I will be investing in a few more Quangsheng tools asap.

Having used the stanley 9 1/2 for over 30 years the blade setting of this plane was alien to me but simple to overcome, it's also narrower than I'm used to. The 3 blade option is what I chose but I've only used one higher angle blade ONCE, so ask yourself if you really need this option? The quality of the tool is obvious from the off, my sole plate needed no 'trueing' and the blade when sharpened will go I'm sure, to a far keener edge than I'll ever need, my 600/1200 diamond stone & leather strop produce all I require. The plane polished up beautifully after I'd restored an old rusty plane gifted to me, I thought (with some guilt) I'd better treat my own! In short, she's a looker, but, more than that, she'll do the biz & no-one else around you (probably) will have one! One last thing, I snapped the head off the screw that holds the brass cap, I called Workshop Heaven to order another, the Lady took my details, thanked me for the call & hung up leaving me a bit confused as no cost had been discussed, 2 days later a replacement arrived in the post, top job, I just now ordered the Quangsheng No1 from them, can't wait!

Thoroughly enjoying working with this block plane. I had no problem with the mouth plate - mine came perfectly flat. The plane is very receptive and well engineered - making it very predictable and easy to work with. I'm new to woodworking so I needed a tool that would allow me to get a feel for working with it wihout requiring lots of preparatory work. Very satisfied with this plane.

Wow!, what an excellent bit of kit this is. I bought the Quangsheng low angle rebate block plane a month ago and was incredibly impressed by the quality and value for money. So impressed that I decided to by the low angle block plane as well... As with the other reviewer I found that the adjustable mouth did hang down slightly below the main body of the plane however five minutes to remove the plate, deburr the casting and a couple of minutes on a lapping plate and all was perfect. A final rub on some 5000grit wet and dry gave the most amazing mirror finish. The general quality of the castings appears to be excellent with only a few rough spots on the leading edges, nothing a few minutes with a file won't correct. My plane came with three blades all of amazing quality and trueness. A minute using the rule trick was all it took to posess a razor sharp edge. I can't speak highly enough of this plane and would recommend it to anyone even if they have a cabinet full of Lie Nielsen or Veritas planes 10/10.

I'm a shipwright and a long time user of the Veritas low angle block plane. However, for some applications it's just a bit too wide so I wanted to buy another narrower low angle block plane and I settled on the Quangsheng after reading good reviews about it. The first thing I did after receiving it was to check how flat the sole was. The mouth plate was quite a bit lower than the rest of the body (0.3 mm) but some 120 grit sand paper fixed that nicely. It took me about 10 minutes of sanding and the sole was dead flat. Matthew told me this was the first after hundreds that he has sold that had this problem which I consider a good track record. And it's no big deal, really, because it's just a one time thing. Apart from this very minor and easily fixed defect the overall quality is excellent. The casting is very clean and well machined with some good weight to it. It feels very solid. The bedding for the blade is large for good support and the cap iron has a pleasant shape. The blade itself is also very good. It's very easy to sharpen and takes a wicked edge. Edge retention is what you would expect from a carbon steel blade. It's not as tough as A2 or PM-V11 but this is mitigated by the fast sharpening. All it takes is a few strokes on the King 1200 followed by the Sigma 6000 and you're good to go. I sharpen the blade in under a minute. On to the adjuster. It was a bit coarse at first and I suspected it had some sharp edges on the flange around the stem of the adjuster. After a few days of use it was broken in and now it's nice and smooth. Overall I'm very happy with this very well made plane and in terms of quality it can compete with the best of them. Another nice thing about it is that the body isn't made from regular ductile iron but CR40 steel. This is basically a Chrome Molybdenum steel with a Chromium content of about 1%. This makes it reasonably corrosion resistant which is nice for people with sweaty hands. So, if you want a very good black plane that doesn't break the bank, take the advice of this shipwright with 21 years of experience and buy this plane.