Taytools 469584 Jointer Bench Hand Plane #7, 22 Inch Sole, Ductile Cast Body, Lapped Sides and Bottom, Blade RHC 55-60, Sapele Handle and Tote

For what you pay, this is a great tool. You may have to do some work when you get it, but that's the trade-off you get for paying less than half the price of the premium planes. My plane and iron (blade) were about flawless. I probably should try flattening the sole, but it looks perfect up against a good straight edge, so I didn't bother (at least yet). The frog surface was clean and flat. The blade was almost perfectly flat and fairly sharp, and I had it hair-popping sharp with very little time with my stones and strop. The chip breaker was a different story. It had some strange tip geometry like it was accidentally double sheared during manufacturing. I contacted Taylor Tools, and the president of the company emailed me back. He told me to grind the chip breaker as I saw fit and that if I wasn't happy, he'd take care of me. I was afraid to touch it figuring it might void any warranty. Well, I worked on it and got it right enough. I attached one photo showing the thin shavings I was taking right away once I did all this work and assembled the plane. I am no pro at this--I'm still very new with hand planes. This thing is a big, heavy beast (see attached photo comparing to my Stanley No.5 Jack plane); but it sure excels at getting wood FLAT. I made a full trash bag of shavings planing two faces of four poplar table legs flat and perpendicular. Then I ripped the other two sides on the table saw to dimension and finished with one or two more swipes with the plane once again for surface finish reasons (the plane leaves an amazing surface). Through all this, I did not perceive any blade dulling. I wouldn't say four poplar table legs represent a grueling test, but the blade steel is definitely not garbage. Highly recommended.

Good quality and much better priced than other options. Blade was sharp. It's a little heavy but it is a large item made of metal. Long length helps make even cuts. Very smooth.

Made with imperfect japanning and requires extensive blade tuning. It is perfectly square ans flat, however. Handles are nicely made.

It's a beast. It's heavy enough to plow through any surface including hard knots in old growth pine. Makes flattening a table top a pleasant task if you enjoy handwork. It also is accurate enough to make good edge joints that should satisfy every woodworker. I find the handle a little narrow for my tastes and you have to get in a good planing posture to take advantage of its bulk. Blade needed some lapping prior to use audits corners eased slightly.

Solid body and overall construction. Honestly about what I expected given that this is a third of the price of Nielsen or Veritas or Wood River. Blade took some work flattening and getting an edge as I expected but the chip breaker was just all around terrible. Took a long time hand grinding that down on the stones so it will make contact at the nose of the blade. Works great now but just know, it will not perform out of the box. If you are cheap like me and would rather put time into something than money, this is not a bad option.

*Starting off this review keeping the $150 price tag in mind. I bought this plane because I wanted to upgrade from an old wooded jointer I have. Overall I couldn’t be more impressed with this tool. The sole of the plane was pretty close. It only took me about 30 min on some sand paper and I had a sole that I was happy with. The blade took a bit more work to get flat. I don’t use a grinder, so if you do, I imagine you can get it flat a lot faster. Overall it took me a solid 2.5 hours to get the back and bevel flat starting on a Corse DMT stone. I took it up to 8000 on my water stones and it’s taking paper thin shavings. If you are new to hand tools and I can offer any advice - get high quality stones, a jig and learn how to use them. You can save a lot of money learning how to sharpen and adjust second hand and cheaper tools. This jointer is the perfect example of that. I now have a plane that I can’t imagine cuts much different than big name planes by investing 3 hours and some good stones. I might end up picking another one of these up so I don’t have to adjust between rough and fine cuts. At $150 I don’t know that you can beat this.

If you are expecting a Lee Nielsen quality plane out of the box you will be disappointed. If you are looking for a solid collection of parts that can be turned into a plane that works as well then this is a good buy. Sole needed a small amount of flattening, the cap had a terrible burr, the blade was fine but improved with sharpening, the frog needed adjusting, and so on. After a few hours of tuning I now have a good working plane that won’t win any beauty awards but can hold its own with ones costing twice as much.

I'm just starting my adventures in woodworking. It became obvious pretty quickly that I needed a jointer plane. I already bought a super cheap plane that required a lot of work before it suited my needs so I wanted my jointer to be higher quality but still was ready to drop $300 on a tool. So I picked up this one. This plane has been awesome. I just cleaned the oil off the tool, tightened the screws and sharpened the blade and it works great. I am developing a feel for the plane and it's really quite enjoyable to use. I do this for fun and relaxation and using this plane is really fun. It has also greatly increased my speed when flattening long boards for my first workbench project. Great tool for half the price of the high cost planes.