Got mine two days ago. It took me rougly three hours to get to work. Flattening the back of the blade, tak about 30 minutes, because center of the blade was somewhat bulged, other than that it sharpened quite nicely. All machined surfaces that need to be accurate are done quite well, no need to spend any work on them. Mouth of the plane had bit of a burr, one pass with a file fixed it. Biggest problem turned out to be the Chip breaker, terribly out of square and uneven. I had to even the edge, square it and finally grined the bottom to sit flat on the blade, which was the biggest hurdle (but far from difficult). The Norris mechanism works nicely, although it is first plane with this system I own, so I expect some learning curve. Planes quite nicely and i get a riddiculously thin shaving (which was the buying purpose). For my money - 5200 CZK (rougly 220 USD) it is well worth it, but do expect to spend some time to make it run.
I have a second Kunz Plus jack plane and I have used it for a year (first one was replaced by warranty because body broke near the frog set screw). The good: 1. Frog and body meeting surfaces are machined well 2. Adjustment mechanism works well 3. Iron good 4. Comfortable to hold and to use The bad: 1. Sole came wery crooked (both planes i had) 2. Chipbreaker crooked (both) 3. Iron crooked (only on one plane I had, but badly) The ugly: 1. It took me over 6 hours to get it working. Works well after that and no problems. 2. Frog has a ugly and visible manufacturing defect. It does not affect functioning, though.
I'm evaluating some planes to see if there is a good midrange one for my next hand plane (currently looking for a 5 or 6), so I'm glad to see more options come into the mix. One thing to note on the Lie-Nielsen: that's the more expensive bronze body plane, and it runs $415 currently, not $450. The iron one, which is a more apples-apples comparison, is $340. Still a good bit more expensive than Kunz, but not as much as stated.
Looks more like $90 less than a Veritas when I checked their website a few minutes ago. However, in the notable error side; Taylor doesn't even list a #4 on their site at this time so, this video was a miss. They do have a #3 at $209USD and I happen to have one. It's a good plane alternative to Veritas (I have a number of them) at about a 20-30% discount as compared to Veritas planes of same size.
I'm really interested in the Kunz Plus planes but there aren't a ton of reviews on them yet. I have seen a few comments on RU-vid that people have had problems with the sole going out of flat from heel to toe, where there is a hollow near the throat, if that makes sense. Has anyone had experience with this? Thanks in advance!
1. The plane looks heavy with thick castings. It's probably good for repeatable thin shavings, but wouldn't be great for working all day long. 2. The mouth is set much too forward. I can see it being both advantageous and disadvantageous for different situations, but it's definitely not a balanced "for all situation" designs. 3. If everything on the plane is perfectly lapped, you would have no doubt spent some time with it. I don't see how it's possible to have it at around 200 but have all the work already done. The plane itself is fine, but I feel like there is a bit of selective marketing of features. ;). Wouldn't be interested in trying one, but I dont think it's worth collecting for.
I was looking for reviews of the Taytools #4 hand plane and instead found this review by Taytools about a different brand. Hmm. Is that because the Taytools planes are brand new and have been released since this video was published?
We just haven't gotten around to talking about our planes yet - They're a great "middle ground" plane though. It's an option for those wanting something better than a Harbor Freight plane, but not wanting to spend an arm and a leg on a high-end one. We get a lot of positive feedback from customers as well, especially on the #4. If you decide to give it a try let us know what you think.
