HF 'Ebony' planes

[pelligrini]

Has anyone tried out the wood planes from Harbor Freight? http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/...d=ebony+planes

I picked up the regular rabbet & the bullnose rabbet yesterday. I haven't tried them out yet, but they seemed to be nice. The wood is very dense and very hard, and the overall fit & finish is good. What really surprised me was the $4.86 price it rang up as. The tag on the shelf was higher; $9 or $19, I can't remember. The cashier said "that's what the code says" when I mentioned the discrepancy.

I didn't look at the mortising/marking guage, but I think I'll head back soon and get it.

[docrowan]

Those look very nice. Would love to hear your impressions of how well they work when you get a chance to try them out.

Thanks for the post.

[JR]

I have the mortising/marking guage. It's made in India. I havent' used it a whole lot, but it seems to do the deed.

It's a little sloppy when you move the bits around, but once you get the it set it seems to work ok. The marking barbs are plenty sharp - I've poke a whole in my hands a couple of times!

Fit and finish rates "ok". The brass and wood are nicely joined. The moving parts are not tightly fit, but they do cinch down well.

JR

[BrazosJake]

That mortising gauge has the separate screw adjustment for the pin. Looks nicer than the one I have from HF is junk, I believe made in China?? It has a single screw to lock both fence and the adjustable pin, which means you set mortise width and location as once, very tricky without a third hand. The pins were different height, which makes a mortise gauge useless, I had to regrind the longer one. The rail for the fixed front pin was held in by a couple of dinky wood screws which pulled out on first use, I had to epoxy the pin and rail into place.

[Rich P]

I have the standard rabbet version and it worked well for me on two (3x3' and 4x4') ipe table tops (rabbet on all edges to fit edge trim). I was in Reno a week or so ago and the local HF had them all on "clearance"...standard, bull nose and a low angle...dirt cheap. Picked up the bull nose (<$5) and low angle (<$10) and another standard rabbet (<$5)...almost free! If you sharpen the blade properly it works great...at least it did for me on my ipe projects and held the edge throughout.

I picked up one of their marking guages a while ago (not the ebony one) and it was a piece of crap. The fit and finish on the ebony planes was far superior to the guage so maybe the ebony guage will be better.

[pelligrini]

I went back today and picked up a few more planes and the marking gauge. I still don't understand their pricing in the store, I don't think they do either. The low angle rabbet and small block plane had displayed pricing well above what it rang up as. Ended up being $4.86 for the advertised 19.95 block and $9.49 for the $29.95 rabbet.

I also grabbed a couple of the 3" miniature planes. They rung up for $15 each, but the displayed price was $10. I didn't even argue. I figured it was karma for the low pricing on the other planes.

The most surprising was the Router Fence that rang up for $9.86. The price advertised was $39 or $49. I just don't get it.

The marking gauge is as JR described. It is made in china though. There is a little slop in the long adjustment screw of the sliding bar for the movable pin on the mortise side. I found that when I hold the gauge in my left hand my thumb will compensate for the slight slop while measuring and adjusting the pins. Everything tightens up very well with a large knurled knob on the block. That screw also bears onto the sliding bar locking it in place. Not too bad for $7.86.

[BrazosJake]

I went back today and picked up a few more planes and the marking gauge. I still don't understand their pricing in the store, I don't think they do either. The low angle rabbet and small block plane had displayed pricing well above what it rang up as. Ended up being $4.86 for the advertised 19.95 block and $9.49 for the $29.95 rabbet.

I also grabbed a couple of the 3" miniature planes. They rung up for $15 each, but the displayed price was $10. I didn't even argue. I figured it was karma for the low pricing on the other planes.

The most surprising was the Router Fence that rang up for $9.86. The price advertised was $39 or $49. I just don't get it.

The marking gauge is as JR described. It is made in china though. There is a little slop in the long adjustment screw of the sliding bar for the movable pin on the mortise side. I found that when I hold the gauge in my left hand my thumb will compensate for the slight slop while measuring and adjusting the pins. Everything tightens up very well with a large knurled knob on the block. That screw also bears onto the sliding bar locking it in place. Not too bad for $7.86.

Hey, they got any of those low-angle rabbets left in the Ft. Worth store?

[pelligrini]

I saw about 8 or so yesterday. They are located on some shelves right in front of the cash register on the end.

[poolhound]

I have an old wooden rabbet plane that belonged to my grandfather that I am about half way through restoring but I just picked up the HF ebony rabbet plane also. I used the 15% coupon and it was just over $4.

Even though the blade would benefit from a regrind and hone as mine wasnt straight I tried it out and it works pretty well. Like any plane of this type setting the depth is a bit hit and miss but you cant argue with $4.