Popular Woodworking 2005-08 № 149, страница 31
Endurance Test Lie-Nielsen No. 412 Smoothing Plane Heavy, precisely made and surprisingly easy to wield. Woodworkers tend to get obsessed with their smoothing planes. No other plane requires as much tuning and no other plane rewards its user with the same gossamer shavings. I have 10 smoothers (I can quit any time, dear) and so it's always interesting to observe which one I unconsciously reach for. In all honesty, it's not this plane. For most smoothing tasks I favor the Lie-Nielsen No. 4 in bronze, equipped with a high-angle frog. But whenever I have a tabletop or large cabinet side, the No. 41/2 is the plane I grab. And as I put it to work I always wonder why I don't use it more. It is a jewel. With a body that's 27/s" wide, IOV4" long and nearly 6 pounds, this plane is much bigger than its smaller cousins in the smoother family. Though fans of wooden planes will disagree, I like heavy smoothers. Extra mass keeps the tool from jumping out of the cut and makes the plane easier to start. Is it more tiring to use ? Perhaps. But because a smoothing plane takes just a few passes on a board, it's a non-issue. (And no matter what plane you use, it is far less boring than power sanding.) ABOUT OUR ENDURANCE TESTS Every tool featured in our Endurance Test column has survived at least two years of heavy use in our shop here at Popular Woodworking. Since this tool was introduced in 1999, Lie-Nielsen has upgraded it. Most noteworthy is the fact that you can buy this tool with a high-angle frog. This so-called "York pitch" frog raises the blade to a 50° angle, up from 45°. Ifyou work with hardwoods, order the tool with the high-angle frog (it doesn't cost more) because it does make a performance difference. I don't think you need the 45° frog. My conclusion is based on working with two of these planes in three different configurations: with a 45° frog, a 50° frog and an experimental 55° frog made by Lie-Nielsen. After considerable use in curly cherry and maple, I found that the 50° frog was the best compromise. With the 45° frog there was more tear-out. With the 55° frog the plane was a bit hard to push and the iron seemed to dull faster (though there was even less tear-out with the 55° frog than with the other two frogs). Aside from the frog, Lie-Nielsen has made two other notable upgrades. The company now uses cryogenically treated A2 steel for its irons instead of high-carbon steel. During my test with the 55° frog, I also compared the original iron to the new A2 iron. The A2 goes longer between sharpenings. Some woodworkers complain that A2 can't get as sharp as high-carbon steel. While this might be true, I get A2 plenty sharp for my picky tastes. The final improvement was the most SPECIFICATIONS Lie-Nielsen No. 41/2 Plane Street price: $300 Iron: 23/s"-wide cryo-treated A2 steel Sole flatness: Better than .0015" in all places; no gaps visible under straightedge Squareness of sidewalls: Small amount of light observable under engineer's square, but unmeasurable to a .0015" feeler gauge Upgrades: Available with a stock 50° frog for no extra charge; additional 50° frog, $75; also available with a corrugated sole and rosewood handles (both untested) For more information: Contact Lie-Nielsen Toolworks at 800-327-2520 or lie-nielsen.com important one, in my opinion. Lie-Nielsen stopped using the springy Stanley-style chipbreakers. Lie-Nielsen replaced this fussy and unreliable design with an "improved chipbreaker," which is now standard equipment on all the company's bench planes. This chipbreaker is thick, flat and milled on the underside so it has a metal lip that mate s with the iron. The design isn't perfect - I've had one improved chipbreaker that needed a lot of work. But these chipbreakers are indeed much improved compared to the previous design, which could require a couple hours of tuning in really bad cases. With these upgrades, and Lie-Nielsen's commitment to quality, this tool is worthy of being your only smoothing plane, especially if you tend to build large-scale furniture. PW — Christopher Schwarz popwood.com 29 |
