Luban knuckle cap block plane

Review and photo: Raf Nathan

This plane design is based on the now discontinued Stanley #18 made in the UK, although really it is based on the popular Lie-Nielsen block plane. In fact, side by side, they are pretty identical with even the cap irons being inter-changeable.

This review plane has a 20° bed angle although many people now only use low angle block planes with a 12° bed. The lower angle makes the plane superb for endgrain work, however on difficult long grain it can dig in with sometimes disastrous results. Because of this I prefer a 20° bed angle figuring that this plane will handle long grain well and still do a good job on endgrain. This Luban is made by the Qiangsheng Tool Company in China who also make the Wood River planes.

Straight out of the box it only required a wipe-down of the protective oil coating on some parts and a quick hone of the blade to be ready to work.

The body is a CR40 alloy steel casting with a stainless steel lever cap. There is an adjustable mouth and a 3mm thick and 35mm wide blade. The sole according to my straightedges was perfectly flat, a relief given it is common for cheaper tools to need a lot of work flattening the sole. The sides to the sole were almost 90°. The blade adjuster is well made with minimal backlash and the bed machining is excellent.

The blade was perfectly ground to 25° and whilst I have had issues with case hardening of the edge on new tools this one was a breeze and only needed a hone on a fine stone to bring it to razor sharp. I am pretty sure the blade is A2 steel. As said, within minutes the plane was ready for work and achieved surprisingly good shavings.

The only downside with the tool is the somewhat soft steel of the blade. It sharpens easily and holds it edge well for a while but cannot match the edge holding of the modern blades in premium planes, which of course cost much more. You will need to sharpen less but more often, as they say. Given that at the moment the only new 20° angle planes around are Veritas, Stanley and Luban, it means that bang for bucks this is a really good plane.

Review tool supplied by author. Available from Timbecon, www.timbecon.com.au