TESTED: Blue Spruce router plane
Above: Modelled on the Preston design, the Blue Spruce router plane has a 216 x 90mm base.
Review and photos: Raf Nathan
This router plane comes badged as Blue Spruce Tools however it is made in the Woodpeckers factory in the USA so you can expect quality. Given the price of around AU$423, I was a little puzzled as the router arrives as an impressive set of components that you must first assemble. It’s not a big job to screw the handles and blade assembly in place though.
The design is based on the Preston router plane made from the 1800s to 1934 in the UK and its footprint is about the same at 216 x 90mm. Blue Spruce have improved the blade holding system immensely.
The blade up-close
The base is milled from ductile iron with a nitride finish for protection against rust although initially some of this paint left residue on the wood surface. All other parts are stainless steel, brass and aluminium.
The lovely Bolivian rosewood handles can be mounted in different positions to enable the tool to be used in a few different ways. The blade holder is very precisely made with a top-mounted brass thumbwheel controlling rise and fall of the blade. In use there is zero back-lash which is very impressive.
Showing an alternate mounting for the handles and blade.
The blade holder assembly is a smart piece of engineering. The blade screws to a column which can be rotated for different set-ups. To remove the blade for sharpening you activate the spring-loaded depth screw knob and turn the column and pull it down and out. Or unscrew the blade from the arm. It is quick to do either. As mentioned, there is virtually zero backlash for rise and fall.
Depth adjustment mechanism
The 1/2" blade comes perfectly ground at 25° but the edge is not honed so you need to work it to get it sharp. Arguably for a tool at this price (US$270 at time of writing) it should come ready to work out of the box.
The back of the blade is perfectly flat and lapped to a mirror finish. I needed to hone the edge and it took me a while through various grits to achieve a razor edge using a slight secondary bevel. All without touching the mirror polished back. Initially I thought it must be made from O1 steel or similar given its hardness. However after using the plane for a while, re-honing the edge was easy. In fact the blade is A2 and just needed the case hardening from the initial grinding removed with some hand sharpening. A spear point blade is included.
The fence plate attaches via stainless steel rods with knurled lock knobs.
Given the refinement of the plane the fence seemed a somewhat of an afterthought. The phenolic fence plate attaches to the base via twin stainless steel rods and has knurled lock knobs. I could not get the fence to sit perfectly parallel with the blade so if it was mine I would need to ease a hole in the plate for more adjustment, a quick fix. It’s a bit slow to install the fence as it secures with two allen screws that are hard to access as they sit under the handles.
The plane works beautifully and achieved all that you would expect from a router plane. With the blade and handle in different positions the plane can be worked in various configurations to keep as much of the base on the work surface when planing. The build quality is very high throughout the tool, it will last forever.
Apart from antique tools this is the only plane of this large Preston style available and Blue Spruce have made an impressive one.
Review tool supplied by Blue Spruce Toolworks https://bluesprucetoolworks.com