Quangsheng No. 5 or No. 62?

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  • James Harvey
    13 July 2013 at 11:02 am #14706

    Hi all,

    I’m a relative newcomer to woodworking after building myself a garden storage unit from scratch and by hand over the winter (inspired by a combination of being a frustrated engineer spending most of my time at a desk in spreadsheets or criticising other engineer’s designs – I’m a reliability engineer in a large R+D department – and watching this series http://www.channel4.com/programmes/kevin-mcclouds-man-made-home).

    In the process of that project I stumbled upon Paul’s youtube channel and it all went from there, so now I’m working my way through his book and hopefully will be making some furniture for our house eventually.

    I’ve had good experiences buying second hand tools from ebay (before and after pics of my No.4 plane attached) and I’ve been looking for a No5 at the right price for a while as I intend to use recycled wood where possible (I have the luxury of the nearby Bristol Wood Recycling Project) but its quite heavy going with the 4. However, as its my 30th birthday soon, I’ve decided to ask my family for a new plane, and following some of the good feedback on here I’ve been looking at either the Quangsheng No. 5 or No. 62 on Workshop heaven but I’m undecided which way to go – am I better off with the straight No.5 or will the No.62 give me the same performance but also more versatility?

    I’d welcome any opinions any of you might have!

    Thanks
    James

    Ken
    13 July 2013 at 11:35 am #14711

    Hi James,

    I’m sure Paul, and many others will tell you different, but I would go with the 62. I do have this plane my self, as well as an old Stanley NO 5.

    I’m sure you have read this from Matthew at WH but I think Its worth repeating. No matter what everyone says buddy, It’s your choice at the end of the day, I don’t think you will go wrong with the 62 though. 😉

    The Quangsheng Low Angle Jack is the Swiss army knife of planes. Since the whole point of a low angle jack is its versatility, we are supplying the Quangsheng No 62 with the 25 degree iron and including the 38 degree and the 50 degree cutting irons as standard.

    With the 38 degree blade installed it functions in much the same way as any other common pitch jack plane. Its reasonably long sole means that you can take component sized pieces from sawn to four squared with a sensible degree of accuracy.

    With the 25 degree blade installed the low effective pitch makes it a great choice for shooting edges and endgrain as well as planing quartersawn timber.

    With the 50 degree blade installed you are getting much closer to a scraping action; using slow strokes and a very fine set, highly figured timber, burrs and patches of reversing grain will all give up their hidden beauty without any nonsense.

    Steve Follis
    13 July 2013 at 2:32 pm #14712

    Welcome James!

    The shed looks pretty good, a nice project. And it looks like you did an excellent job restoring the plane, congratulations!

    I have no experience with the Quangsheng products, however, any plane can be a struggle when it is not proplerly set up. Sometimes after freshly sharpening a plane, I just find myself enjoying the sound it makes when making fine shavings.

    Good Luck, and enjoy!

    Memphis, Tennessee

    James Harvey
    13 July 2013 at 4:52 pm #14713

    Thanks guys.

    Ken, you’ve swung me to the 62. I can always get a second hand 5 from eBay later if I need it.

    Ken
    13 July 2013 at 5:16 pm #14718

    James,I’m sorry I did forget to welcome you to the forum. Good choice I’m sure you will be more than happy with it.
    Let us know how you get on with it buddy, enjoy. 😉

    Mark Armstrong
    13 July 2013 at 6:20 pm #14723

    Hi James and welcome,
    I enjoy using all planes,
    62 good for shooting end grain I have one of theses http://www.axminster.co.uk/stanley-stanley-no62-low-angle-sweetheart-jack-plane-prod906220/ just under £100

    The Quangsheng Like Ken says very good as different angled irons supplied £150

    You can always buy different irons for any plane and grind different angles.

    I find nothing wrong with standard bench planes 😉 and I have pretty much got most of them in Record and Stanley versions.

    What ever you decide just enjoy. 😉

    Dagenham, Essex, England

    David Gill
    13 July 2013 at 8:42 pm #14728

    Hi James
    Welcome to the forum, without knowing what other tools you have i would suggest there are over tools you may find more useful than a No 5 or No62 plane to purchase next, if you look back through Paul’s blogs you will see a recommended list of tools.
    If you have not already got one I would suggest the making of a good solid bench with a vice is the place to start

    Wigan, Lancs. England :

    James Harvey
    13 July 2013 at 9:46 pm #14732

    Thanks for the advice David.

    I actually have most of the tools from the buying good tools cheap blog series, so I’m now topping up the collection.

    A workbench is definitely on my “to do list” though because my Dad’s old workmate is an absolute nightmare!

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