STANLEY No. 4 Sweetheart Premium Bench Plane with Long Life A2 Steel, 1-12-0136

A small visitor to my shop tried to pick up my No4 off the bench. And, it hit the floor and cracked the body. You have to watch toddlers around attractive tools, and I should have put it away earlier. So, I was instantly, and unexpectedly in the market for a new No4. After reading reviews and checking prices this seemed worth a gamble. I haven’t really used it much. I have at this point just turned it and checked it. Out of the box I checked it with a machinist square, and it seems true flat and square. I put a couple of marks on the sole and started with 600-grit black carbide sand paper. All the marks were gone in five passes. So, the sole came flat. The sides were flat and at ninety to the sole checking with the high dollar Starret square that lives in its box in the drawer of precision tools. I can’t get them any better. so, I left them alone. Then I honed the blade starting at 600, and going up-to 2000-grit. Before I put the blade back in, I took a file and relieved the sharp edges of the body just a bit. Then I set it up, and tried a few passes. Good clean shavings. Summary: Pluses, Quality, as good as my Lee Valley Veritas planes. Wish it had the two set screws they have, to keep the front of the blade centered. But I own a drill press and some taps. If it bothers me after I use it for a bit, I can install them. Minuses, there are no available blades. The blade looks pretty close to a Kung blade out of Germany which looks like it might work, and I may decide to get one and see. If it does, I’ll come back and update. Value, when I ordered this plane it was $134, with shipping. At that price it is an outstanding value. But the price is now $238. At that price it is still seems to be a good value.

My tool supply is a smorgasbord from various manufacturers. I purchase tools based on economical considerations as well as purposes. If I was a professional cabinet maker, I’d have those really “high dollar” planes but I simply don’t work with them every day. This plane is a #4 SMOOTHING plane. You should be able to hold a shaving up to a light, put your finger on the back and see the finger’s shadow at least. This plane can be adjusted to where you measure the thickness with a set of calipers! If one needs to remove thicker shavings you need a jointer. This tool is a mid grade example that performs very well and satisfies my concerns!

Plane quality appears superior. Heavy and well finished. My second plane, after a very small Veritas plane. I wanted to return it since I'm new to plane and determined that one was not the plane I needed to start out. Seller, Amazon U.K. would not pay for return shipping. USPS for this plane from CA to U.K. was almost $80.00. Hardly worth the expense and trouble for a hundred dollar wood plane. I noticed this plane no longer available from my seller. Next time I need to be more careful in spotting the seller's location.

This is a lovely plane for the price, if only because it compares so well to a Veritas plane costing over twice as much. I have a number of Veritas planes and love them, and prefer them mainly for their weight and the standard 1/8” blade, which holds its edge much longer than the 1/16” thick blades of commonplace planes. The fittings are nicely machined, as is the body. Adjustments forward and back and side to side are easily managed. All this about the Veritas plane to say that the you can check all of the same boxes for the Stanley: thick blade, fine machining of its parts, ease and pleasure of use. I’ll be looking at Stanley tools when I next want something for hand work at the work bench.

Beautiful plane. Works well.

This Stanley Sweetheart knock-off comes with one of the sharpest irons I've ever seen right out of the box. It's a high-quality tool except for one feature. The Belgian folks who designed this plane replaced the standard Stanley two-part iron adjustment with a single micro-adjustor that advances the iron and moves it laterally. It's a clever design, but poorly executed. There is so much lag in the system that I had to turn the knob almost four complete rotations before the iron would advance or retract. This makes what should have been a great tool annoying to use.

This very well manufactured and constructed tool will serve well for generations. The legendary quality of Stanley planes has been earned. I love them. The one I purchased has performed flawlessly. I would not own anything else. The only downside had nothing to do with the plane, but UPS handling of the item after it was shipped. The Amazon shipping box was, literally, torn apart when it arrived and the driver threw it on the cement at my door and took off. Additionally, the manufacturers box containing the plane had been opened. Fortunately, there was no damage nor anything missing. This is the second time I’ve had this problem with UPS. In light of this, I strongly suggest buying shipping insurance and requiring a signature upon delivery for all orders of $100 or more. I do.

The #4 Sweet Heart Hand plane is a good mid price hand plane. It is everything I expected from a smoothing plane. Shipping on the other hand was suspect. The package was thrown around to the point that when picked up of the front porch it fell out of the Amazon bag and the box and fell on the concrete porch. Thankfully it fell a short distance and no visible damage. Be careful.