Spear & JacksonCJP5 Carpenters No.5 Jack Plane

This is tough to review because the quality gap is quite massive between this and even a Stanley plane and I’m sure S&J acknowledges as much. BUT…. If you know what you’re doing with a hand plane and know how to set them up, most of this plane’s shortcomings can be fixed with an hour or so of fine tuning. I had to flatten the sole and work out a couple of knicks on the toe that were gouging my stock on every pass. I also had to properly sharpen the blade which is not the greatest quality, but I’ve done that and now have a more than functional smoothing plane that is tuned and sharp enough to handle cocobolo end grain smoothing! And it’s not even a bevel up plane! Very happy with my purchase. Wish Spear and Jackson would attempt a shooting plane!

These are not out of the box ready. Do not buy unless you are ready to put in the work. I had to return the first one in ordered because the sole was too far twisted it was never going to be able to get flat. You will definitely need to hone the blade, tighten some bolts, and flatten the sole and sides. This is a time consuming process, but its part of why other companies charge 10 times as much. The handles are a nice touch.

This plane is good value for the money. Real wood handles. Most important to know is that the plane won’t work as expected until it is correctly set up and the cutting iron sharpened. But once done you will have a plane with a big flat base and enough heft that it will swoosh through wood stock and produce curly ribbons of wood shavings. Very satisfying.

Spear and Jackson describe this as a carpenters plane, which seems to be pretty accurate. The build quality and blade (with a little honing) are good enough for most carpentry work. However, for a woodworker doing more precise work (e.g., cabinetry), this plane is likely to disappoint.The biggest problem is that the "precision ground" casting of the plane was not actually precision ground: The sole was not particularly flat and the sides were not square to the sole. Other issues were that the back of the blade wasn't particularly flat, and the mating surface of the chip breaker was quite rough.I was able to flatten the sole to "good enough" in about 45, and the back of the blade to "good enough" in 20 minutes. Fixing the chip breaker took another 20 minutes. Of course , there is no way I can square up the sides, which means I won't be using it with my shooting board.It's my opinion that, assuming you are willing to put in the work required for set up, the S&J #5 can be a decent plane for the price. It's not the best plane to use with a shooting board, but otherwise can be transformed into a competent Jack plane.

The bottom is NOT flat when coming out of the box. But considering the rest of the plane, and the price, time spent flattening the bottom was well worth the effort.

The plane is built solidly, but the sole on all of the Spear & Jackson planes I have bought have been nowhere near flat. When viewed from upside down, the heel and toe of the plane is significantly higher than the rest of the sole. The sides of the sole have also been higher than the center of the sole near the mouth. The machining on the frogs on the planes I bought was really rough and required some filing and sanding. The blade edges have not been square to the sides on any of the three Spear & Jacson planes I have. The primary bevel edges on the plane are very concave and not a true 25 degrees and were not cut straight on any of my planes, both of the edges protrude from the mouth farther than the center of the blade and the blade was not flat on any of the planes I bought. I had to sand the chip breaker on my number 4 and number 5 planes so they would rest flat on the blade and reduce clogging. The blades need sharpening quite often as well. The depth adjustment on my number 4 and 5 planes is terrible, the yoke is too small for the depth adjustment knob so I have to make three to four full turns to engage the blade. I've actually had to buy a yoke for my number four since the one I got was junk, my number 5 is a little better. To make matters worse it can slip out of adjustment on all three of my Spear & Jackson planes once in a while, which starts the headache all over again. On the more positive side, once I did all of that work, I have been able to take consistent shavings as thin as 0.005 inch, but that is only with a very sharp blade. If you don't mind putting in the work, and figuring out how to troubleshoot problems, it can be a great plane. I really wish they would spend a little more time machining the parts smoother and fitting the parts to each other more carefully. They really need to work on their blades and/or use higher quality steel and find a better way to cut the primary bevel.

Although not top of the line product I found this planer very good. Like all planes it required an initial tuning. After the tune up I have had no problems. I get very thin straps out of this. Measuring .004 inch.This is a good plane for the money.

Hello. I received plane number five. It is heavy and solid - it inspires confidence. I removed the knife - the sharpening is almost even, but rough, for a good result it is necessary to sharpen it on special bars. I read a lot of comments in which they write about the uneven surface of the plane sole - nothing like that. I measured it with a ruler - everything is perfect. Only all the metal surfaces are covered with a thin layer of varnish, you can see from rust. In general, I am very pleased with the plane I bought for such a small price. Thank you Spear & Jackson! 👍