I dont like gloating but......

[Chris in Pickering]

I recieved the latest addition to my family today...
A LN 4 1/2 with high angle frog....
I am supprised how much physically larger and heavier it is compared to my LN #4 bronze....
I know some of you guys use a 5 or 5 1/2 as a smoother but this is a beast.....
Should be a good performer, cant wait to get it home and try it....

I have added a couple of pics to show the considerable difference in size between the # 4 and 4 1/2

[Ed in Oakville]

How is the machining on the plane? Ready to go out of the box or some flattening, honing etc required?

BTW you really suck :)

Have fun...

Ed

[Chris in Pickering]

Ed,

Machining looks good, not that I would notice the difference!
You may think this is weird, but I own 3 LN planes and I have never put a strait edge on them to check for a flat sole.... I just assumed that if you spend $400.00 on a plane should they should be flat...
And of course they all work amazing......so I have never questioned the machining......
I now understand why LN does not use bronze for planes larger than #4..... They would weigh a tonne!

[matt]

I recieved the latest addition to my family today...
A LN 4 1/2 with high angle frog....
I am supprised how much physically larger and heavier it is compared to my LN #4 bronze....
I know some of you guys use a 5 or 5 1/2 as a smoother but this is a beast.....
Should be a good performer, cant wait to get it home and try it....

Yup, you suck... If you get tired of lifting it, just let me know... :-)

[Frank D.]

Way to go. That was my first plane (not counting the Mastercraft smoother that I gave away to charity--didn't want to give it to anyone I knew, just so it wouldn't jepordize a friendship...). You shouldn't have to lap or touch the plane at all. The blades do need flattening (the back) and then a good honing and you're all set. So far almost all of my LN blades have needed 45 minutes to an hour to flatten and polish the backs. I usually stopp flattenign when it's "good enough", then you can reflatten it a few minutes each time you sharpen. This is why it can take three or four sharpenings before the blade gets really "sweet". I prefer this than to spend even more time on the first sharpening.

[Chris in Pickering]

Frank,

The only thing I am kinda regretting is that I should have got the High angle frog with my #4 and a regular frog with the 4 1/2.... I have it the other way around.... #4 standard and # 4 1/2 HAF.......
The HAF will make the iron slightly harder to push, and so will the extra blade width..... I will play tonite and give a full review tomorrow....

[Frank D.]

That's funny, for me it's the other way around, since I use my 4 for all kinds of bench work and my 4 1/2 primarliy for smoothing. I'm using standard angle frogs on both right now, but would prefer a HA frog on my 4 1/2. If you're interested maybe we could swap....

[Chris in Pickering]

Frank.....

I may consider swapping..... I played around last night and myay prefer the standard frog on the 4 1/2...... Give me another week to get used to it and I will let you know....

[Frank D.]

No problem pw,
There's really no rush, I've been thinking about getting the HA frog for a while but I'm still getting along OK with the standard angle one. And I'll be off for five weeks vacation next week, so no shop time for me. In any case, if you want to take 6 months to see how it goes, or whatever, don't sweat it.