STANLEY Hand Planer, SpokeShave, Flat Base (12-951)

Setup of any hand wood plane/shaver is MANDATORY! Save your crap review for someone who actually knows what they’re doing and quit whining that your tool didn’t work “out of the box”. No plane or shaver will EVER do that. You must know how to fettle the tool before taking it to wood...PERIOD! I highly suggest watching Paul Sellers or Rex videos on YouTube if you don’t know what I mean...With that said, let’s get into it :)I purchased both the Stanley “951” and the Kunz “151” spokeshaves after a small hiccup in Amazon’s delivery -I will not get into that here. I wanted to see the difference between the two after being forced to accept both so here we go!After receiving the Kunz first, I set it up and took it to an off cut to see what it could do. It was surprisingly good. However after receiving the Stanley, I was blown away by the difference!1. The Kunz’s mouth is garbage compared to the Stanley. The machining was erratic at best. If I wanted to, I’d have to file the mouth to make it sort of comparable.2. Every single screw minus the adjustment knobs for the blade were machined with slots for a screwdriver on the Stanley -not so much on the Kunz. The cap iron screw is some sort of elongated machine screw with an enormous knob that just feels cheap!3. The Stanley is much heavier, making the work easier. The Kunz is very lightweight and I often had to fight it to get the shavings I was after.4. The cap iron on the Stanley is much larger and covers more surface area compared to the Kunz. The Stanley’s is made of iron while the Kunz’s is made of cheap thin aluminum.5. The soles are dramatically different as well. The Kunz has a very wide nearly flat sole compared to the Stanley’s slightly narrower sole. The Kunz’s was flat in both the forward and side projection while the Stanley’s was flat only in the widest projection with a very slight rounded front to rear camber. This is extremely important to point out because if you have ever used a spokeshave, you will appreciate the slight rounded sole as it makes getting into inside corners that much easier and this was machined out of the box!!6. The blade irons were only different in the fact I didn’t have to flatten the back of the Stanley nearly as much as I had to on the Kunz. With that said, I had a harder time honing the bevels on the Stanley blade, but I that’s due to the difference of steel but I’m not certain who uses what. Either way, I was able to get the bevels set on both without too much fuss on my wet stones.7. The Stanley is a more faithful reproduction of the vintage #151 than the Kunz and is even stamped “No. 151” on the back!Overall, I managed to get the Kunz to do a good job, but the Stanley was easier to set up and it did a better job than the Kunz.I’m an experienced woodworker and have tried a lot of planes and shavers and for the money, this Stanley “951” is a MUCH better buy IMO.

Package arrived undamaged. Features are well made with NO obvious defects. The "as received" good condition prompted me to test it as received without performing any further rework or "tuning up."OUT OF THE BOX FIRST USE -- Without honing the iron / blade I set it up and started making shavings on a test piece of wolmanized 2x4. Much to my delight it worked great! For a $15 spoke shave at this price point to work well out-of-the-box was unexpected. A new edge on the blade and proper honing will enable thinner shavings. For occasional use this low cost tool is ideal. Remember to use it with the grain and to draw it or push it at about a 45 degree angle to get things started. Also, you can vary the reveal of the iron or blade so one side shaves more wood than the other. In a normal hand plane you strive for even exposure. This spoke shave tip is helpful for rounding square stock. You can be aggressive with the blade size that has more exposure and then switch to the lesser side when finishing the surface. Lastly, a quick rag wipe of 3 in 1 oil on the sole helps to reduce the likelihood of chatter.Sharpening the iron (aka, the blade for purists) -- it is too small to fit either of the scarey sharp fixtures I own so I had to free hand sharpen on my Worksharp 3000. The original cutting edge came sharpened to a 25 degree angle. It came with a decent cutting edge. I flattened the back of the iron and the freehand sharpened the bevel. I flipped it over to deburr and reinstalled it in the spoke shave. I was able to make long thin shavings in pine pushing or pulling. Impressive!My Stanley spoke shave had proper quality control. That is, the adjusting screws, iron and mouth were properly made and the extent of "tune up" was sharpening the iron. Reading the reviews one would conclude there tends to be piece-to-piece variability. That is, some are great and are ready-to-use while some are real stinkers. If you get one and it is not acceptable just return it for another or get a refund. Mine is proof that you can get a reasonably priced spoke shave that works quite well as received.A simple vinyl plastic sleeve that snaps closed is included which protects the tool when stored in your tool box or on a tool tray.