Pony Jorgensen Low-angle Block Hand Plane

I have now acquired two of these block planes. One was purchased new by me. The other one I acquire used. Overall I am pleased with both of them. Neither one was perfect when I bought it but with some fettling / tuning you can have a very good adjustable mouth block plane at a very good price. Please remember this isn’t a $100.00-$200.00 plane. You will have to do some of the fine tuning yourself for it to preform at a high level. So on to the good, the bad and the ugly. The new plane was well packaged. When opened it had a layer of oil on all parts. This is a good thing as it prevents rust from forming on planes when they are shipped. A few minutes with a rag and solvent of your choice will remove oil. I then disassemble the entire plane. Using a file I removed any ... MoreI have now acquired two of these block planes. One was purchased new by me. The other one I acquire used. Overall I am pleased with both of them. Neither one was perfect when I bought it but with some fettling / tuning you can have a very good adjustable mouth block plane at a very good price. Please remember this isn’t a $100.00-$200.00 plane. You will have to do some of the fine tuning yourself for it to preform at a high level. So on to the good, the bad and the ugly. The new plane was well packaged. When opened it had a layer of oil on all parts. This is a good thing as it prevents rust from forming on planes when they are shipped. A few minutes with a rag and solvent of your choice will remove oil. I then disassemble the entire plane. Using a file I removed any burs or paint that would impede the function of the plane. This was most important on the adjustable mouth as both paint and burs restricted movement of the mouth. Next I checked the blade back to see if it was flat. It wasn’t flat enough for my standards. So I used a combination of sandpaper on a flat surface as well as diamond plates to flatten the blade. The blade is too roughly ground. Jorgensen should send these out ground to a finer grit. Next I sharpen and honed the blade. The sharpening is to rough out of the box Jorgensen. Are you listening? You need to finish the blade to a finer grit. Anyway next I lapped the sole of the plane. The plane was concave in the middle. Also the sole was rough enough I could actually hear my fingernail scraping as I ran it over the sole. Again Jorgensen are you listening? You need to finish the sole to a finer grit. Nonetheless my lapping produced a flat sole. I then took a file and broke all the sharp edges on the sole. So as you can see some fine tuning is required but well worth it considering what you are getting. Oil all ductile iron parts as the plane can rust easily if exposed to moisture. The plane feels good in the hand. I’m not sure how long or well the zinc or aluminum cap iron will hold up over time but we shall see. Jorgensen has done about 80% of the work on this plane. It’s up to you to do the rest. Once done you should have a fine tool for your woodworking arsenal. I found both planes I own to exhibit the same problems. So now you know what to correct. Overall a block plane worth having.

Cuts decently after correcting the blade which had a dent on the edge. Sharpened it shaves well and is easy to adjust, however the sole is not flat. Right edge of mouth is proud of the sole and sole in general has a cup. After 30 minutes of sanding on 300 grit it’s still a ways out. You can see the areas that are not getting touched sanding this on float glass.

So, I saw this on the shelf at Lowe's and had been looking for a block plane that was less expensive than the fine woodworking brands, but better than the Kobalt-level brands. This plane needed a lot of work out of the package. The sole was not flat. It was pretty severely hollow both front to back and from side to side. The iron, while decently sharp, was very hollow on the back and needed flattening, and was not sharp enough to deal with harder woods, but that was easy enough to straighten out. Also, the frog and underneath the adjustable sole had a bunch of orange paint on them that was throwing things off. All-in-all, I had to put a good 1-1.5 hours into making it work properly. All that said, I'm giving it 4 stars because, at the price point, and after the work ... MoreSo, I saw this on the shelf at Lowe's and had been looking for a block plane that was less expensive than the fine woodworking brands, but better than the Kobalt-level brands. This plane needed a lot of work out of the package. The sole was not flat. It was pretty severely hollow both front to back and from side to side. The iron, while decently sharp, was very hollow on the back and needed flattening, and was not sharp enough to deal with harder woods, but that was easy enough to straighten out. Also, the frog and underneath the adjustable sole had a bunch of orange paint on them that was throwing things off. All-in-all, I had to put a good 1-1.5 hours into making it work properly. All that said, I'm giving it 4 stars because, at the price point, and after the work I put in, it seems to be a pretty decent little plane. If it had cost over $40, my rating probably would have dropped.