Melbourne Tool Company Large Router Plane

A lovely addition to my hand tool collection. It's well made and beautifully finished. All I had to do was hone the iron and it cuts like a dream, finished some tenons I had cut in Cherry. Very pleased with it.

I debated over getting the router plane as I wasn't sure how much I'd actually use it.... and I haven't reached for my plunge router since! It's a dream to use, very easy to sharpen and seems to hold an edge for ages. Have used it on cherry and maple so far and it's worked flawlessly. Great service from WWW as usual!

I find it good one so I got used to it easy to adjust

It adjusts easily, is comfortable in the hands and works like a dream!

I have a total of about 6 hours using the tool so far. Mostly with Ash, Mahogany and Cherry.

Cons: No major flaws. Tension on the blade can cause the adjustment knob to slip out of the blade, so be aware of that. No real easy way to ID how much you're turning the adjustment knob (unless your eyes are good enough to watch the knurling), so I just gave it a little dot with a sharpie. Sole needed slight lapping, but not much.

Pros: Feels good in the hands. Heavy, and the handles are nice and large. Straight blade was easier to sharpen than the L-shaped blades some other router planes use. Took less than a few minutes to sharpen well. Cuts cleanly, leaves no marks or burnishing. Great tool for the price point. I'll probably get more Melbourne planes in the future.

I've never used a router plane before and this is a joy to use. I started by sharpening the blade, which wasn't too difficult as it's just a square bit of steel, and then used it instead of my Bosch router to cut some dados. It took some trial and error but after an hour or two of practice I got the hang of it. Really like this tool.

Great plane as expected!!!! Would easily suggest that buy to any serious woodworker

Have not had a chance to use. Seem to be Nextel made.

Solid, well-built tool. Fine tolerances result in stable, firm but easily adjustable blade depth. Great design features: bevel down blade allows easy sharpening, depth stop eliminates the need for an additional "last pass" plane, screw holes in sole allow easy attachment of supplemental base, etc. My first use was truing cheeks on 32 hand-cut tenons where it worked like a champ. Tip/request to MTC: include 4 properly-sized screws for attaching supplemental base.

I only have limited experience with this plane having used it to finesse the bottom of a couple of joinery grooves I recently cut. Unboxing the plane was superb and love the packaging and graffiti which is significant in the Melbourne area. Appreciate this tool is designed in Australia but made in Asia (China?) but it is superbly made. The brass knobs are beautifully turned and the knurling is excellent. The fit and finish of the casting is superb with one exception. I felt the need to lightly relieve the chamfers around the base slightly with a power file and 300 grit sandpaper to make absolutely sure no marks were left on my work. Base is perfectly flat….checked on a granite reference plate. The sugar maple handles are beautifully turned and finished and lovely to have lighter coloured handles. The blades are very precisely machined and simple to sharpen and the depth adjustment is simple, very accurate and doesn’t move. All in all…..well pleased Woodworkers Workshop has bought these planes to the UK market to give us a choice from the usual suspects. Probably coming back for the low angle jack plane too.

Set up was minimal and easy. The sole was perfectly flat straight out of the box, and it took maybe 30 seconds to lap the back of the iron and polish the bevel. I've never found it particularly difficult to sharpen a traditional L-shaped router plane iron, but that doesn't mean it's not annoying, so having a straight iron is really nice. I've had the plane for about a month and the iron has held its edge nicely since I sharpened it that first time.

The handles are nicely made and very comfortable, and (like all good plane handles) they practically force you to hold the tool correctly.

The adjustment mechanism is solid and well made with very little slop. The bar and two brass screws that fix the iron in place are very sturdy and secure.

I only have one issue with the plane: When I cut a hinge mortise with a router plane, I like to set the depth stop by retracting the iron completely and then putting the hinge between the depth stop and the body of the plane, but because the point on the body of this plane where the depth stop collar makes contact is rounded over it's little trickier than usual. I wish there was a little machined ledge so that the depth stop collar makes contact with a flat surface on the body of the plane. This is a very minor gripe, and really more of a suggestion than a complaint. It definitely doesn't change how much I love this plane.

Overall, this is an excellent tool that does not feel out of place next to my Lie Nielsen, Vintage Stanley, and Veritas tools.

Was at the woodworking show and took a chance and purchased this plane. I really like how it is construted and the blade is at a straight angle. The item was received quickly and was easy to setup. I recommend for anyone that is looking for router plane.

I have used it once since purchasing it. Worked well. I was glad I had it because it saved me form a lot of extra work.

Works beautifully, love using the router.