Melbourne Tool Company Low Angle Jointing Plane

My low angle jointer arrived in perfect condition. Although the plane box was packaged in another box that was five times larger than necessary and that had allowed the plane box to bounce around during transport, MT's superior molded insert kept everything safe and sound.

The plane itself is beautifully machined. I disassembled and cleaned all parts, which were not overly covered in grease—just enough protective oil to prevent corrosion. Also, the plane was wrapped in a “VSI-type” anti-corrosion paper. I sharpened the blade for first use. The back of the blade was nearly perfect, and ten minutes with waterstones delivered a mirror dead-flat surface. The bevel sharpened as quickly and was delivered perfectly square. I was impressed.

I put the plane into action jointing 6/4 Sapele boards for a computer desk glue up. No joy. No matter how much I played with the adjustments, I could not take a consistent shaving. Out came my precision straight edges. My plane has a hollow running from in front of the adjustable mouth to about 4 cm past the blade. In addition, the toe and heel stand proud of the sole with a combined effect of the blade standing off of dead flat by a quarter millimeter or greater. Both of the plane's shoulders slope inward from 90 by about 3 degrees. Bummer. It's an impressive hunk of iron, and my sample obviously moved quite a bit after machining.

I contacted support, which responded quickly and professionally. I sent pictures of the defects, and the case was eventually sent to the warrantee department. I am in the United States, so the Australian team had to send the matter to a US representative to take care of the matter. And. . . here, we've run into a problem—no response from Team Melbourne Tool USA.

I'm going to wait a few more days until I've reached the one-month anniversary after first bringing this issue to MT's attention. If I haven't heard at that point, I'm going to change into my gym clothes, break out the granite surface plate and my PSA sandpaper rolls, and see if I can grind the sole flat. If I get lucky, it will come together. If not, I'll make it part of an art piece (it really is a beautiful plane) and I will have fulfilled my perennial New Year's resolution to get more exercise with the attempt.

Would I buy other MT products? I think I would. This seems like a growing pain issue with their international team members. Time will tell. If you are making shavings in Australia, it seems like you'll have no worries if something goes awry with one of their products. Everyone I dealt with there was first-class.

Very impressed with the overall packaging, flatness of sole, and assembly quality.

Great plane! The adjustable mouth is well done and the overall fit and finish is superb. I think the tote angle works really well for my hands too.

Outstanding delivery (next day) of this beautiful plane. Before purchasing I was concerned about the flatness of the sole. Wood Workers Worksop got back to me very quickly having contacted the manufacturer. I am pleased to confirm that my jointer is better than +/- 0.02mm.

Great legacy tool. Adjustable mouth almost assures no or little tearout.