Are these good ones?
http://www.screwfix.com/c/tools/block-smooting-planes/cat860010[/QUOTE]
No. They are utter crap! Pay a little more (about £50) and get a
Qiangsheng low angle block plane or a
Qiangsheng standard angle block plane from Rutlands - and learn how to sharpen it
properly (Google "Scary Sharp"). These are Chinese copies of the much more expensive Lie-Nielsen planes complete with thick cutter and unlike many Chinese products are exceptionally well made and value for money - not as good as an L-N, but better than a cheap Stanley or Record Irwin. I put my money where my mouth was a few months back and added one to my site kit to replace a damaged 50 year old Record. Cheap planes all have thin, poorly hardened cutters and never work right. They often require a lot of work to get them working properly in the first place (and what novice knows how to do that?). I suppose that's why many DIYers eschew them.
Should we be encouraging DIYers to take the bottom of a door with an electric planer ,the procces must include using the planer on its edge that means part of the blade will be exposed on the blind side and i'm sure we all do it this way I'm not being preachy,what do you lot think ??? has anyone ever got back with grisly DIY amputationes tales
Hey, I'm not stupid. I fitted the door and frame myself and am more than competent with tools. Used my circular saw loads and I observe safety with that over anything else.
To back up HWW I have to say he has a point. In the first month of using my own power planer (30 odd years ago) I took a couple of millimetres off one finger tip - it was an ELU and unlike the Tarplaner I'd previously used from work it was light enough to use on door bottoms. I've repeated that mistake only once since
I can tell you that finger tips have a good supply of both blood and nerve endings, but that oddly you don't feel the cut at all - to start with. I believe I was properly trained and have enough years experience as a joiner to know better - at least in theory. Take that any way you like