Clifton

The Clifton Bench Planes are the best of British. Ideal for the cabinet maker and discerning woodworker, both amateur and professional. These planes are ready to use from the box and do not need hours of flattening and fettling to make them fit for use (though we would always recommend a quick hone.)

The body and frog are made from accurately machined grey cast iron with their sides and sole fully ground. Like other premium brands the bodies are annealed (stress relieved) for stability. You won't return to your workshop to find the plane has moved from square which is often the case with the older Stanley and Record bench planes. The Knob and handle are carefully shaped, sanded and sealed from Walnut. The cutting iron is carbon steel which has been cryogenically treated. The Frog locating pins and screws are made from ground stainless steel and are polished. The Lever Cap are made from grey iron casting polished. Both the Screws and Adjusting Wheel are made from polished brass. The Clifton Y Lever is slightly longer in the nose than other models of the Y-Lever due to the thicker blades and cap irons used in the Clifton Bench Planes. Cast from brass in Sheffield.

The frog and frog seating in the body of these planes are based on the BEDROCK design, first seen on early Stanley planes, meaning the seating pad in the body is fully machined to mate with an equivalent full face, fully machined underside of the Frog. This ensures absolute stability of the Frog, providing a firm and solid surface for the cutting iron, this again rests on a fully machined upper side of the Frog. When allied to the extra thick Clifton cutting iron and Clifton cap iron. This design has a very rigid and effective clamping mechanism.

The accuracy of this mechanism allows for the cutting iron to be advanced to give a virtually "zero" mouth opening, so allowing the finest shavings to be taken even on the most difficult of timbers. The BEDROCK design uniquely allows the mouth width to be adjusted without dismantling the Frog and iron assembly. To adjust the mouth width, the Frog should be moved backwards or forwards as required. To do this, loosen the outside two of the three screws located at the back of the Frog seating pad (underneath the adjusting wheel), then turn the central screw clockwise to close the mouth and anti-clockwise to open the mouth.