Clifton No 4 1/2 Smoothing Plane

Clifton No 4 1/2 Smoothing Plane is a cabinet maker’s professional heavy Smoothing Plane used for final flattening and smoothing of wide boards for the ultimate finish.  Clifton Bench Planes are crafted from the finest materials and hand finished in Sheffield – the body and frog are made from accurately machined grey cast iron with their sides and sole fully ground.

Clifton Plane cutting irons are made from O1 Steel. This bench plane’s cutting iron is 2 3/8″ wide and 3mm thick, increasing rigidity, with a hardness of 60-62 Rockwell C, and the cryogenic treatment means that these blades will hold their edge even longer. Clifton blades have a reputation as quick to hone whilst producing one of the finest sharp edges available.

The Frog and Frog Seating in the body of these Bench planes is based on the Bedrock design, first seen on early Stanley planes, meaning the seating pad in the body is fully machined flat to mate with an equivalent full face and machined, underside of the Frog. This ensures absolute stability of the Frog, providing a firm and solid surface for the cutting iron, which again rests on a fully machined upper side of the Frog. When used with the extra thick Clifton Cutting Iron and Clifton Two Piece Cap Iron, this design has probably the most rigid and effective clamping mechanism of any Bench plane available.

The accuracy of this mechanism allows for the Cutting Iron to be advanced to give a virtually “Zero” mouth opening, 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.

So, to adjust the mouth width, the Frog should be moved backwards or forwards by loosening the outside two of the three screws located at the back of the Frog seating pad (underneath the adjusting wheel), then turning the central screw either clockwise to close the mouth or anti-clockwise to open.

The Cap Iron is a one piece design giving rigid clamping and the Frog locating pins and screws are made from polished and ground stainless steel. The Lever Cap is made from grey polished Cast Iron with the Screws and Adjusting Wheel from polished brass. The Y Lever is a solid one-piece casting and the Adjusting Lever and most other components are made from polished stainless steel. 

The Knob and Handle are carefully shaped from Bubinga hardwood sanded to fit your hand perfectly and sealed giving a very tactile and comfortable plane. 

Peter Sefton, owner of Wood Workers Workshop, is very proud to have been part of the development team when the new cryogenically treated high carbon steel blades used in Clifton Planes were developed.  His working knowledge and experience of sharpening and woodworking helped develop the improved plane blades that are presently in production and made entirely in Sheffield.

Blade: Carbon Steel O1 – 3mm (0.120″) thick cryogenically hardened to 60-62 Rockwell C