Thank you! When they were young, I made a demonstration for my sons: I made a razor sharp knife from an old file and then proceeded to shave my face with it. I explained to them: a man with skills can make a beautiful tool from junk; a man without skills can make junk out of a beautiful tool. Your demonstrations are a constant reminder that skill and understanding are the most valuable tools.

This proves that often it is not about the tool but about the user! Well done Young!

Until now I didn't think anyone could polish a turd. I am inspired to fix my block plane.

Sir. I've watched a few of your videos making infill planes, and stand in admiration of your skill. Most of us will never even have a workshop or the tools to be able to attempt anything similar. However, most of us usually have one of those small cheap block planes languishing in the bottom of the box, and as you've shown, they are that poor that usually they're used to knock panel pins in with. In this video, you've taught me, and I'm sure many others, a lesson. Some knowledge, some skill, some effort and patience are what separates the true craftsman from the rest of us. More than inspiring me to have a fresh look at the sad old plane in the bottom of the box, you've forced me to have another look at myself. You've finally crossed the hurdle in being one of the few that can actually teach an old dog new trick. I salute you.

Thank you, wonderful to see you master the craft and letting me enrich myself in just a few minutes. Most grateful Young Ji

Your arms and hands towards the end tell a lot about yourself..you are a true craftsman. Respect : )

I love taking something/anything and making it functional. Your videos are inspiring. I would like to thank you for sharing your talents with us. It is appreciated and it means a lot to me.

I use my block plane on site almost daily. I love it. Thought I'd lost it a while back and was distraught, but had just misplaced it. Great little tool once you get them singing.

I am impressed!! I'm very impressed!!! You truly are a master craftsman! You use the tools you have on hand. With determination, and knowledge. You create masterpieces in the shop! I would love to have you give step by step instructions on lapping and tools to use. Where to get them on the cheep. And verbally tell us what's going on. Be my teacher is what. I doubt I'm alone!!

Very relaxing and satisfying to watch a job well done. Thank you. I think I will go give my planes some love this afternoon. My block plane is always in my pocket when I’m in the shop.

Enjoyed that. No music or verbals. Nice relaxing watch.

It's inspiring to see a man understand and improve the workings of a tool. It's becoming a rare thing in today's consumer society. Well done, much respect!

Those transparent shavings are a thing of beauty, made possible by your attention to detail!

I came looking for answers because my cheap Stanley block plane is totally unusable and I spent an hour attempting to figure out how to adjust it before I gave up and invested in this video... which is brilliant! I love the absence of tawk! of course adding all the equipment and time needed to make it useable puts the price tag a lot higher... and now at least I understand why investing in a higher quality tool is WORTH it. Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to make this!!

Impressive work. Your patience and skill is a gift. Thank you for sharing.

I bought a plane just like this recently, I worked on the sole and the blade and it's still rubbish so I was going to bin it! Now I realise how much more TLC it needs… thanks for this video!

Add me to the list of people who have been inspired to look more closely at their cutting tools, to see what we can do to improve them. Thank you so much, I really enjoy your videos. Liked & subscribed.

This is an inspirational video for me. I have a limited budget. So, it's nice to see that good performance can be achieved even if using an inexpensive, but decent, tool. It just takes some work to get it. I've started on mine and am already am getting better performance than before I started working on it. I don't have a belt sander. So flattening the bottom took time and effort. It took maybe a couple of hours of hand sanding with 100 grit sandpaper. That being said, I'm now able to get strips of wood when planing. They're thicker than in the video but I do still have more work to do. Thanks for making this video! It's much appreciated.

Loved the video. Not music, and very informative. Love you arms. Now I know how to fix mine.

Wow! I wasn’t expecting such a good outcome, those shavings were really thin and uniform!!!!

Great video, very nice work. I would not have guessed that you would be able to get such thin shavings from that basic inexpensive plane.

LOVED IT! I saw a $15 plane converted to $50+ plane - and I also learned how to use the $15 one I just bought !!!! BEST

Thank you brother , i just bought this same plane at lowes, thank you for showing the flaws and step by step fixes and refining

Very nice job on tuning what is normally a piece of junk . Your observation of every detail is refreshing.

Your skill and knowledge are a wonder to behhold!!!! A true craftsman.

First time I ever bought plane was this exact one from lowes. Dont know a thing about them and am so frustrated with it. This video really helps me understand why I am frustrated with it and that its not me but the cheap built tool. Thanks for the information and posting this video to teach us.

Time and attention to detail, pride in their work. Truly the mark of a Trade craftsman.

Another great video!!! You are truly a craftsman. Thank you.

Love watching a bloke that knows what he is doing. Thanks.

Thank you. Nice to see without a lot of funds that if you have time and patience you can achieve very good results. Very good to watch.

i got the same one as a gift and haven't used it much and haven't been frustrated with it! now after watching this i know what to look for and do to improve it! once i know how a tool is supposed to perform and seeing the fixes and understanding why, i can duplicate and remember :) excellent job btw!

The sound of the tuned-up plane making those fine shavings is very satisfying!

Congrats! You have got your own Veritas-like plane block plane.Tks for sharing!

Incredible! I now know what I have to do to get my junk planes up to snuff!! Very informative!

Thank you Young Je for doing this video on. This cheap planer I have one similar therefore I have my work cut out.i look forward to challenge, again thank you

Amazing work! You turned a non-working plane into a great tool to have around the shop....Way to go..............

Best video by far regarding a makeover of the crappy Lowe's Kobalt block plane. Nice job, Asian guy !!

Thank you for this video. I just bought the other plane from the same company. I knew it would need work and this video helps a lot since you used the same brand. Thank you!

Very helpful video, you made a new plain completely different and priceless now, thank you 🙏

Great video,l knew there was potential in my cheap block plane,now I've been inspired to get it sorted. Thanks

great job! I have 3 of these Lowes Kobalt planes in various states of disrepair and will give them a tuneup for a second life!

Just goes to show, if you look after your tools they will look after the wood. Spending time "upgrading" cheap tools they can work just as good as the more expensive ones. My toolbox has many cheapies and reconditioned tools. Great video 👍🏼😊

That was awesome - great education on hand planes in general. Nice work!

Incredible! I was looking for a good method of refitting this Kobalt! Now I have a great guide thank you.

I came across this video just passing time and actually have that same Kobalt plane and when I saw what you could actually do with it....well, there go my evening......I'll be heading down to my shop room to start my own work on tuning it up as close to what you did (hopefully) and if I get even in the ball park....that little blue hunk of import might just become my newest favorite toy in the shop.....

I bought an IDENTICAL "FOOTPRINT" brand (supossedly made in Mississauga Ontario, Canada); but that looks EXACTLY the same... and has EXACTLY ALL THE SAME, BAD FINISHED points you made us aware in your excellent video... Not a single difference at all! THANKS SO MUCH !. I am going to carefully follow all your steps as soon as I get the proper stones and a truly flat surface! Mine cost me about 35 US Dollars several years ago at a Sears store.

Did this with similar cheap plane. Took a few hours but now it works perfectly. In use I’d defy anyone to tell it in use from a plane costing ten times as much. Holds an edge well too

I own this plane and always wanted to make it preform better. Great Video! Thank you!

Absolutely outstanding job from an amazing craftsman.. when's your next video mate.. so satisfying to watch.

Incredible, dedication to the details, thanks for share and inspire, regards from Mexico

Humbling. Thank you so much for taking the time to show us this.

I’ve been looking at those. I knew it would require a lot of work but I really like how heavy it feels

I have bought and used a very cheap block plane. Also a not quite so cheap one. They are now ok, but the blades will never be good enough. Flattening the sole is the most important bit for me. The throat on one of them is ridiculously wide open, but it doesn’t make that much difference. I will buy a decent blade for one of them one day. Another great video.

I've got a lot of work to do on mine... This was incredibly helpful.

The hands of a working man. Much respect 👍👍

I'm using one of those, and I think they are not so bad, compare price to quality, of course they need some attention. And if you drop one of those or hit the nail there will be no tears. Thank you for another intresting video.

Very nice. I see from watching your video I still need to do more work on mine. Mine was so bad that the blade's cutting edge was not square to the side of the blade. It was way off. Once I trued the blade and sharpened it, my shavings were still thicker on one side than the other side. I used a micrometer to check my shavings. One side was .010" think and the other side was .016" of an inch. My board was only 3/4" wide. I had to take mine all apart and use a die grinder to actually grind down the planer's body where the blade rested. The best use for mine is to just cut away wood on some really bad spots that you can feel by hand that are high. I would never use this tool for build professional furniture. I'll have to go back and do even more work on it too see how much I can improve on it. Thanks for the informative video. Barry

Give this man a medal , that was a great job he did, turned a butter knife into a carving knife, good job

I HAVE THE SAME PLANE ,AND THANKS FOR THE HELP IN TUNING THE THING GREAT VIDEO .

Thanks for the video. I am going thru the same process. I think it's helpful to think of these planes as a "kit" of roughly made parts. The buyer has to complete it to get a nice working plane. For $15 it's kind of a steal.

This is a very good job, I like it a lot because everybody could afford this kind of tool and now we know what to do to get the most for it. I will try it with my planes.

Nicely done. I tried to do what you did to mine and it now much better. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you so much master. After fine tuning this "cheap" Kobalt is sharper, smoother and sadly far better than my Stanley block of the same size. They look very identical except for the coloring and the price. By the way I will probably have to do more tuning on mine. Inspiring video.

I have a similar plane. Will try this. Thanks for another great video.

I liked the way you used the feeler gauge to check to see if the sole of the plane was level. Great video.

Great skills and very thorough.

Was just doing the same thing today with a cheap rolson block vice , thought I done a good job till I seen this ,I will do it again ,great video

Very good! I did not know one of those could work so good! Thank you.

Great Job! You obviously understand the tool and it use. I have a similar (same manufacturer, different label) one, but didn't do quite as much as you. Thank You - I'm going to review it and make more changes like you have done.

Thumbs up 👍 that is crazy sharp bro and glides like butter. Freaking good job!

Thank you for your help and time, I will follow your instructions tune my plane as well. 🙏🏼😱

Bravo! I enjoyed this tremendously. Thank you.

a tool to sharpen his knife what my brother ... greetings from indonesia ... a very amazing work

I've been doing woodworking for over 50 years. I was taught at a very young age to never sit a plane on its bottom. Only when in use do you lay it on its bottom. Always lay it on its side!

That is very cool I have the same plane and doing to same things to tune it! Good video Sir Thank You!

Man, this is the best video i got. Congrats.

That was immensely satisfying to watch. :D

Amazing work, Sir. Would be so kind as to tell me the brand/name of that sanding tool you used to flatten the base of the plane.

Wow...what an inspiration and Craftmanship....wow ...wow...wow...

That is amazing! Well done, sir.

This video deserves million views.

Now I want to get one of those... and you should put a sponsored link in case people get inspired and buy it!

Just watched your video for the second time, I just wanted to note that someone's been paying attention either to lack of sales or some of these type reviews I bought one today and it only took me about 10 minutes to flatten the bottom and the lever cap using 120 then 500 by hand, it sure seems to me that either they tightened up the tolerances or mine was produced shortly after re calibrating the machinery, thanks for your tips savings purchasing this over a Lie Nielsen or such can go to materials or needed tools.

Makes me want to go out and buy a plane ....and im a blacksmith lol , excellent video and skills !!

Good work. I recently got a very cheap block plane, no adjustable mouth. All I've done so far is sharpen the iron. Still more work to do, but it has already been put to good use. At least when you buy a plane this cheap you can expect to have to work on it. If you had to do all that work on a plane costing 10 times this, you would not be happy!

So much work to make it decent. I have had to spend many hours on my stanley plane too, though nothing compared to all the poor parts of this block plane. I just had a Groz block plane arrive for use in our school workshop, much the same junk as this one you worked on. I doubt I have the time to invest to make it half decent though. Thanks for sharing the video.

You made it so simple and professionally modified, mine I’m still trying to modify it as well

Great video. Thanks for sharing with everyone, Jim

URDMan ! thank you for sharing your experience 😎

You are a patient man and a very skilled man. Nice work!

It's analogous to an average joe. With proper nurturing, it can be transformed into a fine man. Very inspiring.

Very nice..... I've been looking at how to hone cheap planes...

You are a true craftsman. Respect.

awesome stuff. i hope you'll share with us how well (or not) the edge holds up with use.

i have one of these... the sides on my were out of square... and the blade won't hold an edge. had to find a different blade for it.the adjuster nut also wasn't installed squarely. so i loose a good bit of adjustment on one side

i think i just came.... The quality of the finished product is AWESOME. Now I need a sandwich and a nap. Well done.

Excellent work!! Congratulations.

Not all heros wear cape, thank you sir! Greetings from Brazil!

the lack of real tuning leads to great frustration. ty for showing this

Well done. You inspire me to do mine!!