Porter Cable planes!!!!
Okay, a few years ago Porter Cable retooled their shops to produce an old
favorite, the Porta Plane. Why? I think they're nuts. If they were going to bring back an old favorite, why not the Versa Plane???
Porta Plane has the giant, heavy motor sticking out from the side of the tool - a nich lunk of weight to struggle with as you're trying to ballance this heavy tool on the edge of a door. The Versa Plane has the motor mounted on top of the tool, nice and evenly ballanced. If they had reintroduced the Versa Plane I'm guessing every serious woodworker and most professional carpenters would have bought one. But instead they reintroduced the Porta Plane, and everyone is much happier with their smaller, more nimble Makita, DeWalt or Bosch power plane.
So, what to they do next? The come out with the Power Plane, which I think they deliberately sabotaged right from the beginning. Either that or they hired their competitor to design it for them. What's happening with the Power Plane is the front shoe (the chip breaker) is set at a very slight angle when it should be perfectly parallel with the back of the shoe. Consequently, the back of the shoe digs into the wood when you're trying to plane it smooth. I can't imagine what they were thinking! But that's not the worse. To the back of the shoe, where it meets the spinning blades, they added teeth. Yes, TEETH! For which the only purpose I can imagine is to make sure it digs in real good, thus rendering using this tool nearly impossible.
I've always been a big fan of Porter Cable, since I bought my first electric drill some 25+ years ago - the T-handled 1/2" Porter Cable drill. I'm not sure, but I think my first cordless drill was a 14.4 volt Porter Cable drill. I gave it to a friend who is still using it to this day! Also, I have 3 circular saws. Which one do I grab first? My Porter Cable left-handed (blade on the left) sidewinder. It's lighter weight, more accurate and almost as powerful as my Milwaukee Mag 77 worm drive saw.
I don't know what's their train of thought when it comes to electric planes, but I think they're actually trying to lose money, probably for some corporate business write-off or something. All I know is I wouldn't own either the Porta Plane or the Power Plane if they gave them to me, cuz they're junk!
Ahhh... I feel much better now. Thanks Guyod, for starting this thread. I needed that.