Has anyone had any experience with the rather new Lee-Veritas Low Angle plane? I like the concept but am too frugal (cheap) to try one out without some prior advice from a user. Opinions please!
Windywood
Edited 11/20/2002 2:54:48 PM ET by Windywood
Edited 11/20/2002 2:55:02 PM ET by Windywood
Edited 12/2/2002 12:01:34 PM ET by WindyWood
Replies
I have a veritas low angle block plane that I use all the time. I think this line of hand planes is a really good value, they are well designed and well built tools at a moderate price point.
I will definitely add some more Veritas handplanes to my bench.
I have the L-N low angle block plane, and it gets first call, most of the time. Great plane, and I think a reasonable value considering that it is a purchase for the ages.
My wife got me this plain for my birthday a few weeks ago, and all i have to say is that it's an amazing tool. It came ready to go out of the box and has a solid feel that tells me it will last for many many years. I showed it to a few friends and they would have expected to pay much more then Lee Valley was selling it for. I'm really hoping that Lee Valley continues to make new planes. They are great quality at a reasonable price. Which is something I really look for. I can't afford the Lie-Nielson planes, but i don't want to waste my money on a cheap plane that will wear out or isn't accurate. I'd definately recommend it to anyone.
Are you talking about low angle smoother from L-V or block planes?
Bill-
I was referring to the low-angle smoother plane. I have a low-angle block plane that I use just for end-grain trimming.
Thanks for your interest.
Windywood
ive dabbled with the Low angle smoother, works well. But alas it was on a flat sawn oak. I have no idea about its use on really hard wood or highly figured or wild grain.
The low angle planes work well on end grain, or anything with grain running downhill. Once you start cutting against the grain, you usually get tearout. Works great on birds' eye maple, end grain, and QS oak or Sycamore (ray flecks). Works bad on curly grain, or quilted.
Should also work alright on crotch, maybe even around knots, but I don't know.
Tom
I own their LA block plane, 5 1/4 plane, #80 scraper and spokeshave. The quality on all of these is excellent, IMO on par with Lie Neilsen. I was thinking about buying the LA smoother, and it is a great plane. if you go into lee valley they'll let you give it a test run so you can see for your self if you like it. i was taking paper thin end grain shavings in the store. It's quite a comfortable plane to use. Over all it's a great quality plane and an even better value.
hope this helps
andrew
I have had the new LV low angle apron plane for about 2 weeks, and I really like it... it planed beautifully out of the box and has a nice feel in the hand. Blade adjustments are very positive and precise, and the overall design is very nice looking.
I think it rivals Lie-Nielsen for quality of workmanship; I have the L-N low angle adjustable mouth block plane and the 4 1/2 smoother, and they are beautiful planes to work with as well.
The apron plane has the non adjustable mouth, right? how big is the mouth opening? i have one of the LN little bronze jobs, low angle, fixed mouth. The apron plane seems like a great substitute, cheaper and with better adjustment mechanism.
I've never had a problem with the fixed mouth plane...
-Kit
Re: The LV apron plane- You're right, the mouth opening is not adjustable; when adjusted to take a very fine pass, there is a very fine opening at the mouth. If you tried to adjust for a deeper cut, it would close right off as delivered. It does a fine job on light passes, cutting a transparent ribbon of end-grain pine as delivered. I haven't yet tried it on more difficult woods. I had been considering the L-N apron plane until this one came out, and I am happy with this one so far.
WW,
I have the Lee Valley low angle smoothing plane. I got it to use as a miter plane on a shooting board (seeing how the Lie-Nielsen #9 is WAY out of my price range) and it does that job very well.
I've heard stories of planes that work well out of the box. I've never run across one, and the LV certainly needed a little work before it was ready to go.
The iron is A2 steel, which means it took good session at the stones to get the back flat and the bevel smooth. That is one of my few gripes about the way the plane comes: the iron comes with a primary bevel of twenty degrees with a micro-bevel of five degrees already ground into the edge. Because of the use to which I planned to put the plane this was not appreciated. I would much prefer LV to grind only the primary bevel and let me experiment to get the proper micro-bevel angle (if one is necessary).
The sole wasn't perfectly flat, but was very close; it didn't take much time at all to get it flat. The sides, as advertised, were as close to a perfect ninety degrees to the sole as my primitive tools could measure.
The various mechanisms for adjusting the iron are about the only things that don't work up to my expectations. I've yet to get the two little set screws near the throat to do anything helpful; and the combination feed screw and lateral adjustment lever can be a bit fussy.
However, all these little gripes aside, it's a well made tool that works. I use it exclusively on the shooting board (I have various other smoothing planes) and it easily takes shavings from the end grain of all the woods I've fed it.
Just to experiment I've tried it as a smoothing plane. It did pretty well so long as the grain was well behaved. However, on some woods with nasty habits it didn't do nearly as well as my other, standard pitch smoothers (not too surprising). There was quite a bit of tear-out that no amount of my fiddling with it could eliminate.
All in all I'm very pleased with it. I wouldn't get it as my only smoother. But if you want a plane that will work extremely well on end grain and can handle lots of flat grain smoothing jobs, I think you will be happy with it.
Alan
Alan and everyone else-
Thanks much for the excellent reviews!. I, and I'm sure others appreciate the voices of experience.
Regards, WindyWood
Edited 11/22/2002 9:57:07 AM ET by Windywood
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