Lee Valley Bevel Up Smoother - Gloat

[Ralph Barhorst]

I went to the "Woodworking in America" conference in Berea, Ky last month. While there I tried out the Lee Valley Bevel Up Smoothing plane. I thought it was great.

My wife got one for me for Christmas. I installed the iron and just made some shavings with it. I did absolutely nothing to the plane other than installing the iron. I didn't even adjust the plane.

WOW! What beautiful shavings from this cherry board. I don't think I could make them any better even after putting a really sharp edge on the iron.

[Michael Sobik]

I love mine. You may think it doesn't get any better, but wait until you sharpen it!

[Danny Thompson]

Nice score!

[John Keeton]

Congrats Ralph! Don't know if you saw the thread, but John Dykes just visited with me and brought his BU smoother and jack for me to play with. I have already ordered the jack with the extra blade. They are both fantastic planes. That WIA show must have spurred some real interest in those planes!

Glad you scored!

[Greg Cole]

I have my eye on that one too, I LOVE my BU Jack with the 3 blades it's a versatile sunuva.....;)
Congrats!

[lowell holmes]

You may want to sharpen camber into the iron.
I read that using a stone to put a radius om the corners of the iron will suffice. I did that to my BU Jack plane and it leaves no visible tracks when smoothing a board.

[philip marcou]

The factory imparted sharpness is usually functional enough and one can do work with the plane right out of the box, to use that expression specially coined in U.S.A (;)
But you will get better results when you hone these blades to a higher standard, experiment with different angles and hone a slight camber onto them-then you steam on full pressure.
You can expect to get planes with blades honed to maximum only from makers of those brass and steel dovetailed planes-whose names are unmentionable by me and anyway I can only recall one at a time:D

[Victor Stearns]

Ralph,
Greetings & congrats on the plane. Did you compare the LV plane to the LN bevel up plane? I want to purchase a BU plane but would really like to try both before I make a decision.
Thanks for the Post
Victor

[Jim Becker]

That's a beauty, Ralph. Congratulations on receiving a great holiday gift...

[Brian Kent]

Ralph,
Greetings & congrats on the plane. Did you compare the LV plane to the LN bevel up plane? I want to purchase a BU plane but would really like to try both before I make a decision.
Thanks for the Post
Victor

Victor,

I would absolutely recommend trying both if possible. I loved the feel of the Lie-Nielsen, but the Lee Valley was even better for the particular shape and size of my hands. Otherwise advising between the two would be like saying "Which size shoe do you recommend?":D

[Joel Goodman]

Ralph,
Greetings & congrats on the plane. Did you compare the LV plane to the LN bevel up plane? I want to purchase a BU plane but would really like to try both before I make a decision.
Thanks for the Post
Victor

If you go LN I would get the #62 Jack-- it has a more straight forward adjuster than the LN BU smoother. It is smaller and lighter than the LV Jack. This is either good or bad depending on what you're looking for. Think 5 vs 5 1/2.