I'm in love ...

[Dave Samborski]

Hello all,

Been lurking a bit here and there, and thought I'd post up to say hello.
I slipped on that plane slope a little while back and it's been a fun ride down!

I came across this today, and WOW! I'm in love; I need one:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=61963&cat=1,41182

Anybody have one yet, and does it work as well as it looks?

[Bruce Haugen]

and it is fantastic. I've been using a plain jane Stanley 60.5 for 45 years or so and it was my father's for many years before that. He started training me as a finish carpenter at age 15, so it seems like that stanley has become an extension of my hand.

HOWEVER, that LV is unbelievable. The adjustability is far superior, the set screws don't allow the blade to shift position (a constant problem with the Stanley) and the overall feel is one of a very solid quality tool. Right out of the box it has been wonderful. I've used it pretty steadily for a month and still haven't sharpened it.

Bear in mind that it is substantially heavier and larger than the 60.5.

If you use a block plane a lot, and I do, it would be pretty hard to beat this beauty.

[Jim Koepke]

Derek Cohen gave it a review:

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/VeritasPremiumBlockPlane.html

Looks like a lovely little plane that would get me to sell a few of my others if I could get my wife to let me buy one.

jim

[george wilson]

Looks like LV took an entirely different approach to designing this new plane. It looks like it could have been made by some high end car designer in the 30's. Somehow,it looks like a Duesenberg. I wouldn't mind having one.I already had their older A2 iron block plane at work. JUST KEEP A GOOD GRIP ON IT!! Looks slippery.

Now,can I justify adding yet another block plane to an overcrowded block plane collection? No,but toys,toys...

[Will Blick]

Been spending some quality time with my NX60 plane.... (sounds like a high performance car, such as the Acurra :-)


Do I like it? You bet I do.... LV continues to improve every tool they make, KUDOS to their commitment to form and function.

Does it work better than my LV Low Angle Block plane? (which I have used for a few years)....no, not really.... it also is a superb tool. I had no real reason to buy the new version, other than, it looks really cool and feels a bit nicer in the hand. We all have a bit of tool junkie in us. It's hard for LV to trump the performance of their existing tool lines :-) IMO, LV has an uncanny sense of the tool market, i.e. the ratio of ... cost / form / function. Would I have upgraded if the NX60 was $400? Nope....

If LV designed a product like the BC JMP, I bet it would sell for about half the current BCT price, and have nicer features.... hmmmmm.....hey, Rob? :-)

Kudos Rob.... nice job...

[Phillip Pattee]

[quote=Dave Samborski;1047311]I slipped on that plane slope a little while back and it's been a fun ride down!

Oh, you aren't anywhere near the bottom yet! It gets steeper a litter farther on.:D

[Ray Sheley]

" Oh, you aren't anywhere near the bottom yet! It gets steeper a litter farther on.:D "

....there is no bottom, it just get's steeper, and steeper.......

[Gary Herrmann]

I tried one out at the wwing show a few weeks ago. I was barely able to keep from ordering one.

[Dave Samborski]

Ok, so besides the point about the NX60 being a "sports car" tool and all ...

You guys that have Veritas planes - do the side adjustment screws that guide/align the iron in the throat - do they work well to keep the iron straight, or are they just a good theory? And how often do you have to do any side adjustment?

Dave

[Bruce Haugen]

I only have the block plane, and the side adjustment screws work very well to hold that blade in alignment. But bear in mind my only previous experience is a stanley 60-1/2 that I've used for 50 years and have no idea how much older it is. The LV adjuster and set screws place their block plane in another universe.

Bruce

[Will Blick]

Dave, good question....

IMO, the side screws act better as guides than anything else... its faster to set the blade square as the blade has little wiggle room when inserting. But regardless, a back light, and the human eye is still the best method to set the blade square. although I have often considered building a jig to quickly set the blades squareness and depth of cut....but as usual, it remains in my head.

I have a few planes with no side screws, but these planes are designed with such a tight threaded blade holder, the blade never moves during use. So the value of the side screws depends a lot on how rock solid the holding mechanism is... of course, they can never hurt :-)