Merry Christmas to me.

[Paul Saffold]

218398

I've already balanced my grinder wheels. What a difference. No more seismic alarms. Only took a few minutes.
The LAJ has been a long time want-to-have-it.
Plus a few lesser goodies.

[Ron Bontz]

Well I must say I am a little bit jealous. Congrats.

[Joey Chavez]

I received my Veritas LAJ (my first nice plane purchase) at the beginning of December, my first work with it was just some roughing on a slab. Was really happy with it but curious as to how well I could get it to work when I want to work detailed, flat, and smooth. Then for Christmas I received some old rusty planes and did my first restoration and was thrilled that I got an old fore plane to put out some nice shavings. Started to wonder if maybe restoring the old planes was the way to go to build up a hand plane set. But just tonight I took some time to take out the 38 degree blade, put a slight camber on it, honed it, and paid extra attention to the set up of the LA Jack. I was floored at the extra fine and wide shavings I was getting, and more so at how smooth the walnut plank was after a few passes, as smooth as anything I have ever sanded. And really, the set up was pretty easy. My LA Jointer and BU Smoother is due tomorrow to round out the set. Your going to love that jack plane, I'm a Lee Valley fan for life!

[Justin Chen]

Merry Christmas to you, just got myself the same plane about a week ago. :)

[Bob Warfield]

Paul you will love the LAJ. I have the LN version and wouldn't trade it for anything. A question though about the balanceing system. Does it work pretty well, and will one kit do 2 wheels?
Thanks...Bob

[Paul Saffold]

Yes, one kit will do 2 wheels. They are left-hand and right-hand threaded so must be used on the appropriate side of the grinder. They can be reused if you replace a wheel. It was very easy to do and made a huge difference. I have one of the blue 3-X Norton wheels that was the problem. It was so out of balance that it's vibration caused anything left on the bench to walk right off. Checkout oneway.ca (it's a Canadian firm) for info and directions. I got it from Lee Valley because of the free shipping at the time, but they are available from other venders.

[Bob Warfield]

Thanks for the information Paul. That's exactly what I needed to know.
Bob

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I've been eyeing one of those balancers - right now my grinder runs very smoothly, but maybe I just lucked out with the factory wheels. At some point I want to replace the wheels with the Norton ones, but part of me is nervous it's going to end up shaking like my father's old grinder. I've heard it's less of an issue with 6" wheels, but my dad's grinder had 5 inch wheels at the largest, and it would still vibrate something fierce.

[Paul Saffold]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.:D Mine is a 6" and at 3400 rpm shook really bad with the Norton wheel. Maybe you'll get a good one, you never know till you try it.