Veritas Router Plane as a plough plane

[Cody Cantrell]

I am in the market for a large router plane and noticed that the Veritas can be had with a fence and plough plane looking blades. Is this a good setup for this application? I dont have a plough right now and was wondering if this would temoparily kill two birds with one stone. Thanks for any input.
Cody

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Cody

Short answer - a router plane could work, but is very inefficient at ploughing grooves. It is useful, however, for stopped grooves ..

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/AStoppedGrooveinaDovetailedBox_html_64cbac33.jpg

If you can run to one plane only at this time, and it is a toss up between a router plane and a plough, as much as I consider a router plane essential kit, the plough will be used more.

The best new plough on the market is the Veritas Small Plow. It has a wide range of applications with the accessory blades.

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/The%20Veritas%20Small%20Plow%20Plane_html_667a1b4d .jpg

Or build your own :) ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/BridlePloughBuild_html_m4741b4d5.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Thom Edwards]

I'm no expert, but I play one on the Internet... The router plane can be used as a plough, but a true plough plane will be faster, easier and more accurate. Router would be OK for a few one-offs, but you would want a plough if you had quite a bit of grooving to do and wanted some speed and efficiency. The fence on the plough is longer, giving you more registration. Also, your hands are one behind the other, using a more familiar planing approach that tends to steer you more straight. The router, with its side-by-side approach, can become a bit "squirrely", especially if you hit a tough spot.

[Chris Griggs]

The router plane works quite well as a plough. It was my first premium plane and I used it as a plow, among many other uses, for at least two years. I now have the small plow plane which is faster and better for the job, but I have zero reservations about telling you that with just a little practice the router plane does the job surprisingly very well. I got pretty fast with it too, though not as fast as the small plow, but plenty fast enough for one off hobbyist projects. You'll probably want a dedicated plow eventually, but the router plane is a great place to start if you're not ready to drop twice the cash on something as special purpose as the small plow. Also, if/when you do decide to get a dedicated plow you will still be very glad to own the router plane, it remains one of my favorite tools.

[Zach Dillinger]

I must concur with Mr. Cohen... making your own is fun!

242466

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

It's not the best plane out there, but if you can't find a reasonably priced vintage tool, I've been very thrilled with my mujingfang plow for the money, although I think they cost more than when I bought mine, now. It's a tool that will get replaced sooner or later, but it's been very handy to have. I have a Veritas router plane, and I love it, but I can slam out a groove with the plow plane a heck of a lot faster than the router.

The only issue I have is that the irons with the mujifang don't seem dead-on any particular measurement - I've ground some to match, and more often than not, I rabbet whatever I'm fitting in the groove to make a good fit.

Another thing to think about is where you want to do your grooving. If 90% of your grooving is for drawer bottoms or in the rails and stiles of panel doors, you could very easily make a for alter a fixed grooving plane, and cover most of your uses easily.

[Cody Cantrell]

Thanks for the input, I already own the small router plane so I am not in a really big need for one I was just wanting an upgrade and figured I could do ploughing as well that would be great. Derek and Zach your work is phenomenal, do either of you have a digital set of plans for either one of those? Thanks.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Cody

No plans, but all the details are in this pictorial of the build:

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/BridlePloughBuild.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Cody Cantrell]

Thanks Derek that is a good tutorial but there seems to be some canibalized parts that I would need some more details to build. Maybe I will live with my little router and hold out for the Veritas Plough. Although I have been waiting for a medium or large plough to show up in Lee Valley's catalog.

[Zach Dillinger]

Cody, no cannabalized parts on my plow (excepting the irons). Wood depth stop, wooden wedges for the arms. The rivets that hold the skate on the body are simply nails. The skate itself was by far the hardest part, but it wasn't that big of a challenger really. I used copper because I had it. I never made a drawing, working instead from a plow that I already had (18th c. version that I didn't want to use, but wanted to try). It was quick and easy, took only 8 days. I could take some basic measurements if you'd like them.

[Cody Cantrell]

Zach some working drawings would be great. I dont have any experien.ce with ploughs so I definitely need a visual. Were is a good place to get irons? A can fabricate metal parts if I know dimensions of what I am making. Thanks for the help.
Cody

[Andrae Covington]

Zach some working drawings would be great. I dont have any experien.ce with ploughs so I definitely need a visual. Were is a good place to get irons? A can fabricate metal parts if I know dimensions of what I am making. Thanks for the help.
Cody

If you're interested in making your own, you'd probably like Making Traditional Wooden Planes by John Whelan. There are dimensioned drawings, b&w photos, and descriptive text for a variety of planes, including some plough/plow planes. Unfortunately it is currently difficult to come by. Third-party sellers on amazon are asking $160 to $1700+ for used copies. Not a typo. You might contact Astragal Press and see if they are going to reprint it.

[Brian Dormer]

I have both the Vertias Plow and Router planes. Both are VERY high quality and I can't recommend them highly enough. Any for my 2-cents - You do need 'em both. Especially now that Lee Valey has the wide blade attachment and T&G irons for the plow plane. I've played with a few wooden planes. For a jointer plane or a smoothing plane - the wood planes are OK (I still prefer metal). But for something complicated like a plow plane that has lots of adjustment and things that have to be dead-nuts square, IMHO wood just isn't a good solution (YMMV).

The plow really does a great job at cutting long grooves. The router plane can, but it's not really designed for that. Its more for cleaning out dados and shallow mortises (like for hinges and locksets). In fact - with the router plane, I was taught that you use it dead last, after you've removed 90% of the material from the mortise - the router plane just flattens up the bottom. The fence is for fairly shallow grooves (like for inlay). LN has a video on YouTube - if you've never used a router plane (or even if you have) it's worth a look.

[Cody Cantrell]

Thanks for the input guys.
Andrae I am not $1700 interested in making one but I will see if Astragal press is going to reprint. Brian that is a good video I see that it would take alot longer to plow a groove with the router plane.