How much shaving can I take with a plow plane?

[Frederick Skelly]

I was trying to cut a 1/4" wide rabbet by hand the other day. Was just horsing around, experimenting with my tools. One thing I tried was using my LV small shoulder plane. It did a nice job, but took forever. No matter how I adjusted it, it would only take very fine cuts - nothing coarse.

Does anyone know if a small plow plane from LV will take coarse cuts?

Thanks,
Fred

[Tom M King]

I don't know about that plane, but check out the shavings in the air from one stroke of one of my 55s used as a Plow.

[Shawn Pixley]

The LV plow plane will take a nice cut. I practiced on soft maple. Took a couple minutes to go down 3/8"

[Tom Vanzant]

Tom, is that a Lervad bench?

[Anthony Moumar]

I would say the shavings from my veritas small plow are between a 1/32" and 1/16". A 1/4" groove takes about a minute or so to plow out across a 24" length.

[Derek Cohen]

I was trying to cut a 1/4" wide rabbet by hand the other day. Was just horsing around, experimenting with my tools. One thing I tried was using my LV small shoulder plane. It did a nice job, but took forever. No matter how I adjusted it, it would only take very fine cuts - nothing coarse.

Does anyone know if a small plow plane from LV will take coarse cuts?

Thanks,
Fred

You should be capable of quite thick shavings - much thicker than those below (since these were just everyday ones) ..

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/AccessoryBladesfortheVeritasSmallPlow_html_m4ffe15 b0.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Chris Griggs]

Yes. LV Plow can do thick shavings.

I'm surprised your small shoulder couldn't do heavier cuts. I mean its small so it wouldn't be easy/ideal to take a thick cut with...that's not what its was designed to do.. but if you open the mouth and deepen the cut it technically should have been able to. Probably a stupid question, but you did open the mouth up when you deepened the cut right?

[Jim Matthews]

I was taught to score a line for the shoulder of the blade to follow.
Otherwise, the plow will try to turn over the grain at the weakest point.

Examine grain direction closely, to avoid this.
(I think it's called "spelching"?)

As shown above, some woods can be readily plowed.
I just cut two small rabbets (1/8" x 1/8" over a twelve inch run).

The oak rabbet could be very coarse and still leave a smooth finish.
The softer (I dunno - it was laying around) wood is a splintery mess.
That required a much finer pass.

I think the resistance of the board will tell you how deep you can go.

Start at the far end, and work your way "backwards" to avoid gouging out chips.
DAMHIKT

[Tom M King]

Tom, is that a Lervad bench?

Yes, it's the little 5 footer with fold-up wooden base. I bought it new in 1977 for $199. It's too light for a stationary bench in a shop, but it gets moved to jobsites easily. As in that picture, the corner gets put against a wall under a North facing window, and it is quite useable.