Oh dear...... LV released a few products again...

[john zulu]

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/WhatsNew.aspx

Medium router.
Tooth blade. All those configuration.
Track for LV shooting plane.



I am intrigued by the Medium router. Not sure about the rest as the tooth blade, I use it to remove wild grain and have built a dedicated board for the LV shooter :)
BTW for owners of the small router, the adjuster is available. Free until 30th September.

[Kurt Cady]

And the broad hatchet! wow! maybe I can learn to carve some spoons after all

[glenn bradley]

Curse you, Rob Lee ;-)

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I just noticed that. It was funny, too - I got an LV email, touting the bit/driver storage system, and was like "eh, that's nice, I guess, but I've got all that storage taken care of", until I notice the bottom of the email, the other what's new stuff, they've got that medium router plane in there, just like a casual aside . . .

I was most enthused by an easily available, cheap, single bevel hatchet. That's cool, I haven't been looking hard or anything, but it seems like single bevel hatchets aren't readily available new, and I haven't had great luck stumbling across them in sizes that I'd like to use (I.E., I'm not huge) on the used market.

The shooting board tracks look neat, too.

[Adam Cruea]

Hrm. . .a shooting track.

Iiiiiiiiinteresting concept.

[john zulu]

The hatchet looks interesting until I could not find the make of the tool...... I am really particular of the steel they use. But it looks like a fine addition to the room.....

[paul cottingham]

Mmmm. Medium router plane and shooting track.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Not really sold on the shooting track. Just make a wood one. I suspect more new tools are on the way.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

These are cool: http://www.leevalley.com/US/hardware/page.aspx?p=72106&cat=53&ap=1

[john zulu]

@Malcolm thanks. I will use them for my machinist chest I want to build.

[Chris Griggs]

That medium router looks pretty useful....think I'll need to get myself one.

I got sent the medium and fine toothed blades for testing in my SBUS(the coarse is the one they've always had). I really didn't think I'd find them that useful since I've never done veneer and I don't generally work highly figured wood. However, I recently bought some pine and poplar, from what I thought was a good dealer, that turned to be garabage...lots of knots and reversals...not the nice easy to work stuff that I expect when I buy poplar.

Anyway, long story short, to my surprise I've been using the fine one a lot to knock down knots, prior to flattening the whole board. The finer tooth count works really nicely for that purpose, especially in something like crap pine, where you have super hard sappy knots in otherwise styrofoam soft wood. It was a pleasant to surprise; no more annoying humps in knotty wood.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Oh, OK Chris- I was wondering because I already have the toothed blade so I couldn't figure why it was new. So now they have a medium and fine. Hmmmm. Might get one of the fine blades. The toothed blades are sure nice for flamed maple and figured mahogany.

So, without spilling the beans, can you tell us if there are other tools you saw on your trip that are not yet released? I already have the large router plane and don't have enough need to get the medium, but have a little money in the tool buyin' fund.

[Paul Saffold]

The med.router looks to be targeted towards the compulsive buyer, not user. Conveniently available w/o a blade for those not wanting to waste their catalogue viewing time on using, sharpening, etc.....

[Harold Burrell]

That medium router looks pretty useful....think I'll need to get myself one.




The med.router looks to be targeted towards the compulsive buyer, not user. Conveniently available w/o a blade for those not wanting to waste their catalogue viewing time on using, sharpening, etc.....

Oh, oh...

Time to pop some popcorn, sit back and watch the fireworks.



"Why, yes! As a matter of fact, I AM an instigator." :D

[john zulu]

The medium router is interesting b'cos it uses the existing blades from the large router. I do find the large router at times NOT effective on smaller pieces. To think of it, try cleaning up the dovetail itself. No need to use chisels for the cheek. Use this router instead. The large router is just too unwieldly.

For the tooth blade. I am fine/good with the "default" version. For veneer work looks like a good option to add the newer tooth blades.

[Chris Griggs]

So, without spilling the beans, can you tell us if there are other tools you saw on your trip that are not yet released? I already have the large router plane and don't have enough need to get the medium, but have a little money in the tool buyin' fund.

Sorry dude. My lips are sealed....the only tools I saw that I can talk about are the ones you already own....but yes I did see a number of other tools that haven't been released yet.

I'll need to wait to buy the medium router, since yesterday stumbled across a really good BIN price on a small LN shoulder plane and ahem..."accidentally" bought it; plus I'm budgeting for a few tailed tools I want at the moment. I'd definitely find it useful to have though, just out of shear laziness of being able to leave my large setup with the 1/2" blade and using the medium when I need the smaller blades. Certainly not something I'm in urgent need of though, so it'll go on the birthday wishlist for now.

Harold...I'm pretty sure Paul is joking :-) ...no fireworks today. Besides, I've decided to stop playing with fire.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

But...but... I watch for LN regularly on eBay and never saw the small shoulder plane. (Sobs).

I see where the medium router would come in handy, and like that it uses the large blades that I already have, but most of what I do ends up being on large flat surfaces anyway. It is on the "future purchase" list but not on the "immediate needs list."

I want the miniature router. It would come in handy for intricate abalone inlays that I often do. In fact, all the miniature tools would serve me some purpose and I intend to eventually get the set. Don't knock the worth of a tiny spokeshave when you need to touch up a curve or a miniature plane when beveling 1/4" strips.

[Chris Griggs]

But...but... I watch for LN regularly on eBay and never saw the small shoulder plane. (Sobs). .

This was it...its the small bronze infill

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I'm sure you saw it. It was sitting at a BIN price of $175 for about a week, and then the seller suddenly dropped in to $150. I randomly ran across it yesterday morning and couldn't resist.

What's funny is I actually used to own that model, but found it a bit too small and sold it to pay for an LV medium since I generally needed something a bigger. Love my LV medium, but did find myself missing the little guy from time to time, so decided for that for that price I might as well give it another go. Nothing wrong with having both, and if I find myself not using it, well, I'll easily recoup my money on it. I'm am excited to own it again...its a neat little plane, it just wasn't ideal for my uses as an "only one" shoulder plane. Now that I have the LV med, and a vintage 1 1/2" infill, it should round out the gang pretty nicely.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Oh yes, I saw that one. I wasn't thinking about the infill plane. Nice little plane. I have a LV large shoulder plane and often wish it were smaller.

[Chris Griggs]

I have a LV large shoulder plane and often wish it were smaller.

In that case, if you want a small one-handed shoulder plane, then yeah, the LN 041 or the small LV would probably be a better option than the little infill. The infill is nice but its really quite small and light...a very handy little tool but more special purpose feeling, if that makes sense. If you have big hands like i do it can tend to disappear into your palm without giving quite enough registration for when you want some extra power...really nice for light controlled work, but if you only have a large, something that is still easily wielded one handed but that has more weight and palm registration than the infill will be preferred in most cases (which is why I sold it the first time and got the LV medium).

I'm a huge fan of both the 041 and the LV small (though funny enough I don't own either, just because they're not needed my current line up, as the LV med covers me for most stuff)..both are superbly designed with very nice weight and proportions. Very comfortable and controllable in one had but still good power and solid palm registration. If you had the large and then got the infill there'd probably be times where you still wanted something in between...with the LV small or LN 041 I don't think you'd find a need for anything in between....anything that your large felt too big for they would likely be perfect for.