Lee Valley Miter Plane

[Edwin Santos]

Hi,
I'm looking for any feedback on the LV Miter Plane.
If you have one, are you happy with it?
What applications do you use it for? Obviously it was designed for shooting edges, particularly end grain given the bevel up design. I thought perhaps it might excel at other uses.

Thanks
Edwin

[Frederick Skelly]

Hi Edwin.
You might also recent search threads on the LV shooting plane - several folks have discussed the miter plane's merits vs the shooter. Might give you a bit more info.

Fred

[Edwin Santos]

Hi Frederick,
I did as you suggested and found some threads that basically pit the miter plane against the LV shooting plane, and it looks like the consensus is the shooting plane is the winner based on the heft, and skewed iron. It so happens I own a LN 164 and a LN 62 so I'm not sure the miter plane adds enough to be be worth buying. Thanks again,

[Patrick Chase]

I have the miter plane, along with a shooter, a bevel-up Jack (62) and a low-angle smoother (164).

As you imply the miter's guts and cutting mechanics are basically the same as the 164. The ergonomics on the other hand are very different. When used with the knobs it arguably handles sort of like an oversized block plane. It's fairly heavy with low centers of mass and resistance, and tends to focus the user's efforts more "downward" than does a conventional bench plane with a tote. It's easier to use at unconventional angles, for example I can do pull strokes quite easily with my miter.

When used with the horn it's somewhat shooter-ish, though also different because your hand basically wraps "over" the iron just behind the cutting edge. The centers of force and resistance are therefore closer together than in a conventional shooting plane. IMO this provides more of a "precise" feel, but also makes it less natural to take long, fast strokes to "bull through" difficult cuts.

[Mike Holbrook]

I just bought the LV Miter plane. I bought it because I wanted a plane with a different gripping system than more standard planes. I wanted a plane that could switch a top handle between both sides of the plane. I also wanted a plane that does not require a shooting board rail, fixing the side of the plane in position. I wanted a plane with an adjustable mouth and screws to fix the blade. I like the position of the single blade adjusting screw. It is easy to engage it with my palm or fingers from the rear knob. The rear knob, vs a vertical handle, comes in handy when working wide vertical sides as I can now hold the plane against the surface easier. The low rear knob lowers the center of gravity which is "handy" at times. The work I do may be atypical for many posters here.