Veritas edge trimming plane

[Dave Zellers]

To anyone who has one- what are your thoughts about it?

Thinking about getting one during this free shipping period. Seems like it would be useful.

[Jim Koepke]

To anyone who has one- what are your thoughts about it?

Thinking about getting one during this free shipping period. Seems like it would be useful.

This is what my search found:

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=54862&cat=1,41182,48945,54862

If this is the model you are asking about, my Stanley equivalent is likely the least used plane in my shop.

Depending on what kind of work you do it might be more useful to you.

jtk

[Doug Hepler]

Dave,

This is a very nice little plane. Need depends on what kind of work you do. If you have a good table saw, set up properly, you will not need this plane very often -- at least I did not. Now I rip boards with a band saw and I use it a lot to shoot the edges of shorter boards. I use a #5 with a shooting fence for longer boards.

Doug

[Dave Zellers]

Yep that’s the one Jim.
Doug- your reply and Jim’s reply is pretty much what I expected- “it’s a nice plane, but ....” :)
I do have all the usual suspects re power tools, table saw, radial arm saw, SCMS, jointers 4&8”, 15” planer, etc, but as I get older I’ll be doing smaller projects and I also am slowly gravitating toward using more hand tools and finding that very enjoyable.
Still leaning towards getting it. ;)

[Doug Hepler]

Dave,

I neglected to mention that this plane is handy for bevels -- you can attach a wedge-shaped secondary fence.

Doug

[Dave Zellers]

Yes- I saw that. Definitely part of the appeal for me.

[steven c newman]

Hmmm...
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Stanley No. 3c
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Why limit a plane to just edges......

[Mike Brady]

Had one that I bought second hand and never used it, so its gone. I use a #140 block plane for the same purposes. It gets used often for multiple tasks.

[Don Dorn]

In theory, a great tool, but if your blade is not set exactly 90 to the fence, it defeats the purpose. Over time and like many others, have learned to use a regular plane without a fence to do the same job much quicker. A small tri-square to show your progress makes the task accurate.

[Derek Cohen]

To anyone who has one- what are your thoughts about it?

Thinking about getting one during this free shipping period. Seems like it would be useful.

Dave, this is a useful plane but, as with many specialist planes, it comes out only very occasionally. When it does, it can make a job easier.

The last time I use mine was to create a squared rebate where the angles dis not aid in guessing square.

The rebate below is at the end of a prototype drawer I was building for a bow fronted chest ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/TheApothecaryChestWeekend9_html_m4dbf7599.jpg

I added a shim to the edge plane (this one is by LN) to reduce the width of cut ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/TheApothecaryChestWeekend9_html_me47e422.jpg

.. and this worked wonderfully ..

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/TheApothecaryChestWeekend9_html_6deca160.jpg

I could have instead used a small shoulder plane, but squareness was assured with the edge plane.

This is not a plane to purchase early on when acquiring hand planes. It comes later when you are looking for something to do specific work. Generally by that point, you could do the work without the plane! baut it is nicer to use it than a work-around, and so you get one. :)

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Ron Kellison]

Derek, that the same bronze version I have. It has it's own little wooden box "home". I picked mine up at an estate sale several years ago and I don't think it was ever used. It hasn't been used since I got it so it's probably going to make an interesting object for the kids to argue over after I'm gone to that clean workshop in the next world! :)

[Dave Zellers]

Derek that is a great use of this style plane- I love it. Just when I was being swayed by those who have this plane and said they never used it, you post that!

I'm back to leaning toward getting it. :) Still have a few days to come to my senses.

[Mark Rainey]

Dave, I love my edge trimming plane. I got my first one almost 20 years ago from Lie-Neilsen. The Stanley 95 reproduction was sold through Garret Wade, I believe, & this was the first reproduction which started the resurgence of quality hand tools. I recently picked up the cast iron L & R handed cast iron versions from veritas. I use them a lot, I am mostly a hand tool guy, and although I use my #5 & #7 to joint, I am not a master & the edge trimming plane comes in handy. I even use it on end grain occasionally. I can afford a machine jointer but am hesitant I would end up using these handtools less and I enjoy them so much.

[Dave Zellers]

Where have you been? :p I’m thinking I should have copied Julie M and titled this “help me justify a minor tool purchase”. :D
If you watch the video on Lee Valley, they mention this tool was originally designed to square up end grain. Undoubtedly after being hand cut.

So glad to read Derek’s reply and now yours. I do think this will fit nicely into my future plans.

Appreciate the reply.

[Mark Rainey]

You are right Dave, Vic does mention end grain in the Lee Valley video. 50 years ago, as a boy, I wanted to woodwork. I got a hand saw & tried to cut a pine board square; I failed & quit. 30 years later I learned about a try square & my cut was much better, but not good enough for furniture. I got my LN 95 & used it until my wrist was sore. Then the furniture was made. Most carpenters & woodworkers cannot saw square. There are a few that probably can, and it must take hours & hours of practice. Like music from an instrument it must be a beautiful thing.

[steven c newman]

"...cannot saw square."

"Ve haft vays.."
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Sawing square is the first thing one learns as a carpenter.....ask any "Cutman". BTDT.

[Jim Koepke]

"...cannot saw square."

"Ve haft vays.."
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Sawing square is the first thing one learns as a carpenter.....ask any "Cutman". BTDT.

Now days the bulk of carpentry is done with a powered miter saw, not a lot of training required to get a square cut with one of those.

Sawing square is a simple matter of coordination between the hands and the eyes. My sawing is not great, but when care is taken my saw cuts are satisfactory. Maybe after a few hundred more all of the little steps to square cuts will become automatic and my sawing improved.

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This piece was marked all around with a try square then sawn on a bench hook. The knifed line can be seen all around and only a little 'fuzz' is left where the pieces broke apart at the end of the cutting.

Maybe one could say about the #95 or edge trimming plane, "It is like having a shooting board in the palm of your hand."

jtk

[Mark Rainey]

That is one nice end Jim. Makes me want to spend a few afternoons practicing hundreds of crosscuts!

[Bill Houghton]

And there are lots of useful habits in sawing that increase the likelihood of a square cut, like cutting "on two lines," meaning marking out your cut on both face and edge, then making shallow cuts on each layout line and, working back and forth, get guiding kerfs in both dimensions.

[Simon MacGowen]

"...cannot saw square."

"Ve haft vays.."

Sawing square is the first thing one learns as a carpenter.....ask any "Cutman". BTDT.

Sawing square has two dimensions to it: square to the reference edge and square to the reference face. If good enough is enough, of course, a lot of cutmen can saw square on both counts. However, if a high degree of squareness is required, I have known no cutmen or cutwomen who can repeatedly saw a wide board, say, 6 inches wide, square. It is a hit or miss business when sawing boards by hand no matter how many tens of thousand cuts a human being makes -- just more hits than misses for some better sawers.

Even a machine, a miter saw, for example, has to be properly tuned before it can cut square in both dimensions well and consistently. There is a reason why most miter saws cost a few hundred dollars while some a grand or two.

Simon

[steven c newman]

One can hold a square alongside the saw during the cut, to act as a guide. I use a thumb right beside the saw plate while using the saw. In fact, I bend the thumb so that the knuckle can guide the cut. There is even a "worn spot" on that knuckle.
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Had some old 2 x4s sitting around, with ugly, nail-sick spots, cracks, and other defects....these are the "good" pieces...the bad?
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No lines were drawn, no square used...no "knife wall"
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Wasn't even the top of the line saw.....this and the MK1 Eyeball...
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Recycle....was resawn down into parts for a table project...
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Edges were jointed, and these were glued up into either the table's top, or, used for the aprons...

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I have the LN version of this plane, and just like the others, it rarely comes out. I know this is a much mor expensive option, but the Veritas Rabbeting Block Planes are one of my favorite tools, and would do this job and many others.
http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=65373&cat=1,230,41182,48942
These can be trimming planes, rabbet planes, shoulder planes, block planes... I wouldn't be surprised if they could make tea or fetch your slippers. :-) Although pricey, they give you a lot of bang for the buck.

[steven c newman]

BS......never worked as a carpenter.....did you? Used a worm-drive saw to cut rafters a long time ago. Handsaws for bird's mouths, after the circular saw did it's thing. First day on every jobsite..we had to build a set of steps to the job trailers...they had to hold up for the length of the job, in any sort of weather....never painted, just plain old Pine...wasn't even treated stuff.

Stay in your tidy little shop...you'd have been fired by the end of the first week.....

[Tony Leonard]

I have one. I like it. I don't use it often, but when I do, I appreciate it. Works pretty well for thin stock as well. I'll never develop the skills with hand tools that some of the other members have, so I don't mind using something like this to get a nice smooth square edge. No guarantees though, still requires a bit of fiddling and learning - like anything. And don't forget to consider how you will sharpen the iron. For long edges, the short body will follow the shape of the edges (that can be good or bad!).

To qualify, I use a mix of power tools and hand tools. I usually use hand tools to sneak up on fits and things like that.

Now, I did get a chisel plane from Santa one year....I'll admit that one was an oops. Live and learn.

Tony

[Tony Zaffuto]

I have a LN right hand and a LV left hand (or is it vice versa?). I use both fairly often, just to make sure I'm square. I don't get anal about sharpening, but I do with square long edges as well as end grain (shooting board after my MF miter box or panel saw). This has become a such a habit, that I do it pretty much without thinking, and time spent is minimal.

Now I do have to add, when making panels, I joint edges at the same time and fold together for fit, which is generally tight.

[Simon MacGowen]

BS......never worked as a carpenter.....did you? Used a worm-drive saw to cut rafters a long time ago. Handsaws for bird's mouths, after the circular saw did it's thing. First day on every jobsite..we had to build a set of steps to the job trailers...they had to hold up for the length of the job, in any sort of weather....never painted, just plain old Pine...wasn't even treated stuff.

Stay in your tidy little shop...you'd have been fired by the end of the first week.....

BS? Your post about cutman cutting square etc. belongs to that.

You are all talks and have not come with any evidence how hand sawing can be consistently and repeatedly done to square stock.

Fired by the end of the first week...yes, if I were required to complete the impossible task of hand sawing wood square every time and all the time.

I couldn't but wonder what got into you today that made you bull like that.

Simon

[Dave Zellers]

Well this is my thread and everybody needs to behave. Both SN and SM are seriously valued members of SMC but I too am wondering just how bad SN's coffee must have been this morning. :D

Plus, I WAS a carpenter forever and back in the day co-workers would marvel when I would think nothing of pulling out my 12 point panel saw to cut the bottoms of the door jambs to length, even when they were to sit on a wood floor. I would put a 1º back cut on it and clean up the front edge with my block plane.

[Stephen Rosenthal]

I've had a LN 95R for quite a while. Used it occasionally but then I got a LN#140RH and haven't used it since. It's a better and much more versatile tool for me, so I ended up getting the LH version as well. I'll probably sell the 95 at some point. I never liked the blade adjuster on the LN95, but the Veritas has a different type that seems better. I also use a shooting board for end and long grain.

[Tony Zaffuto]

There's always more than one way to skin a cat. What works for one may not work as well for another. My methods have been pretty much consistent for the past dozen years or so (the point where the use ratio of hand tools surpassed power tools), and I'm really not interested in learning any other sharpening method, or experimenting with new chisels and so forth.

I can always learn more about the tools I use, and try to, but to some, please, for example, do not lecture me that a Stanley 62 style plane, with a bevel up blade, is all I need.

[Tony Zaffuto]

There are methods for cutting square with a square, with one being the reflection of the board on the saw plate, showing as a straight line. I ain't anywhere that good, but through the years, have been around that could cut square. Good enough for cabinet making? Nope! Good enough for house framing? Easily!

[steven c newman]

BTDT.

Those fancy $$$$ Mitresaws? Are usually the first item stolen....company I worked for quit sending them out on a job. Circular saws, worm drive saws, or a handsaw ( usually a "toolbox" one). Some even got fairly good with a sawzall...


If'n ya can't cut a line, ya can just be the Gopher....."Need a box of holes from the trailer, and a Metric Crescent Wrench"


Started out as a roofer when I was a teen. By the late 90s, I was doing stick-builts, foundations, laying hardwood floors, building decks....Most of the houses I helped build were over $300,000, and some were more. Have laid out foundations, for Houses, schools, and factories.....

needed a 100' tape measure once ( at least) to make sure a retaining wall was at right angles to the building ....30'...40' = 50' sort of thing.

Had a bank build, needed windows with a curve top framed....2 sticks of 1 x 6 were provided...I had to bend them to meet the curve needed......LOTS of kerf cuts.....boards were then installed kerf to kerf, and nailed off. Stop in New Breman, OH sometime, and check the north windows out......Bank is on the south end of town, along St Rt 66. Little brick building, can't miss it.

have also done "tilt up" walls.....You pour the floor of a building first. Then form up for walls....laying on the floor....when the layer of concrete, foam and concrete ( with lots of rebars, wire mess, and inserts) has cured long enough, a crane can lift one end, and stand the wall section up....then when it is in it's new home, it is bolted to the iron frame work. usually makes a well insulated wall, 12-16" thick....

As for the plane in question....IF you feel like you NEED such a plane...and intend to USE it..then get it...it's your shop, after all. I just haven't found a need for it, in mine.

[Julie Moriarty]

To anyone who has one- what are your thoughts about it?

Thinking about getting one during this free shipping period. Seems like it would be useful.

I have the L-N version and I use it whenever my edge jointing strays from 90 degrees. It beats taking out a square and checking all along the edge until I'm square again. I only have the right hand version but those times when the grain changes through the edge have made me want the left version too.

[Tom M King]

That was one type of plane I thought I'd never have any need for. I was working on an 1850 house, including completely redoing the windows. The window stools had way too much of a buildup of many layers of paint, even next to the sash, so that was the last thing I got to when getting the windows to operate easily.

I was sure it had every variety of lead paint there has been, so didn't want to sand, and the positioning wasn't suitable for scraping. Yes, I did use supplied air.

Long story shortened, I decided to get an edge trimming plane because I didn't have any other plane that I wanted to plane paint with. I looked for old ones on ebay, but they were more expensive than the LN ones, so I ordered one of those.

The window stools had a gap under the outer edge over the tapered sills, so that type of plane might work. Normally, I have no use for A2 blades, but thought this might be a suitable use for one. It ended up doing just what I wanted it to, with a spacer fence added. We had to sharpen the blade two, or three times per window, but for my jobs, we do a lot more sharpening for such odd purposes anyway. The ends were pared with cheap chisels well sharpened.

A few years later, all those windows, as well as their new shutters, work better than they ever had.

That's the only job I've ever used it on. For those talking about being carpenters, I've been a pro for 45 years now.

[Talbert McMullin]

I have the older bronze Veritas and use it often. I have no electric jointer and running my table saw in the evening bothers my neighbors. I keep my Veritas Edge-Trimming Plane scary sharp and set to take razor thin shaving. Besides, there's just something about using hand planes in the dead of night with a full autumn moon beaming through my shop window.

[Mark Rainey]

I have the older bronze Veritas and use it often. I have no electric jointer and running my table saw in the evening bothers my neighbors. I keep my Veritas Edge-Trimming Plane scary sharp and set to take razor thin shaving. Besides, there's just something about using hand planes in the dead of night with a full autumn moon beaming through my shop window.

Yes Talbert, hand planes can be intoxicating.

[Jim Koepke]

Yes Talbert, hand planes can be intoxicating.

Besides, sometimes it is easier to push a plane over a large plank than it is to push a large plank through a planer:

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Especially when one doesn't have a planer.

It can keep you warm on a cold day.

jtk