Will Lie-Nielsen router plane blade fit Veritas router plane?

[Mark Katz]

I need a 3/8" blade for my Veritas router plane (the full size one). But guess what? Veritas doesn't make one of that size. I see that Lie-Nielsen does make a 3/8" blade router plane blade (1-BL-71). I'm wondering whether that blade will fit my Veritas plane.

Here's one more clue. The Lee Valley description of their blades mentions "Our high-carbon steel router plane blades fit our Veritas Router Plane and our Veritas Hinge Mortise Plane, as well as Stanley #71 router planes (with the height-adjustment nut inverted).". The Lie-Nielsen router plane seems to be based on the Stanley 71 (they even call theirs a 71). On that basis I would think that the LN blade would fit my Veritas plane (possibly using some inverted nut trickery).

Does anyone know for sure? Or does anyone know of other sources for a 3/8" router plane blade that should work?

Thanks, Mark

[Derek Cohen]

No match. The LN irons are unique by using a square (four-sided) shaft. The irons from LV and Stanley have a six-sided shaft.

Why do you need a 3/8” wide blade? Generally one uses a smaller size to clear waste. A 1/4” would work. If you did need an exact 3/8, you could grind down the 1/2” (making sure you keep it cool).

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Mark Katz]

Oooh - I didn't notice that - didn't have the plane and blades handy when I posted. Thanks for pointing that out.

Unless someone has some other ideas, I'll have to resort to two passes with the 1/4" blade but that's kind of a pain and requires fiddling to get the overall width correct.

[lowell holmes]

I agree with Derek, grind down a 1/2" iron.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Can't resist: Willie Nelson now making router planes?

[Jim Koepke]

The Lee Valley description of their blades mentions "Our high-carbon steel router plane blades fit our Veritas Router Plane and our Veritas Hinge Mortise Plane, as well as Stanley #71 router planes (with the height-adjustment nut inverted).". The Lie-Nielsen router plane seems to be based on the Stanley 71 (they even call theirs a 71). On that basis I would think that the LN blade would fit my Veritas plane (possibly using some inverted nut trickery).

The "inverted nut trickery" is to compensate for the Lee Valley blades being longer than the Stanley blades.

If you need exactly 3/8" wide, a blade of that size used on a router may create a rough edge on your work.

It also might be helpful if you told us what you are trying to do.

Finally, it might be possible for you to make a blade by grinding an allen wrench.

jtk

[Mark Katz]

Thanks everyone, the deed is now done.

I needed to make a 3/8" wide. 3/8" deep stopped groove on the edge of a piece of stock for a beefy spline. I ended up using a 1/4" blade, setting the fence 5/16" from the blade, and cutting the groove in two passes. For each pass I advanced the depth a bit, routed in one direction and then the other from alternate sides of the stock. This gave me a centered groove. I did need to tweak the fence distance to get the correct overall groove width (adjusting the fence on the Veritas plane by a very tiny amount is a pain - wish they had a threaded adjuster).

For those wondering why I set the fence at 5/16" from the blade rather than 3/16", its because my technique is pretty crappy. With the fence set this way the blade would wander into the center of the groove if I wasn't careful keeping the fence against the stock (like I said, my technique is crappy). Of course, once the walls were established the fence was not a factor.

Anyhow, groove cut. On to the next step. Thanks for everyone's help.

By the way, Derek, the LV shafts are 4-sided also but they are turned 45 degrees to the axis of the plane. It's possible the LN blade might have fit but then the plane body would need to be turned 45 degrees to the direction of motion. That wouldn't have worked for me as I was using the fence.

[John Gornall]

The irons on my Stanley 71 router plane are square. They are however oriented at 45 degrees to the Lie Nielsen Irons

https://www.antiquesnavigator.com/archive/2018/03/18/152940845107.jpg

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks everyone, the deed is now done.

I needed to make a 3/8" wide. 3/8" deep stopped groove on the edge of a piece of stock for a beefy spline. I ended up using a 1/4" blade, setting the fence 5/16" from the blade, and cutting the groove in two passes. For each pass I advanced the depth a bit, routed in one direction and then the other from alternate sides of the stock. This gave me a centered groove. I did need to tweak the fence distance to get the correct overall groove width (adjusting the fence on the Veritas plane by a very tiny amount is a pain - wish they had a threaded adjuster).



By the way, Derek, the LV shafts are 4-sided also but they are turned 45 degrees to the axis of the plane. It's possible the LN blade might have fit but then the plane body would need to be turned 45 degrees to the direction of motion. That wouldn't have worked for me as I was using the fence.

Mark, you are correct about the number of sides ..

http://www.leevalley.com/en/images/item/Woodworking/Planes/05p3832s2.jpg

My memory is faulty, which is worrying since I use these frequently!

However, I knew that the orientation was different from LN. They are simply not interchangeable.

In your place I would have used a cutting guage and/or knife the deepen side walls, and chisel away as much of the waste first. The router plane would only have been used at the end to level the floor. At that stage a slightly narrower blade would have been preferred anyway.

Regards from Perth

Derek