Veritas PM-V11 irons for Lie Nielsen #4, #3 and #2 planes

[Frank Martin]

Most of my hand tools are Veritas, which I really like. Some pre-date the introduction of PM-V11 and I replaced most of the irons with that steel as I like it more than A2 or O1. I have several LN planes (#4, #3, and #2) with A2 irons. I would like to replace the irons with Veritas. I see that Lee Valley as PM-V11 irons for Stanley planes, but I am not sure if they also fit LN planes without modification. Would appreciate insight from someone who has done this before.

[Christopher Herzog]

I have a 4 and 4 1/2 LN's that are upgraded with a pm-v11 blade. No issues with them.

Chris

[Derek Cohen]

I can only speak for #3, #4 and #4 1/2 I use. The PM-V11 blades for Stanley fit the LN as well, just thinner, but that does not matter. When using an LN plane, use the LN chipbreaker. The Veritas chipbreaker may or may not be a match for a Stanley (as these vary in their year of manufacturing). The issue is the placement of the projection slot (for example, can be a difference of 1/4" between Stanley and LN). The Replacement Stanley PM-V11 blades, however, are all likely to fit LN and Stanley.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Frank Martin]

Thanks for the responses. I forgot to ask about the chipbreakers and great to hear I don't need to buy those, just the irons.

[Jim Matthews]

If the PM V-11 behaves like my first Carpenter XHP steel (it's also a powdered steel product) it might take longer to hone than the replaced blades.

I find the raised burr tenacious, at every grit.

[Frank Martin]

I am far from being an expert, but using hollow grind and then Shapton stones, ending up with green compound on a planed piece of maple it has worked well for me. I adopted this approach based on Derek’s descriptions.

[Thomas Wilson]

I have mostly Lie-Nielsen planes. The A-2 steel has not been a problem except for one use. The LN shooting board plane’s blade has a propensity to chip on hard wood like white oak. Is LV PM-V11 better at cutting cross grain on extremely hard wood?

[Jerome Andrieux]

I have mostly Lie-Nielsen planes. The A-2 steel has not been a problem except for one use. The LN shooting board plane’s blade has a propensity to chip on hard wood like white oak. Is LV PM-V11 better at cutting cross grain on extremely hard wood?

Not really in my experience. I find pmv11 to last longer with better results on straight grain. Impact resistance doesn’t strike me as very different from o1.

With regards to shooting, you either have to choose between chipping and rolling the edge. It’s hard on the edge anyway, especially on the lower part.

I have found that a skewed blade or board and better technique when starting the cut had a lot more influence on edge retention and result quality than the alloy used.

[Matt Riegerix]

I found I had to widen the slot on a veritas pmv11 blade for it to fit properly in my LN bronze #4.

[Evan Van Dyke]

I saw a review somewhere comparing the ln and Veritas shooting planes, and they found the same thing with the ln plane edge fracturing quickly. They even put a pm-v11 iron into the ln shooter with better but similar results. You can read it over here, but short answer was change the bevel to 30 degrees, or get a bevel up shooting plane.

https://www.woodcentral.com/woodworking/forum/archives_handtools.pl/bid/3001/md/read/id/470032/sbj/about-shooting-planes-and-their-blades/

[Warren Mickley]

I saw a review somewhere comparing the ln and Veritas shooting planes, and they found the same thing with the ln plane edge fracturing quickly. They even put a pm-v11 iron into the ln shooter with better but similar results. You can read it over here, but short answer was change the bevel to 30 degrees, or get a bevel up shooting plane.

https://www.woodcentral.com/woodworking/forum/archives_handtools.pl/bid/3001/md/read/id/470032/sbj/about-shooting-planes-and-their-blades/

I get good results (no fracturing at all) with Stanley irons, but I do my shooting in the vise. Shooting in this way is faster and much easier on the iron than a shooting board. There is a lot more control and we can skew the plane quite a bit more so there is not such a jolt when the iron hits the end grain.

[Evan Van Dyke]

I get good results (no fracturing at all) with Stanley irons, but I do my shooting in the vise. Shooting in this way is faster and much easier on the iron than a shooting board. There is a lot more control and we can skew the plane quite a bit more so there is not such a jolt when the iron hits the end grain.

that’s great to know. It also makes me think that if and when i get a shooting plane to go with a low angle Jack rather that a “shooting” plane

[Robert Hazelwood]

One thing to look out for is that if the iron is much thinner than the stock LN, the tapered adjuster pawl will not allow the blade to fully seat on the frog. Solution is to file the slot on the chipbreaker a little bit so that it can come down further onto the pawl. I had to do this when replacing with a Hock O1 blade. Not sure how much thinner the LV irons are.