Opinions on the Veritas Router Plane?

[David Shoemaker]

I’ve slowly been accruing more hand tools and I’m currently looking at router planes. I usually buy used, but the price of used router planes makes me think I’m better off buying new. The Veritas Router Plane seems to get good reviews. What are your thoughts?

[Jim Koepke]

Hi David, like you my preference is usually for second hand tools. Most of my new tool purchases have been for tools that are expensive second hand (due usually to collectability). Though just this week a new dovetail saw was purchased as a gift to my grandson.

My only experience with anything to do with the Veritas Router Planes is the blades for use in my Sargent Router Plane and the miniature version router plane.

Assuming the plane is as good as the blades it would be money well spent.

jtk

[Dave Zellers]

It's awesome.
Buy one.

[Dave Zellers]

"It's awesome" met the character requirement so I wanted to stop there for fun, but yeah, it's awesome. Buy it. I have it and all the imperial blades. If you do shallow mortices, (hinges), you will be glad to have it.

Be aware- it's a slow tool. A nibbler. You want fast, use an electric router. After you make the right jig.

[Dave Zellers]

It's very useful to watch videos of skilled woodworkers using one. Paul Sellers.

[Scott Winners]

Local in my extreme (humidity swing) environment I was able to assemble and restore a full set of Bailey bench planes, but is was not easy because of the rust. I looked at a few local joinery planes while I was accumulating bench planes, but just couldn't commit. Parts availability was one problem, the other was trying to restore precision in tools like that.

Having said all that, all my joinery planes are new production L-N or LV/V. I have the large size Veritas router plane. Out of the box I took the wood handles off, sprayed it down with some solvent, wiped it down, looked over the irons and put it to work. Other than sharpening the irons and occasional SCJohnson floor wax on the sole (maintenance) it has required no restoration work. None. It worked out of the box, and has continued to work as designed with nothing but minimal maintenance from me.

The tipping point for me was the L-N was only available with one iron width, the Veritas has a ton of iron widths (imperial and metric). It could very well be the the L-N can use irons from whatever vintage Stanley, but I don't have local access to those vintage irons.

If you are looking at a tool that says either of Lie-Nielsen or Veritas on it you are looking at a good tool. I will allow various people may prefer one or the other for ergonomics, but i don't know of a crap tool with either of those two names on it.

I did get the fence and the wooden box with my Veritas router plane, and no regrets. There is something about the skates, the accessory skate, for the Veritas plow plane that I don't quite have teased out. If you get the router and the fence for it on the same order they should be compatible with each other forever. I finally put the wooden storage case for my router plane together just yesterday, it is a beautiful thing.

If I ever get to go to a woodworking trade show I will handle all the joinery planes (and the chisels and the saws) at both of those two vendors' booths looking for subtle (individual) ergonomic differences. If I have a big fire or a meteor hit and an insurance check, I will put a new Veritas large router plane on backorder without blinking an eye.

Hth

[Ben Ellenberger]

I’ve got a Lie Nielsen router plane, which is fantastic. I find the router plane very useful, and every Veritas tool I’ve ever used has been great. So, a router plane is a useful tool and if you like the Veritas one you will be happy with it.

[Jim Koepke]

It could very well be the the L-N can use irons from whatever vintage Stanley

No, they can not. The Stanley irons mount in a V-slot like the Lee Valley/Veritas irons. The Lie-Nielsen blades mount in a flat/square slot.

Just now looking on the Lie-Nielsen site it also appears they have two routers one for open mouth operation and one for closed mouth operation. The Veritas has two slots for the blade, one inside and one outside the base.

jtk

[Scott Winners]

No, they can not. jtk

You would be one of the experts on that. I am not one of them experts. In the moment (back then) I knew I have essentially zero local access to vintage irons for router planes, so even in if the L-N router could use vintage iron, I don't have access to vintage router plane irons. So I went with the Veritas.

Thanks for clarifying.

[Jim Koepke]

It is fairly clear with a close look at the images on the two web sites.

You will be very happy (and likely impressed) with the Veritas.

jtk

[Rob Luter]

I used to have a vintage Stanley #71 that I used infrequently. I sold it in the great tool purge of 2019. Part of the reason is it was fussy to get set just right. As luck would have it, my next project required a router plane. After a fair bit of research I got a Veritas and have been very happy.

Derek Cohen has a comprehensive review here: https://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/The%20Veritas%20Router%20Plane.html including a comparison to the LN offering (also a fine tool)

[Stephen Rosenthal]

The tipping point for me was the L-N was only available with one iron width, the Veritas has a ton of iron widths (imperial and metric).

Hth

LN offers an adapter for its Large Router Planes which enables you to use the blades for their Small Router Planes. I have both tools, the adapter and all the blades and am very pleased with their performance. I’ve never used the Veritas, but I’m sure it’s a fine tool as well, although I’ve read comments that their blades are more difficult to sharpen.

To the OP: check out LN’s and Rob Cosman’s YouTube videos about router planes for a lot of helpful tips.

[Derek Cohen]

LN offers an adapter for its Large Router Planes which enables you to use the blades for their Small Router Planes. I have both tools, the adapter and all the blades and am very pleased with their performance. I’ve never used the Veritas, but I’m sure it’s a fine tool as well, although I’ve read comments that their blades are more difficult to sharpen.

To the OP: check out LN’s and Rob Cosman’s YouTube videos about router planes for a lot of helpful tips.

Stephen, I could argue that the LN blades are harder to sharpen than the Veritas, as the LN have a shorter face (= less registration).

For ease of sharpening Veritas and Stanley blades, my sharpening method: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/WoodworkTechniques/SharpeningRouterPlaneBlades.html

Vic Tesolin turned this into a video for FWW magazine ….


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuNu-GlgH88

Regards from Perth

Derek

[David Shoemaker]

Thanks for all of the input! The opinions seem pretty definitive and one-sided. Maybe I’ll get lucky enough to pick one up at the seconds sale…

[Assaf Oppenheimer]

hey I am relatively new to woodworking so take what I say with a grain of salt...

that being said, I have the Veritas large router plane and the Lie Nielsen small router plane.

I bought the veritas over the L-N large router mainly because I was scared of sharpening the blade (did I mention I was new to this?). Veritas blade is detachable and can be mounted on a sharpening jig. I will say that while it works the sharpening jig seems like the least premium part of the tool, if you don't pay attention the blade can skew on it.
I also am not sure about the locking mechanism for the depth adjuster. it locks solidly and I have had zero issues with it, but I question why they have it mounted to the threads and not to the shaft of the router blade itself, seems you would have more purchase that way and less chance of damaging your threads...

I got the small L-N router plane for hinges. I chose LN because the veritas model has a round shaft and would probably be prone to twisting. the LN shaft is square.

also, sharpening it is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

hope I was helpful?

[Stephen Rosenthal]

OP (and Derek): I’ve never had a problem sharpening my square LN router plane blades. I really don’t like the idea of reshaping the blades with a drill press sanding disk. In my experience, these blades require only a brief touch-up once the initial out-of-box prep is completed. 30 seconds on 4000 & 8000 water or diamond stones keeps the edge razor sharp. Pointed blades are a bit trickier. As I noted above, LN and Rob Cosmon have excellent videos about router planes, including sharpening a LN type router plane blade. Again, both LN and LV produce wonderful tools, I just happen to prefer LN.

[Colby Campbell]

I have nothing to really add but I love my LV router plane. I use it on just about every project.

[David Shoemaker]

Wow! That Lee Valley Seconds sale went fast! At 9:10am, I went to check-out with the Veritas Router, Plow plan and 20tpi dovetail saw. Unfortunately, the plow plan sold out before I could get through checkout! so... I added the 14tpi dovetail saw.

Happy that I picked up the router plane, though. I was a little bummed that I couldn't add the fence to the purchase, but all in all I'm pretty happy. Best of all, I'm under budget...

[Assaf Oppenheimer]

I feel your pain, I was jonesing for the plow too

[Assaf Oppenheimer]

OK after comparing the depth adjustment of the veritas router to my Lie Nielsen (small router) I can say I find it lacking. The veritas doesn't have a decent registration surface. the depth adjustment on the Lie Nielsen meets the plane body (where it acts as a stop) at a surface that is flat and parallel to it (like caliper jaws). This creates an excellent registration surface for dialing in depth adjustment. I used this to create a 0.025" rabbet on a wood block for a dovetail kerf guide (like Rob Cosman's). I zeroed in the plane blade, placed the appropriate feeler gauge in between the depth adjuster and the plane body, locked it tight and went to work.

with the veritas, the depth adjuster is an angled screw that ends in a small raised flat. it meets a surface that is also begins at an angle with a small raised flat. this creates a very small registration surface for dialing in the depth, and because the flats are deep inside the depth stop it is easy to accidently miss them.

after I did register them I tried to tighten down the depth adjuster against the depth stop (this is how it is done on the Veritas). because the depth stop is tightened using a brass thumbscrew against the steel threaded depth adjustment rod instead of the blade itself the brass screw does not hold very well. I cinched it down hard by hand and when I tightened the depth adjustment screw it pushed the depth stop down with it. when I took apart the depth stop I was left with brass filings from the depth stop's brass thumbscrew being pushed across the steel depth adjuster threads. overall not a robust system.

I'm considering removing the depth stop all together and trying to make one in the style of Lie Nielsen - a depth stop that is placed on the stem of the blade directly and not on the screw. After searching for ideas I found that Derek Cohen had already done that (proud moment for me when I realized I had the same idea). As of now I haven't done it yet, but even if I do, I foresee it will not be as good as the Lie Nielsen - the veritas has a slightly curved surface at what would be the registration point and I draw the line at filing the plane surface flat!

Overall it is a beautiful tool, the spring mechanism that holds the blade it in place is rock solid, the screw allows for a very precise dial in, and the blades available make it very diverse (more so than the Lie Nielsen) I haven't used the fence yet so I can't comment from personal experience.

Overall excellent plane but if the depth stop is a high priority feature I would go with the Lie Nielsen.


@Derek, I purposely did not link your custom depth stop design page. If I have your permission I will

[Assaf Oppenheimer]

OK after comparing the depth adjustment of the veritas router to my Lie Nielsen (small router) I can say I find it lacking. The veritas doesn't have a decent registration surface. the depth adjustment on the Lie Nielsen meets the plane body (where it acts as a stop) at a surface that is flat and parallel to it (like caliper jaws). This creates an excellent registration surface for dialing in depth adjustment. I used this to create a 0.025" rabbet on a wood block for a dovetail kerf guide (like Rob Cosman's). I zeroed in the plane blade, placed the appropriate feeler gauge in between the depth adjuster and the plane body, locked it tight and went to work.

with the veritas, the depth adjuster is an angled screw that ends in a small raised flat. it meets a surface that is also begins at an angle with a small raised flat. this creates a very small registration surface for dialing in the depth, and because the flats are deep inside the depth stop it is easy to accidently miss them.

after I did register them I tried to tighten down the depth adjuster against the depth stop (this is how it is done on the Veritas). because the depth stop is tightened using a brass thumbscrew against the steel threaded depth adjustment rod instead of the blade itself the brass screw does not hold very well. I cinched it down hard by hand and when I tightened the depth adjustment screw it pushed the depth stop down with it. when I took apart the depth stop I was left with brass filings from the depth stop's brass thumbscrew being pushed across the steel depth adjuster threads. overall not a robust system.

I'm considering removing the depth stop all together and trying to make one in the style of Lie Nielsen - a depth stop that is placed on the stem of the blade directly and not on the screw. After searching for ideas I found that Derek Cohen had already done that (proud moment for me when I realized I had the same idea). As of now I haven't done it yet, but even if I do, I foresee it will not be as good as the Lie Nielsen - the veritas has a slightly curved surface at what would be the registration point and I draw the line at filing the plane surface flat!

Overall it is a beautiful tool, the spring mechanism that holds the blade it in place is rock solid, the screw allows for a very precise dial in, and the blades available make it very diverse (more so than the Lie Nielsen) I haven't used the fence yet so I can't comment from personal experience.

Overall excellent plane but if the depth stop is a high priority feature I would go with the Lie Nielsen.


@Derek, I purposely did not link your custom depth stop design page. If I have your permission I will.