Veritas plane blades

[Yolanda Kirkland]

I recently bought the bevel up smoothing and bevel up jack plane from Lee Valley. The instructions said the back of the blades didn't need anything done to them, just sharpen the bevel. I am a new woodworker and from all of my reading I thought you needed to prepare the back of a new blade and then sharpen the blade. Can this process be skipped on the Veritas blades? Thanks in advance for any opinions. By the way the blade was really sharp right out of the box, my beginner efforts did get a couple of nice curls from my first try.

[Mike Henderson]

LV claims they machine the back of their blades FLAT. I think I recall them saying that you're more likely to make things worse if you try to flatten them. I'd take them at their word.

The problem is that the back needs to be smooth more than it needs to be flat. If there's any machining marks, you'll have to lap it.

Mike

[Michael Faurot]

I recently bought the bevel up smoothing and bevel up jack plane from Lee Valley.


I've also got the bevel up Jack, and like it. The bevel up smoother is next on my wish list.



The instructions said the back of the blades didn't need anything done to them, just sharpen the bevel. I am a new woodworker and from all of my reading I thought you needed to prepare the back of a new blade and then sharpen the blade. Can this process be skipped on the Veritas blades?
The Veritas blades come in pretty good shape and shouldn't require much done to them. It won't hurt anything to run the back of the blade nearest the edge, over a fine stone several times. If you wind up with a uniform pattern across the width and out to the edge--it's flat. If you see some spots that the stone didn't catch, then double check that your stone is flat. If the stone is flat, then the back of your blade isn't.

[Gary Herrmann]

I've got the whole family of bevel up LV planes that use the same irons. I've lapped all of them and have had no problems.

[Dan Bertenthal]

Christopher Schwarz has blogged about Lee Valley's circular lapping machine and how well it works. He said that the blades indeed come quite flat and that he just runs them through the sequence of stones to polish them. Interesting stuff:

http://blogs.popularwoodworking.com/editorsblog/The+Price+Of+Admission+Keeps+Dropping.aspx

Regards,
Dan

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Yolanda

Mike's comment is spot on about the priority being smoothing the back of the blade, rather than flattening it. Remember, the back must be as smooth as the secondary bevel.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Yolanda Kirkland]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses. This woodworking stuff is fun but can sometimes be confusing when it comes to sharpening the tools used. I will have another experienced woodworker look at the blades to determine what needs to be done if anything. Again thanks. Gary, can you give me a quick opinion on the planes, since you said you have the whole family of bevel up planes?

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Yolanda

I have detailed reviews of all these planes on my website. Go to www.inthewoodshop.com and look up Tool Reviews.

Regards from Perth

Derek