Please help with my next Lee Valley/Veritas purchase!

[Kevin Blunt]

Hi there,

IMy birthday just passed and I now have some birthday cash kept aside for my next Lee Valley/Veritas purchase. My trouble is that I don't know which way to go with my purchase. Let me explain. I have a fairly well equipped shop and don't really need any other power tools so now I try to focus on buying good quality hand tools. I have a passion for them. At this point I am trying to decide what plane etc. to buy next. I have sort of narrowed it to a LV LAJ, LV Bullnose/chisel plane or a LV medium shoulder plane. My plane collection currently contains older Stanleys 3,4,5,5 1/2, 6,7and my latest, the Bed Rock 608. I also own the Veritas LA Block and Veritas 5 1/4 bench plane. As you can see I do not as of yet have a Bevel up plane. Hence why I am thinking of the LAJ. At the same time I keep wondering if I need another plane of bench plane style and maybe i should go with one of the shoulder planes instead, mainly the Bullnose or Medium Shoulder. Trouble with that is that I don't really get into mortise and tenon ever (or haven't as of yet but maybe this type of equip would allow to get into this a bit more-not sure)so I don't think I would use the Shoulder plane all that much. I am thinking of the LAJ as a shooting board plane mostly. I should also say that I am thinking of the Veritas Router plane as well.

What did all of you guys do when purchasing your plane collections? I just don't want to buy something that is going to sit in the box and never get used. I would appreciate any help as to the best way to "fully" equip my shop without tools that won't get used. Any opinions are appreciated.

Thanks for reading and your help.

Kevin

[Rob Luter]

I have the Veritas LA (Bevel Up) Jack Plane and the Veritas Medium Shoulder Plane. Both are very high quality tools. I use the Jack much more often due to its versatility. With the various blades available, it does very well shooting end grain, jointing shorter boards for glue ups, and makes a fine panel smoother as well.

My $0.02 worth.

- Rob

[Kevin Blunt]

Thanks for your thoughts Rob.

Do you find that you reach fro the LAJ more often than your other planes and what else do you use your Shoulder plane for other than trimming shoulders and cheeks of tenons.

Kevin

[glenn bradley]

I have the LA block plane with higher angle blades for versatility. I would skip the bull nose and go to the med shoulder. I thought I wanted a bull nose till I tried them side by side at a show. JMHO.

[Rod Sheridan]

I have an LV Medium Shoulder Plane, and a Scraping plane.

I almost exclusively use mortice and tenon construction so the shoulder plane is handy.

The scraping plane works very well on figured material, and I often use for final smoothing of tops.

Regards, Rod.

[Jim Koepke]

What do you do mostly? What kind of plane would help improve the quality or the efficiency of your work?

Between the shoulder planes, One with a longer sole in front of the mouth is easier to line up on a shoulder or tenon. Of course, if you do not plan to do this kind of work, then the plane would not serve any purpose in your shop.

Mine are the Stanley #90 & 93. They both can be used like chisel planes.

I find they are useful when making shelves to be able to trim a little off of a shelf so it will fit into a dado. This is also easy with a rabbet plane.

Where do you see use for a chisel plane?

My choice would likely tend toward a Low Angle Jack. My assortment of bench planes is similar to yours. Not sure if I currently have any problems that a LV LAJ would solve. Though, it would likely be a good plane for use on a shooting board.

Maybe a scraper plane would be useful.

It all comes down to which one will best solve a current problem or add to your style of work.

jim

[Brent Smith]

Hi Kevin,

If you're not doing M&T yet a shoulder plane will not be used very much. The Bullnose plane is, IMO, a luxury that does't add a lot to your arsenal. A router plane is another specialized tool that unless you do work requiring it will spend much time on the shelf.

As Jim said, you should think of a Scraper plane also. It will give you an added tool in your smoothing efforts. I think though, if I were you, now would be the time to add a BU plane to your tool kit. It will serve many purposes, shooting and working difficult grain to name a couple.

[Rob Luter]

Thanks for your thoughts Rob.

Do you find that you reach fro the LAJ more often than your other planes and what else do you use your Shoulder plane for other than trimming shoulders and cheeks of tenons.

Kevin

I guess I use it for more things than any other individual plane. That said, I have a number of other planes that I own because I'm an old tool junkie (Unfortunately no 12 step program for this addiction :rolleyes:). I rationalize keeping them by fettling them to suit specific purposes. The arsenal (Stanley unless otherwise specified) currently includes:

Block Planes: (1) #60 1/2, (3) #220, (2) #18, (1) LV Medium Shoulder Plane

Iron Bench Planes: (2) #3, (1) #4, (1) #4 1/2, (2) #5, (1) LVLAJ, (1) #7

Other: (1) #112 Scraper Plane, (3) #80 Cabinet Scrapers, Various Spokeshaves.

Woodies: (1) Coffin Smoother, (1) Transitional Joiner, (1) German Woodie Scrub Plane, (1) German Woodie Smoother

On those models that I have multiples of I've ground blades at different angles to deal with differing grain, or have one cambered and one flat, or have one with a closed mouth and one open for different depths of cut, etc. I find it a pain to tweak and adjust a plane when changing from one task to another so when I get them dialed in I just leave them. That lets me "grab and go" and not lose momentum when I'm working on a project. (Note - the LV LAJ is really simple to adjust for differing tasks)

Truth be told, the LAJ could replace the #4 1/2, the #5, and the Woodie smoothers I have. I use the shoulder plane for all kinds of odds and ends besides tenons, although not as often as my 60 1/2 or #18 block planes. When you need a shoulder plane though, nothing makes a very good substitute (at least at my skill level).