55° 4 1/2 - Lee Valley Custom or Lie Nielsen?

[Derek Cohen]

At our hand tool club we recently recently discussed a member's new custom Veritas plane, a #5 size jack. He passed it around and it definitely is a beautifully made and designed tool. It also is impressively heavy, which most of the group thought was a positive attribute in a plane. Overall, the owner of this plane has found it to be a good tool so far. He commented that he has not seen any real benefit from the set screws that keep the blade centered in the mouth of the plane. He feels that when loosened enough to allow for blade adjustments, the two screws might as well not be there. He also expressed a level of annoyance with the hex screw that secures the cap iron to the plane iron. Perhaps it just "different" from what he is accustomed to, but having to keep a small hex wrench around the bench was not to his liking. The choice of handle shapes and blade metallurgy options were big pluses. Members were generally much more familiar with LV's bevel-up planes than they were with this new series.

Hi Mike

Clearly your friend does not understand how to use the set screws!

The set screws must not be tightened, then loosened for the blade to be removed. The set screws are instead loosely tight, that is, they touch the sides of the blade without holding it firmly. Then the blade may be lifted out and replaced again without ever adjusting the set screws.

There is a little technique I have in adjusting the cap iron. This is detailed in my review. Here it is ...

Below, loosening the screws ..





Now, if you hold the blade and chipbreaker apart with your fingers …





… there is sufficient space to slide the chipbreaker forward and over the end of the blade without touching the edge.







Of course, you will reverse this process when bringing them together. Just ensure that the slots in the blade carrier align with the slot in the blade.


Last point when removing or replacing a blade, tilt the body until the bed of the frog is horizontal for increased control …





Since that write up - which includes a hex driver I made for the chipbreaker - I have found an even better driver. This is below. Also, a small 2 oz jeweller's hammer i use to make fine lateral adjustments to the blade.




Regards from Perth

Derek

[Mike Brady]

Thanks for that Derek. He reads this forum, so he will undoubted see your post.

[Chris Hachet]

Yep, nice results indeed. I have that plane and as Derek has said a number of times it produces reliably good surfaces with a minimum of fuss. You may be able to do a hair better with a BD bench plane and close-set cap iron, but that's a considerably more finicky setup.

If you keep measuring shavings like that you're going to need to add one of these, though (sorry, I know I've already used that one here on SMC, but it's just too hard to pass up).

I would be skeptical of the Vertas claim that there is less fine furniture being made now than a few years ago. If anything, it seems like fine woodworking is growing just a little bit. That attachment does seem kind of cool though.

[Patrick Chase]

I would be skeptical of the Vertas claim that there is less fine furniture being made now than a few years ago. If anything, it seems like fine woodworking is growing just a little bit. That attachment does seem kind of cool though.

Err, that ad is Lee Valley's idea of an April Fools' joke from a few years back. Nothing in it should be viewed as remotely factual (though they did build one and it works as advertised).

[Chris Hachet]

Err, that ad is Lee Valley's idea of an April Fools' joke from a few years back. Nothing in it should be viewed as remotely factual (though they did build one and it works as advertised).

Pardon me for being a little slow....probably why playing with ahnd tools rather than power tools helps me keep all of my fingers....

[Stew Hagerty]

Yep, nice results indeed. I have that plane and as Derek has said a number of times it produces reliably good surfaces with a minimum of fuss. You may be able to do a hair better with a BD bench plane and close-set cap iron, but that's a considerably more finicky setup.

If you keep measuring shavings like that you're going to need to add one of these, though (sorry, I know I've already used that one here on SMC, but it's just too hard to pass up).

I love their April Tools.

[Dale Murray]

I just ordered a 4-1/2 PMV11 at 45* this morning.

Retiring my vintage stanley.