John, I am coming in a little late here.
First of all, be aware that I have close-ish affiliations with Veritas. Nevertheless, I try and tell it as it is. I have used both LN and Veritas router planes a lot, and my preference is for the Veritas. The LN is an excellent router plane, and at one time had a better depth stop system than the Veritas - which is one of two most-important features in my book. Later, Veritas updated their depth stop to a very similar system (I was one of a few pushing for this), and it is now as good as the LNs'.
The area where the LN falls out-of-contention is not in its design or how it is used - as I said before, this is an excellent router plane. The issue is the relative shortage in blade choice. The Veritas has a wide range of blade widths as well as accessories that may be used. The LN relies on the smaller blades for the Small Router, and then these need to be used with an adapter (which is not the most secure item in the world .. it drops out). I do wish LN would produce a similar selection of blades since this area becomes my constant comment, and I hate sounding off like this.
Another difference is in the fences of these two router planes. Keep in mind that LN followed the design of Stanley, which used a fence with limited travel. The Veritas fence is a purpose designed accessory. Fences are relevant for stringing along edges of tables, etc.
The second most important feature in a router plane (after the depth stop) is the blade adjustment system. This has been your criticism. The fact is that the Veritas has a fabulous system. It is spring-assisted, which means that some tension/pressure is kept on the blade/cutter when loosened. This keeps the blade in position. The LN does not have this system, and loosening off the blade reaches a critical degree, and the blade will move. Now, having stated that the Veritas system is great, there can be a problem with it. I have not experienced it myself, and I think that it is rare - I have only ever heard one person mention it (perhaps two - you may be the other!). This was Paul Sellers. He complained that he could not get enough tension to tighten down his blade, and then went and build a special spanner to tighten it beyond belief. Perhaps his fanboys loved this, but his method was OTT. He deleted my solution, which was this ...
The knob tightening the collar ...
... has within it a piston ...
The piston may stick, and if so will not compress or de-compress. If this happens, then the collar will not tighten enough. Solution? Clean it!
Bottom line, the Large Veritas is the best router plane available at present. I do like the LN, and if blade sizes are not important, I think all would be happy with one.
Regards from Munich
Derek
Originally Posted by JohnM Martin
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