Using The Veritas Shooting Plane

[Jim Koepke]

A Veritas Left Handed Shooting Plane arrived in my shop recently. My project today actually needed a bit of work on the ol' shooting board…

For quite a few years a Lie-Nielsen #62 Low Angle Jack Plane has served as my shooting plane. At the time it was purchased planes specifically for shooting were not being made. After trying the LN #51 at a Tool Event in Portland, OR my desire was kindled.

After comparing the specifications on the LN and the Veritas shooting planes my choice was to go with the Veritas. The price was better, but so were many other features.

The Veritas Shooting Plane has a lower effective angle of attack. This places less strain on the operator than a plane with a standard frog.

Another feature is three set screws for holding the blade’s lateral positioning:

Shooting Plane Set Screws.jpg

These hold the lateral adjustment setting when the blade is removed for honing. My set up had these a touch on the tight side. The lower screw in the image had to be loosened ~1/4 turn to remove the blade. The set screws use a small, flat blade screw driver.

The plane was ordered with a PM-v11 blade. It was fairly sharp out of the box. When it first arrived it was given a quick test drive using a scrap of ash. The blade is factory ground to 25º with a few degrees added as a secondary bevel.

A little time on my oilstones produced a good edge:

Sharp PM-v11 Blade.jpg

It was a bit surprising to see the bristles of my brush left behind from brushing the wood dust off the plane.

Before starting it seemed a good idea to put a fresh coat of wax on the board:

Waxing the Chute.jpg

Anything to make the work a little easier.

One of my ‘round tuits’ may be to add a side rail guide to my shooting board. Until then it seems to work fairly well/easily with one or two gripping strategies:

Grip 1.jpg

This has two fingers on the blade to press toward the center of the board.

Grip 2.jpg

The casting has a rounded section for the adjustable handle. It is actually comfortable to wrap the pinky & ring finger around that part of the casting. This is fine for a little shooting. For a lot of shooting it is likely to be more comfortable with a guide rail.

The plane required little effort on my part to glide through some spalted holly:

Shooting in Action.jpg

The results are wonderful:

Spalted Holly End Grain.jpg

There is a pale streak across the center of the piece from a small flaw on the blade’s edge. It wasn’t deep enough to split the shaving. A trip back to the stones corrected this.

The skewed blade makes an appreciable difference over my #62. The impact at the beginning of a cut with a straight on blade can be rather jarring, especially with thicker shavings.

jtk

[Phil Mueller]

Yes, very enjoyable plane to use. I think you will appreciate a guide rail. It eliminates any effort to hold it against the work piece. Just easy forward motion using the handle only. My guide rail is made with slotted holes so any minor adjustments can be done easily.

[Aaron Rosenthal]

Jim, your description is making my tongue hang out a little. (Now, where would I put it......?)
Didn’t Derek show his rail in a recent post? It might be a design you could copy to make life easier.

[Derek Cohen]

Jim, add a side fence and save your fingers





Regards from Perth

Derek

[Steve Mathews]

Wish I didn't see this post. After just purchasing a LN 51 (haven't received it yet) I now want to get the LV. Is it too insane to have both?

[Jim Koepke]

Wish I didn't see this post. After just purchasing a LN 51 (haven't received it yet) I now want to get the LV. Is it too insane to have both?

IMO, you need a right handed shooter and a left handed shooter. For me, my LN #62 will be used when needed for the right hand work.

jtk

[Tom M King]

This picture was from the first job I used the LV Shooting Plane on. We had hundreds of inlay pieces to fit on an old floor repair. They were all square, but being able to fine tune the fit was just the ticket for the Shooting Plane. I made this board out of Corian, but have since built a stack of others out of plywood, and they work just as well.

You may be able to see a smudge, where my thumb ended up, on the flat side of the hump. I ended up not using the tote for shooting, but my hand instinctively ended up on that hump. With a track, there is no need to hold the plane against the workpiece, as long as it stays down in the track.

I wouldn't want one without the track. It doesn't have to be anything fancy either.

Maybe if you worked thicker pieces, all the time, the tote might be the right place for the hand. I never think about those details, but just the work at hand, so may very well use the tote sometimes. All those flooring pieces were 1/4", and White Oak, or Mahogany, so it took little effort at all the slice the cuts, so the weight of the plane itself provided plenty of butt to get the cuts made.

I made that Corian board big enough to use both the right-handed, and left-handed version, hoping that a job would come up that would require me to buy the left handed version too, but so far, one has done everything I've needed one for.

[John Stevens]

IMO, you need a right handed shooter and a left handed shooter.

I bought both Veritas shooters and felt so guilty about such an extravagance. Felt much better after using both to re-do the trim in the powder room. Could get by with one for some of the trim but not all.

[Christopher Charles]

Jim,

Glad you're enjoying the plane. It is hands down a favorite of mine.

Tom, I too hardly ever use the tote either and rather hold the hump on the body of the plane. Whether that hump was designed for the purpose or happy luck, it's the ticket for me. I prefer the feel as can put some down pressure on the plane to make sure it's not tipping ever so slightly.

Best,
Chris

[Jim Koepke]

A guide rail was added to my shooting board today. At least one of my fingers still wants to park itself on the blade.

jtk

[J. Greg Jones]

You may be able to see a smudge, where my thumb ended up, on the flat side of the hump. I ended up not using the tote for shooting, but my hand instinctively ended up on that hump...

I do the same thing. I find gripping there gives me more control and is more comfortable than using the tote.

[Rob Lee]

I bought both Veritas shooters and felt so guilty about such an extravagance. Felt much better after using both to re-do the trim in the powder room. Could get by with one for some of the trim but not all.

Yeah - there is a bit of guilt involved with buying RH and LH versions of the same plane..... I just bought the the skew rabbet pair .... and had to think a lot about it....(and I get a discount.....!).

Cheers -

Rob

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks for the analysis, Jim.

I purchased this plane and the aluminum shooting track subsequently. The track was a splurge. I loved it at first. However, I have noticed that after a couple years, it has begun to delaminate. This doesn't affect the function so much as the feel. It now glides a little gritty. The coating is spotty enough that instead of trying to repair it, it seems easier to eventually just make my own track for it. I was pretty good about lubricating it with wax too.

[Tony Zaffuto]

This picture was from the first job I used the LV Shooting Plane on. We had hundreds of inlay pieces to fit on an old floor repair. They were all square, but being able to fine tune the fit was just the ticket for the Shooting Plane. I made this board out of Corian, but have since built a stack of others out of plywood, and they work just as well.

You may be able to see a smudge, where my thumb ended up, on the flat side of the hump. I ended up not using the tote for shooting, but my hand instinctively ended up on that hump. With a track, there is no need to hold the plane against the workpiece, as long as it stays down in the track.

I wouldn't want one without the track. It doesn't have to be anything fancy either.

Maybe if you worked thicker pieces, all the time, the tote might be the right place for the hand. I never think about those details, but just the work at hand, so may very well use the tote sometimes. All those flooring pieces were 1/4", and White Oak, or Mahogany, so it took little effort at all the slice the cuts, so the weight of the plane itself provided plenty of butt to get the cuts made.

I made that Corian board big enough to use both the right-handed, and left-handed version, hoping that a job would come up that would require me to buy the left handed version too, but so far, one has done everything I've needed one for.

What did you use for glue on the Corian?

I have a few pieces I've been tripping over for more than a decade and the other day, I moved them to the trash heap, but now it appears I have a use for them!

[Frederick Skelly]

The LV Shooter is one of the most enjoyable tool purchases I've ever made.
I didn't HAVE TO have it, but I smile every single time I use it.
Well done LV!
Fred