Opinions on the Veritas Router Plane?

[Stephen Rosenthal]

OP (and Derek): I’ve never had a problem sharpening my square LN router plane blades. I really don’t like the idea of reshaping the blades with a drill press sanding disk. In my experience, these blades require only a brief touch-up once the initial out-of-box prep is completed. 30 seconds on 4000 & 8000 water or diamond stones keeps the edge razor sharp. Pointed blades are a bit trickier. As I noted above, LN and Rob Cosmon have excellent videos about router planes, including sharpening a LN type router plane blade. Again, both LN and LV produce wonderful tools, I just happen to prefer LN.

[Colby Campbell]

I have nothing to really add but I love my LV router plane. I use it on just about every project.

[David Shoemaker]

Wow! That Lee Valley Seconds sale went fast! At 9:10am, I went to check-out with the Veritas Router, Plow plan and 20tpi dovetail saw. Unfortunately, the plow plan sold out before I could get through checkout! so... I added the 14tpi dovetail saw.

Happy that I picked up the router plane, though. I was a little bummed that I couldn't add the fence to the purchase, but all in all I'm pretty happy. Best of all, I'm under budget...

[Assaf Oppenheimer]

I feel your pain, I was jonesing for the plow too

[Assaf Oppenheimer]

OK after comparing the depth adjustment of the veritas router to my Lie Nielsen (small router) I can say I find it lacking. The veritas doesn't have a decent registration surface. the depth adjustment on the Lie Nielsen meets the plane body (where it acts as a stop) at a surface that is flat and parallel to it (like caliper jaws). This creates an excellent registration surface for dialing in depth adjustment. I used this to create a 0.025" rabbet on a wood block for a dovetail kerf guide (like Rob Cosman's). I zeroed in the plane blade, placed the appropriate feeler gauge in between the depth adjuster and the plane body, locked it tight and went to work.

with the veritas, the depth adjuster is an angled screw that ends in a small raised flat. it meets a surface that is also begins at an angle with a small raised flat. this creates a very small registration surface for dialing in the depth, and because the flats are deep inside the depth stop it is easy to accidently miss them.

after I did register them I tried to tighten down the depth adjuster against the depth stop (this is how it is done on the Veritas). because the depth stop is tightened using a brass thumbscrew against the steel threaded depth adjustment rod instead of the blade itself the brass screw does not hold very well. I cinched it down hard by hand and when I tightened the depth adjustment screw it pushed the depth stop down with it. when I took apart the depth stop I was left with brass filings from the depth stop's brass thumbscrew being pushed across the steel depth adjuster threads. overall not a robust system.

I'm considering removing the depth stop all together and trying to make one in the style of Lie Nielsen - a depth stop that is placed on the stem of the blade directly and not on the screw. After searching for ideas I found that Derek Cohen had already done that (proud moment for me when I realized I had the same idea). As of now I haven't done it yet, but even if I do, I foresee it will not be as good as the Lie Nielsen - the veritas has a slightly curved surface at what would be the registration point and I draw the line at filing the plane surface flat!

Overall it is a beautiful tool, the spring mechanism that holds the blade it in place is rock solid, the screw allows for a very precise dial in, and the blades available make it very diverse (more so than the Lie Nielsen) I haven't used the fence yet so I can't comment from personal experience.

Overall excellent plane but if the depth stop is a high priority feature I would go with the Lie Nielsen.


@Derek, I purposely did not link your custom depth stop design page. If I have your permission I will

[Assaf Oppenheimer]

OK after comparing the depth adjustment of the veritas router to my Lie Nielsen (small router) I can say I find it lacking. The veritas doesn't have a decent registration surface. the depth adjustment on the Lie Nielsen meets the plane body (where it acts as a stop) at a surface that is flat and parallel to it (like caliper jaws). This creates an excellent registration surface for dialing in depth adjustment. I used this to create a 0.025" rabbet on a wood block for a dovetail kerf guide (like Rob Cosman's). I zeroed in the plane blade, placed the appropriate feeler gauge in between the depth adjuster and the plane body, locked it tight and went to work.

with the veritas, the depth adjuster is an angled screw that ends in a small raised flat. it meets a surface that is also begins at an angle with a small raised flat. this creates a very small registration surface for dialing in the depth, and because the flats are deep inside the depth stop it is easy to accidently miss them.

after I did register them I tried to tighten down the depth adjuster against the depth stop (this is how it is done on the Veritas). because the depth stop is tightened using a brass thumbscrew against the steel threaded depth adjustment rod instead of the blade itself the brass screw does not hold very well. I cinched it down hard by hand and when I tightened the depth adjustment screw it pushed the depth stop down with it. when I took apart the depth stop I was left with brass filings from the depth stop's brass thumbscrew being pushed across the steel depth adjuster threads. overall not a robust system.

I'm considering removing the depth stop all together and trying to make one in the style of Lie Nielsen - a depth stop that is placed on the stem of the blade directly and not on the screw. After searching for ideas I found that Derek Cohen had already done that (proud moment for me when I realized I had the same idea). As of now I haven't done it yet, but even if I do, I foresee it will not be as good as the Lie Nielsen - the veritas has a slightly curved surface at what would be the registration point and I draw the line at filing the plane surface flat!

Overall it is a beautiful tool, the spring mechanism that holds the blade it in place is rock solid, the screw allows for a very precise dial in, and the blades available make it very diverse (more so than the Lie Nielsen) I haven't used the fence yet so I can't comment from personal experience.

Overall excellent plane but if the depth stop is a high priority feature I would go with the Lie Nielsen.


@Derek, I purposely did not link your custom depth stop design page. If I have your permission I will.