Bevel-up smoothing planes

[Mark Rainey]

You need a jack, jointer, and smoother all bevel down. Maybe an extra iron or two with a different profile on the end. Buy the best you can afford. Anything more than that is just conspicuous consumption that has nothing to do with woodworking. At some point you'll need some wood. There's one thing, and one thing only, that makes woodworking fun and "efficient" and that's a standing inventory of material. If you have to go shopping every time you need a board or two all you'll end up doing is sharpening, dusting off tools, and tweaking your shop layout. If you're not jonesing for wood instead of the latest shiny gewgaw, your trajectory is pretty much set in stone. Whenever you think about buying a plane or something else you likely don't need, call your favorite lumber supplier and spend the same amount you were going to spend on the tool, but do it on wood. Rinse and repeat. If this advice is like nails on a blackboard, well, we'll see you in the classified section when you start selling off the inventory of your museum of unused tools.

Sage advice Charles. A good reminder for me to get some good hardwood.

[Thomas McCurnin]

Bevel up has the disadvantage of (1) No Chip Breaker; and (2) Usually have to be flat ground without a hollow grinding wheel.

[Derek Cohen]

Bevel up has the disadvantage of (1) No Chip Breaker; and (2) Usually have to be flat ground without a hollow grinding wheel.

Not so.

The alternative to a closed chipbreaker is a high cutting angle. While I find the chipbreaker method superior in controlling tearout in interlocked grain, a high cutting angle works very well .... and not everyone works with mongrel grain.

I prepare all my primary bevels with a hollow grind, for BU or BD bench planes alike. For BD plane blades, these are then freehanded on the hollow (self-jigging), and BU plane blades use a honing guide as this involves a micro secondary bevel at 50 degrees.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Thomas McCurnin]

Then I stand corrected. Learned something new today, I thought Bevel Up edges were flat ground.

[Jim Koepke]

Then I stand corrected. Learned something new today, I thought Bevel Up edges were flat ground.

One incentive for me to consider getting a wheel grinder grinder is it would make the blades for my larger bevel up planes easier to sharpen with a hollow grind. The thicker blade makes for more area on the bevel. The larger the bevel area the more hassle with sticktion on the stone when sharpening. A hollow grind is so much better when free handing the thicker blades.

jtk

[steven c newman]

Actually...I do use a few bevel up planes...
Planes and jigs, pass in review.jpg
J.A.S.T.

[Tyler Bancroft]

I think if I recall, couple weeks ago John Keeton said LN told him they are planning on releasing a batch of bronze in the fall and iron in the spring. I could be backwards on that though.

From your lips to God's ears...

[Jim R Edwards]

I like bevel up planes the best. I personally think the LV bevel up planes are better than the LN bevel up planes. LV has better steel choices and they are easier to adjust. I also think the Norris style adjuster on the LV bevel up planes are a better design.

[glenn bradley]

This is a common conversation. Both makers deliver top notch tools. The Veritas 'additional' features work well for me. I tend to be more comfortable with greater specific control of fine adjustments; I know, it's a personal problem. I enjoy the more traditional adjustments of my older planes and do not fault the designs. When I buy new I tend toward Veritas for the greater adjustability via screw mechanisms. Either will do the job. The choice becomes more personal to your methods and preferences.

[Thomas Crawford]

Its pretty nice with the BU planes to have multiple irons available. For nasty grain putting in a 50+ degree bevel is great, but unnecessary if you are just wanting to do some normal long grain. I have the Veritas LA jointer, jack and smoother and have 2 irons for each. I also have an assortment of BD planes but for whatever reason I've liked the LA smoother the best in that category. But I tend to just use cherry/maple/walnut most of the time and the grain usually isn't too bad.

[Derek Cohen]

Thomas, as I mentioned to you, the BU planes are capable of dealing with most woods, including a lot of interlocked grain. But, ultimately, they are not as successful at the interlocked grain as a BD plane with closed chipbreaker. Still, the BU plane is easier to set up for many, especially those primarily using a honing guide to sharpen. I only have two bevel angles for use with BU planes: 25 degrees for end grain, and 50 degrees for faces or edges.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Tom Bender]

"museum of unused tools" Lol