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The
Lee Valley Veritas Medium Shoulder Plane
by ALF
June 9, 2004
The Medium shoulder plane is the first in a line of planes from Lee Valley
Veritas; the others being a bullnose which has just been released, and a larger
size which is due later this year. Funny how the shoulder plane market has been
pretty quiet for so long, and then like buses they all come along at once isn’t
it? Not that I’m complaining of course. 
Don't know Edward Preston would have thought...
Ductile iron is again the material of choice, although anyone dropping precision
planes such as this frankly doesn’t deserve a second chance… 
Again a “Norris” style adjuster is used, and four (count ‘em) grub screws
to keep that A2 blade exactly where you want it. Packing is a cardboard box and
rust inhibitor paper, with additional packing material to stop it sliding around
in its paperback book-sized box. The instructions had gone AWOL unfortunately,
and only belatedly did I download them, but more on that later. Once again, you
can judge them for yourself on the product
page at L-V. And if you’re wondering what 0.700” is in modern money, it
seems to be about 17.5mm wide. 
Well I’d better be up front about this from the start; first time I saw a
picture of this plane I thought “that is one ugly plane”. With my usual
tact, I said so. 
After considerable exposure to further pictures of it in the intervening months,
I grew to sort of like it. So I said that too. I still think it looks like two
halves from two other planes stuck together, but I think I can live with that
now. But what do I know anyway? My mum’s comment was “Oo, what a nice
looking plane”, only spoilt by the “You haven‘t bought another one?”
follow up. Not yet, mother dear, not yet...
The sides and sole are very well, and finely, finished, with a small chamfer
around all the grip-friendly edges to make using it as comfortable as possible.
The main bedding area for the blade and a good
idea of the quality of finish
The lever cap has a slightly textured finish, which again aids control, and
although there is a visible cast line in it doesn’t impinge on the comfort. Mr
Previous Reviewer left a nice scratch in it though, which suggests you might
want to invest in a plane sock or similar to keep it nice. The mini pebbledash
effect makes a reappearance on the inset areas each side, and again the finish
is sound. Before starting this review, what I knew about casting planes could be
written on an atom, and I was surprised to see the two halves of what, for want
of a better word, I’d call the cross pin did not match up. They join, but are
offset by as much as a millimetre, maybe one and a half. I queried this with Rob
Lee, and his reply was “The "cross pin" alignment is aesthetic, and
has to do with how core molds work - it has absolutely no effect on performance
whatsoever”. So there you have it, not a problem should you buy one and find
the same thing.
It just came apart in me 'ands, guv
Now sides square to the sole are vital with a precision plane such as this, and
I’m pleased to say it passed with flying colours. Not a chink of light to be
seen. The sole however, was rather a different thing. I didn’t check this
until after I’d used the plane, that way I get an unbiased view of how it
performs. I was surprised to find the straight edge slightly rocking along the
length. Even with the lever cap barely bearing on the blade it was still
noticeable. After considerable too-ing and fro-ing between myself and Rob, I
eventually read the instructions (pesky previous reviewer not putting them
back), and greatly to my chagrin found the whole thing covered in them. Viz: “To
a small degree, the depth of cut is also influenced by the amount of clamping
force applied to the lever cap wheel. As you tighten the wheel, you increase the
blade clamping force that, in turn, results in a slight deflection of the blade
bed. This is normal and does not affect performance. A very light clamp force
will deflect the blade bed 0.0005". A hard clamp force will deflect the
blade bed by as much as 0.003". Extremely small adjustments to blade depth
can be achieved by changing the blade clamping force.” I’m not in a position
to tell whether the deflection I saw was equal to these quoted figures, but I
have no reason to suppose otherwise. So it’s normal for this plane model and
it didn’t seem to effect performance. Note to self; read the instructions,
stoopid.
The blade is easy to remove; loosen the lever cap, lift the end of the blade up
slightly to disengage the adjuster, twist the blade 90degs so it’s on edge and
remove. Replacement is the same process in reverse, with added caution to
preserve that newly sharpened edge.
The blade itself has a single bevel and bedded at an unusually low 15degs. The
previous reviewer had once again done the “right outta the box” bit, still
leaving the gunk on the blade, so honing was required. Sharpening took about 5
minutes and was painless, the back was flat and the single bevel easy to touch
up.
Slotting the blade back into the plane and onto the adjuster is fairly
straightforward, but with all the available adjustments you do need to
concentrate the first time you set the blade. The feature any shoulder plane
owner will appreciate is the grub screws. There are two on each side; one near
the shoulder of the blade and the other an inch or so further up. This lets you
set the blade exactly parallel with the front of the mouth, and it will stay
there even while you re-tighten the lever cap. The lateral adjustment
part of the adjuster is really a bit redundant on this plane, but as I suppose
it was just as easy to have it as not, there it is. Careful adjustment with the
grub screws as explained in the instructions is the best way. The depth
adjustment is exceptionally smooth and precise. Shoulder planes aren’t
something that have their depth of cut adjusted often, but you could find
yourself doing it with this one just for fun.
Backlash is still a slight problem, but dealing with it is covered in the
instructions, so it’s not an issue for even the newest newbie. Adjusting the
mouth is courtesy of the Record #073, so I felt right at home. Loosen the screw
on the top of the toe, and then using the screw at the front you can adjust it
to the customary gnat’s whisker.
Left: loosen the top clamping screw. Right:
Clockwise to tighten the mouth, anti-clockwise to open it.
I found it all too easy to tighten up shy of where I wanted it to be as the nose
piece has a tendency to drop a little giving the wrong idea of where the front
of the mouth has reached. You just need to remember to keep pressure on the
movable piece while you adjust, or maybe be a bit braver about how tight you
leave the clamping screw, which I was loathe to do on someone else‘s plane. 
I wouldn’t say adjusting this plane is a doddle - you do have to fiddle a
little with the grub screws to get the blade exactly where it's wanted for
instance - but it is controlled. You can
get the setting exactly how you want it in a calm, precise way, rather than
hoping for the best once you tighten the lever cap. It’s not often that I find
myself smiling while adjusting a shoulder plane, I can tell you.
Ergonomics now raises its ugly head again. As before, it’s a personal thing,
very personal in this case, not to say idiosyncratic, so bear that in mind as
you read my comments. I was extremely doubtful about some of the claims made for
the comfort of this plane, I must admit. That brass wotsit on the top
particularly drew my contempt, not least ‘cos it added to the ugly quotient.
Now Rob claims that once you pick this plane up the scales fall from your eyes,
all becomes clear and choirs of angels start a’singing. Not exactly his words,
but I think I got the spirit of what he said.
Well the scales stayed stuck for me for a long,
long time. You’d have all had a good laugh watching me turning this
thing every which way trying to “get it”. Eventually I unscrewed the brass
widget on the top, tossed it back in the box, told myself I’d been right all
along
and we got along much better from then on. I’ve come to conclusion my fingers
are too short. If I had the brass widget in the web of my hand as suggested, my
fingers had no control over the front of the plane. If I got control of the
front, the brass doodad was digging into my palm. In the end I settled for a
grip that’s not too dissimilar from the one I use with the Record, but the
through hole was a definite bonus. The picture below will show you better than I
can describe. I’m sure Rob’s rolling his eyes and going “tut tut”, but
it worked for me.
Maybe no one else favours a grip that puts pressure on the toe as well? Perhaps
I’m a freak? No, don’t answer that… What my fiddling did reveal were
plenty of options for any number of different styles of grip though, so there
should be something for everyone. Even freaks...
Well it works for me. Note the through hole
providing a good point of contact for the thumb. More importantly, the resultant
shavings
My main test wood for this plane was ash. Getting fine shavings from end grain
ash without them disintegrating is a pretty stern test; or the sternest I had
handy anyway. And before you ask, I reckon the thinness of the shavings is
the issue in this case. You need to be able to reliably take fractions off a
joint to get that perfect fit. Otherwise you might just as well use your joints
straight from the router or whatever and kiss those fine tolerances goodbye. It
passed with flying colours, I’m pleased to say. I might almost say I got
carried away with the task… Plenty of control, virtually no effort required
and a good, clean, smooth end grain as a result. I’ll admit, I spent so long
enjoying doing that, the long grain test got forgotten.
I have absolutely no reason to suppose it’d be anything but fine and dandy
though. I did do a little cross grain work and it was fine, but it’s not a
task that brings out the best in anything but a skew plane to be fair.
The verdict then. I do like this plane. A lot. I think the control over the
adjustment of the blade is superb and beats anything else I’ve tried hands
down. I still think it's unlikely to win Beautiful Tool of the month, mind you.
The variations in the quality of the casting is a minor negative; economic
forces in play again, plus the difficulties in casting anything at
all (thanks to Rob for the 101 on all the reasons you don‘t want to
take up casting planes for a living 
). But the bottom line is I’ve gone from “Yeuch, ugly plane” to having it
right there on the upper slopes of the Wish List. 
Medium Shoulder Plane £116.50
Dear me, and this was going to be a shorter review too...
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