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Lee
Valley Bullnose Plane
By
ALF
August
11, 2004
Seven reviews for seven other reviews, or
something...
Just when you thought this flood-ette of reviews had dried up, Lee Valley sent
me yet more to give my wholly unqualified opinion on. 
The Veritas Bullnose is the second plane to join the shoulder plane family.
Although I’m never certain referring to this style of plane as a shoulder
plane is entirely helpful for the beginner, bearing in mind the difficulty
inherent in using the short toe. The bullnose market has been allowed to dwindle
in recent times, leaving the poor woodworker with the Stanley #90 as the only
real option of any width, so this is a particularly welcome addition. At least
it is to me; there seem to be two schools of thought on bullnose planes and a
lot of accomplished woodworkers are in the other - “what’s the point?” -
one. It is, as they say, a case of horses for courses.
Surprise! It's a bullnose plane - okay, so I
couldn't think of a caption...
As before, ductile iron, A2 steel, “Norris” style adjustment, lateral grub
screws etc all make an appearance. Plus a few “trademark” brass knobs for
the adjustments. It arrived in quite a large cardboard box, possibly with an eye
to the large shoulder plane coming soon? Totally enclosed in anti-rust paper
with packing paper to take up the extra room. A comprehensive instruction book
viewable on the Lee
Valley site and lots of sticky, gloopy rust preventative all over the plane
finished the ensemble. The latter I’m all in favour of; better a few minutes
with a rag and some white spirit than a new tool with rust. 
Exploded bullnose - ooo, nasty
Absolutely the first thing to strike me about this plane is its size. For a
bullnose it seems a lot bigger than the figures suggest on paper. I was moved to
wonder if the bull in question wasn’t a bull elephant… 
(and yes, I have been saving up that
joke 
) With its 1” wide iron it’s actually a little narrower than the Records and
Prestons I’m more accustomed to, but it is
a little longer, and I think taller. Despite it’s similar styling to the
medium shoulder plane, who’s looks I’m not greatly enamoured with, I really
warmed to the appearance of this plane. It looks a workmanlike tool, ready to do
the business without fuss. As I’ve come to expect, the machining and finishing
of all the bare metal areas is excellent; chamfered arrises, finely ground sides
and sole etc all impart a feeling of quality. The areas of unmachined casting
are all well painted, although there’s only one area on the toe that’s
visible on the outer surfaces anyway.
Fine grinding, no?
A quick run over the sole and sides found them to all be square and flat as I
would expect. No surprises there.
Due to the small size of the plane, removing and replacing the blade is a trifle
finicky. L-V seem to have taken that into consideration by slightly altering the
shape of the lug on the adjuster that registers in the blade; at least that‘s
my assumption. It’s a bullet shape, which gives you just a bit more leeway
than the straight sides of a cylinder, and apparently this change in shape will
be made across the whole range.
Okay, so only a slight alteration, but it least
it shows I'm taking notice...
Even so, it’s tricky not to ding your newly sharpened edge if you try to
remove the iron with a twist move from the top, so opening up the mouth and
going in from below is probably a better option. I’m afraid I couldn’t bring
myself to try the blade straight out of the box; somehow it just doesn’t seem
right.
Honing it took very little time, the back being virtually flat and the bevel
already quite finely ground. As in the medium shoulder plane, the combination of
the blade bevel and the low 15° bedding angle make for a low angle of attack,
ideal on end grain.
For some reason I found the lateral grub screws rather more difficult to deal
with this time. If anything they’re a trifle too
sensitive. A moments inattention in removing the screwdriver tip and - whoops -
the screw turns a trifle and suddenly the blade is too restricted. Or too loose.
Or completely off altogether. 
Sensitivity in adjustments is a fault on the right side though, and once the
settings are done there’s little or no reason to fiddle with them again
anyway, unless you hone the blade out of square... Once again the instructions
on how to set these screws was clear and easily followed. The depth adjustment
is smooth and precise, with a little backlash but nothing that good plane
adjuster-using habits can’t cope with. The mouth adjustment is provided by the
movable toe à la the Stanley #90, rather than the shim method favoured by the
popular Record #077. A simple turn of the knurled brass knob on the top and the
toe will slide easily forward or back. In order to retain the mouth setting
there’s a small grub screw in the depression on the top of the toe piece which
stops the toe sliding all the way back, and incidentally clouting the edge of
the iron. An added extra with the moveable toe is that it can be totally removed
to turn the plane into a chisel plane. Not the easiest plane style to use, if
truth be told, but the facility is there if you want it.
It's a bullnose pretending to be a chisel plane
All the adjustments are straightforward, easy to get to grips with and precise.
The only thing you’ll need is to make sure you have a small slotted
screwdriver on hand. I didn’t, so a certain amount of toolbox rummaging went
on before I could adjust everything!
In order to make this as comfortable plane to hold as possible, Lee Valley have
retained the through hole in the body and stubby lever cap design from the
medium shoulder plane. In addition to this is a small depression on the top of
the nose piece, which is very helpful, and remarkably comfortable given its
rough cast surface. I found I was relying more on the hole in the body for
motive power than the lever cap, especially with the plane on its side, and this
got quite painful on the thumb because of the edge, and despite the chamfering
there. Not a major niggle, but something I’ll probably look into solving
sooner rather than later.
Trimming a tenon shoulder
I have actually used this plane on a real
project,
but of course when you’re genuinely absorbed in making something, you always
forget to take pics…
So I worked a tenon and a stopped rebate in some ash to take a few glamour
shots.
End grain is where that low bedding angle really shows its worth, and trimming
down a tenon shoulder was easy.
Having fun trimming tenon cheeks
The only problem is the one that besets all bullnose planes (for obvious
reasons) - the lack of sole at the front. For that reason I couldn’t honestly
recommend a bullnose to a beginner as a cheaper (I'm assuming..?) alternative to
a full shoulder plane, as they’re more than likely to lose the will to keep
trying long before they gain the knack of registering that vestigial front sole
effectively on the work piece. Even after I’d got into the swing of it again,
I found I blew it every so often. The same problem effects it in all its use of
course, so you do need to bear that in mind. Trimming the cheeks was also pretty
good; the 1” iron providing that useful extra width the ¾” shoulder plane
suffers from the lack of when trimming cheeks. Trimming up the base and side of
the rebate (with the grain) was okay, although the low angle isn’t ideal for
this, and the nose got in reasonably close to the stopped end.
That's what I call being brought to a stop.
I switched to chisel plane mode to take it right up to the corner which was an
experience. As is the nature of the beast, it immediately wanted to nose dive
into the work.
I go the knack in the end, but I can’t honestly say I’d choose this plane on
the basis of “wow, it’s a chisel plane too”
I’m reliably informed by someone who likes
the chisel plane feature that it’s great for cleaning up glue squeeze out. I
can truthfully say it never even occurred to me to use a precision tool such as
this on glue,
but for what it’s worth… One of the things I find I use my Preston bullnose
for most isn’t in fact bullnose stuff at all. I rather like it as a sort of a
block plane, with the advantage of the rebating feature. Very handy when space
is too tight for a standard block, or you need to get your grip clearer of the
surface of the work for some reason. I haven’t really taken to the Veritas for
that sort of thing at all yet; it’s just that bit heavier and lest “handy”
as far as I’m concerned. Maybe in time...
So, what’s the verdict? If you’re in the market for a new bullnose, choice
hasn’t exactly been the watchword. Neither, alas, has decent quality. The
Veritas has filled both those voids and should be applauded. It does a damn good
job, easy to adjust, reasonably comfortable to hold and it isn’t too hideously
ugly. I was greatly looking forward to its arrival, right from the first drawing
I saw of it a while back. With all these good things about it, it begs the
question; why haven’t I warmed to it?
The conclusion I’ve come to is the “handy” factor. It’s just a bit
beefier in size than I’m used to, and I don’t find it so handable - all good
news to the larger handed who’ve always found the available bullnoses too
small of course. It’s easily the pick of the new bullnose planes currently
available, so if you’re in the market for this specialist type of plane then I
don’t think you’d be disappointed.
Bullnose Shoulder Plane £??? shrouded
in mystery as yet Check with BriMarc
NB: In the interests of full disclosure,
I should say that in this case Lee Valley have very kindly said I can keep this
review plane, for which many thanks. I have made every effort to not let this
affect my review, and I hope this is self-evident, but you, the reader, will
always be the final judge. 
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