Traditional
Tools
___________
Home
Lyn Mangiameli
ALF's Reviews 
Articles
Forums
| |
         
Lee Valley Veritas
Low Angle Smoothing Plane
By ALF
June 21, 2004
Hot on the heels of part four, it's part five! 
Never thought I’d get this far. Still with me? Right, off we go:
The Veritas Low Angle Smoother is Lee Valley’s contribution to the current
fashion for low angle bench planes, just recently joined by its bigger brother
the Low Angle Jack. At 10 ½” long, its ductile iron body is a tad bigger than
the competition (c’mon, you know who I mean…) and has an adjustable mouth.
A2, 1/8”thick steel blade, hardwood handles (bubinga again? If so, with the
current trend for it amongst toolmakers, we must all be scaring an awful lot of
bubinga trees…), grub screws and a “Norris” style adjuster complete the
now familiar picture. The packaging was once again all over the place thanks to
the previous reviewer (s‘cuse me while I get the out the waxen effigy and
pins), but a sturdy cardboard box, packing paper to take up the gaps and rust
inhibitor paper round the plane seem to be the order of the day. The
instructions had also gone AWOL, but I was able to download them from the relevant
page, and you can look at them too. Yet again they’re very comprehensive,
and a model of how instructions with tools should
be. My own low angle smoother from Maine is one of my most used planes, so I was
eager to see how the L-V would fare against my already entrenched partiality. 
Head to head
The overall look fits in very well between the block and bench planes, which is
pretty much where it is in plane type. It’s not actually too hideous to
behold, by and large. But perhaps I’m merely becoming immune…? The milling,
machining, grinding and general finish is as good as I‘ve come to expect. The
blade bedding area seems to have had particular care taken over it, I thought.
Left: Lie Nielsen. Right: Lee Valley Veritas
The lever cap is a little different, being more of a T-shape. It looks a little
odd after all those East German swimmers on the bench planes, but the shape has
more to do with ergonomics than looks - more of which later. Like the blocks, a
circular depression has been machined on each side to assist grip; while
shooting in this case. The handles are very similar to the bench planes; a
lacquered finish, quite an upright, blocky rear handle, but a slightly lower
front knob (still taller than the competition).
I wasn’t totally enamoured of the brass ferrule-cum-washer at the base of the
front knob; I realise it’s there to protect the base as you loosen and tighten
the knob while adjusting the mouth, but it’s rather sloppy and just looks a
bit untidy. Perhaps the base diameter of the front knob was a bit shy of the
originally designed dimensions?
The dreaded straight edge and square were run over the sole and sides, and as
before it was a case of squinting while holding the plane up to the light to see
any gaps. Unusually the sole had a bit of a wave effect, rather than
straightforward concave or convex, but as it was so infinitesimal anyway, what
the heck. It would be nice to have had the dead-on accuracy of the sides to the
sole that the shoulder plane exhibits, bearing in mind this plane is so
obviously set up for shooting, but it’ll do.
One of the oft-heard complaints about that other
plane is the fuss and fiddle involved in removing and replacing the
blade. Principally getting the yoke plate the right distance from the edge every
time you sharpen it. With an A2 iron it’s not something that’s done as much
as it might be with a less long-lasting edge, but it is a poor feature. The
Veritas is so easy as to be laughable. Loosen and remove the lever cap, lift the
blade up from the adjuster pin and Bob’s your uncle. A plain, ordinary iron,
yoke plate free. Giggling insanely at the ease of it, I took the blade to the
stone. This is the first blade I’ve had from Veritas that had the potential to
be a long-term sharpening job. The hollow in the back went all the way to the
edge, rather than in a Japanese style. Rats. So I used the ruler trick and it
took no time at all. David Charlesworth should get a knighthood or something for
that alone.
Replacing the blade was child’s play, causing a fresh outbreak of hysterical
laughter. I had my usual fiddle with the grub screws either side of the mouth,
replaced the lever cap and set about getting it to take a thin shaving. As per
the instructions, I opened the mouth up fully and then used the excellent
adjuster to set the depth of cut and lateral adjustment. It’s a little tricky
to do the former without upsetting the latter, ‘cos there isn’t much room
between the end of the adjuster and the rear tote.
Not much wiggle room in there to get at the
adjuster. More on the ergonomics below
Having lateral adjustment at all is a bit of a luxury really, and a real boon if
you have trouble sharpening your irons square. I then adjusted the mouth down to
not much. Just as on the two larger block planes the mouth is simply adjusted by
loosening the front knob, manually moving the mouth to where you want it and
then tightening it all up again. Not sophisticated, but simple and surprisingly
precise.
The toe disassembled, seen from below
Then it came down to how it felt in the hand. As with the bench planes I found
the rear handle particularly problematic, mainly due to the angle.
Top: Veritas grip. Below: L-N grip. I'm not
sure how helpful these are to see the difference, but for what it's worth. The
L-V grip is also a little lower than the L-N.
I was also a little conscious of how close my fingers were to the end of the
adjuster (see earlier picture); it felt a little cramped in there and there’s
nowhere to put your forefinger to create a three finger grip which might have
helped. My second opinion, having larger hands, found it much worse. His third
finger rubbed against it, and after just a few minutes of use he had quite a
sore area of skin. Of course after enough grindings of the iron the problem
would go away, but we concluded the iron could probably lose a little off the
top, and the adjuster rod be trimmed down ¼” or so, and the problem would
never exist to start with. Shooting was much better. The sides do seem to be a
little bigger in comparison than the other
low angle smoother, and the depression for the thumb milled in the sides really
works. The especially clever bit is the lever cap. It’s shape means you can
curl your fingers round it and it’s really very comfortable. 10/10 for comfort
while shooting at any rate.
I gave this one a go planing end grain, long grain and the face of a board in
beech, ash, oak, cherry, etc etc, and excellent results were obtained.
I did a direct plane-off comparison with the L-N and there was no difference
between them at all. I was very
impressed.
Endgrain shaving
I then tried the shooting board, and was impressed all over again. The L-V is
much easier to hold, and that makes for better control on the shooting board. It
was a real pleasure to use on its side. What’s this? All my partiality for my
own plane being blown away? Gulp.
So what’s the verdict? You’re all agog to know, I can tell. I really,
really, really like this plane. I didn’t
expect to especially, but the blade’s sooooooooo
easy to replace compared to the L-N, and the results are just as good, I can’t
help myself. If only, oh if only, it had totes as comfortable
as the L-N. 
Once again, trying before you buy is essential I think. If you can live with the
handle, or you’ll only ever use it for shooting, you’re laughing.
Low Angle Smoother £128.00
|
