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Lee Valley Low Angle Jack Plane
by ALF
August 11, 2004
Possibly time to jack it all in…
The Veritas Low Angle Jack is Lee Valley’s second contribution to the current
fashion for low angle bench planes. My first thought on hearing of its imminent
arrival in their plane line-up was “why?” There is, after all, rather a popular
low angle jack already on the market, the maker of which is on record as describing
it as “hand’s down the best tool we make”. So this one isn’t just going into ring
to compete with anyone, but the heavyweight champion of Maine.
 Just as well LV decided to pile on the pounds then perhaps? ‘Cos this plane
is no #62-a-like, but rather designated the #62 ½; more a low angle 5 ½ jack in
fact. Hmm, my favourite size coincidentally. I was intrigued.
Funny how I subconciously photographed this plane from behind, just like L-V
have.
At 15” long with a 2 ¼” blade and weighing in at 6lbs it will always have the
option of a career change to Brussels paperweight - but that’d be a waste. Ductile
iron body, 3/16” thick A2 steel blade, “Norris” style adjustments, bubinga totes
all go to make up quite a hunk of plane. Fortunately the packing and box were
up to the job of holding it, and the instructions are once again a model of communication.
See them for yourself here.
Easier to assemble than an Airfix kit
My second thought was that the term “jack” for this plane just doesn’t suit it.
It’s more like the old infill panel planes to my mind, but perhaps the term isn’t
sufficiently well-known to be marketable. Anyway, I wouldn’t fancy preparing rough
sawn stock with this plane; it’d be a waste of it’s accuracy in my opinion, although
it could of course be done. Smooth planing large panels and work on the shooting
board is this tools bread and butter I reckon, so I was looking forward to seeing
how it performed.
Nope, can't think of anything to say. Just drool for a bit instead perhaps?
I think it must be high-speed evolution or something, but after long and continuous
exposure I actually have to concentrate to see how these planes look now. I seem to have developed a self-preserving blind
spot or suchlike;
 so some full-on viewing of elegant 1930s Stanleys and the odd gawp at an infill
online was needed to re-sensitise myself. It’s not exactly, er, lovely. Reminds
me of a nightclub bouncer somehow. There’s an awful lot of that unmilled rough
casting area, finished in matt black, which isn’t very gorgeous. The finishing
of it is well done mind you, and the grinding of the sides, sole and bed is as
fine and as well executed as I’ve come to expect, including the now familiar circular
depression milled in the sides to aid grip when shooting.
The slightly longer toe viewed from beneath
The T-shape lever cap design used on the low angle smoother is there again, as
are the virtually-trademark brass knobs for adjustment, including one for the
mouth, of which more later. The rear handle is the same blocky shape
, and the transistion from the flat sides to the curve has a marked ridge on
this one, which is an unwelcome first.
For the curious - the method of fixing the rear handle
The front knob is more like the old Stanley low-knobs, except, er, taller. It’s
accurately described as mushroom-shaped, but at what stage of a thermo-nuclear
explosion I’m not entirely sure…
The loose fitted brass ferrule-cum-washer is there again, and I still think
it detracts from the otherwise good overall fit and finish.
A perfunctory run over with a square and straightedge, purely for the benefit
of this review, revealed sides square to the sole, the latter flat as I personally
would need. I’m sure there are the energetic few who’d feel the need to get out
the abrasives just to show it could be better, but my lazy policy has always been;
if it works, why bother?
Removing and replacing the blade is simplicity itself. Loosen the lever cap,
remove, hoick the blade of the adjuster and behold, you’ve got a big hunk of steel
to hone. Goody. No wait, there’s the optional high-angle blade here too. Two hunks
of steel to hone. Oh joy.
Not that I really need to complain; they were both easy to sharpen with flat
backs, already finely ground. With the 12° bedding angle the 25° bevel on the
standard iron gives a low 37° effective cutting angle, while the 38° bevel on
the optional high-angle iron takes you to 50°, or York pitch, for more recalcitrant
timbers. Of course this can be increased further with an additional steeper secondary
bevel if required. I greatly looked forward to trying this out, as it’s something
I’ve want to experiment with for some time.
Replacing the blade is a simple matter of reversing the removal process. When
you first set up the plane it’s worth opening the mouth right up to avoid accidentally
damaging that newly sharpened iron. This is the popular and simple arrangement
of loosening the front knob and sliding the mouth forward. Lee Valley have added
a feature that this style of adjustment has always cried out for; a stop. A simple
brass knob tapped into the front of the plane body can be adjusted so you can
bring the mouth setting right back to where it was, time after time, and not hit the blade with that unpleasant “clunk“ noise. Just like on the bullnose in fact, but not
even needing a screwdriver to adjust it. Better still, you can use it to fine
tune the mouth much more accurately than just “a nudge here, ooops, back a tad
etc”. It’s not something I’d actively gone out of my way to look for in a plane
of this sort, but once you have it you do wonder why it’s taken so long for someone
to introduce it.
The toe adjuster from below, toe piece removed
The two lateral grub screws are reasonably easy to adjust and depth adjustment
is precise and smooth, plus there’s a trifle more space in front of the rear handle
to fiddle with it than on the low angle smoother.
It’s probably best to draw a veil over the comfort of the rear tote and Freaky
Hands me. I still fail to get along with it, I’m afraid. Rob Lee assures me that
I’m in the minority here though, so don’t assume it’ll be a negative as far as
you’re concerned too. The front knob I like a lot. The mushroom-shape naturally
gets your hand into a shape to apply pressure down on the toe, and your fingers rest naturally under the “cap” of the mushroom
as you lift the plane at the end of the stroke. For shooting the shape of the
lever cap gives your fingers exactly the right place to grip, and the milled depression
in the side is just right for the thumb. Once I’d got used to unusually long area
of sole in front of the mouth shooting was a breeze.
Mmm, curly shavings
My first thought when I found out I was going to be able to play, er, rigorously test this plane was that it looked like it would be excellent on a shooting board.
I was not mistaken. The extra width and heft is very effective, especially on
thicker end grain. Once you get it going into the cut the momentum does all the
work; a surprisingly relaxing plane to use really.
Lying about
Face planing I wasn’t so sure about. I’ve never been much of a devotee of the
low angle plane for smoothing, but needs must and I could hardly let the review-reading
Neanderthal down by ignoring it.
Alas my timber fund doesn’t stretch to Bird’s Eye Maple or Thuya Burr, so I
decided to get nasty by dragging out my evil faux-mahogany board. The one with
the grain reversals in ½” stripes along the whole face, the tendency to make string
instead of shavings and more tear-out prone than Tear-Out City, Arizona. I swear
that low angle blade visibly shivered… It did its best, I went diagonally to give
it the best chance, but it really wasn’t a meeting of ideal cutting angle and
timber.
The Board From Hell doesn't make friends with the standard angle iron
(ignore the tram lines - it was sharpened for the shooting board without a camber.
Oh, and ignore the yellow tinge from the side lighting too
 )
So I swapped it out for the high-angle blade, and went at it diagonally again.
After a bit I went straight along the grain. Some minutes later I realised I was
ankle deep in curlies as I found I was making full-width shavings just for fun. And the resulting surface? A damn near perfect as I’ve ever managed to get
it after hours of scraping. The Board From Hell tamed?!
Trust me, this is a huge improvement
Verily, that’s a bloomin’ miracle. In one dazzling hour I became a high-bevel
low angle plane convert forever more.
 Was it just the blade? Well mainly. But I’m pretty sure the heft of the plane
helped it all seem so effortless. It was only when I stopped that woman-handling 6lbs of iron around for a couple of hours really caught
up with me…
High angle shavings on the left, standard angle on the right
So, whadda I think? Putting aside the rather subjective area of tote comfort,
this plane is very, very good indeed. To be honest, I was quite taken aback at
how much I liked it. To get the full advantage from it, I think it’s well worth
getting the additional high-angle blade and using it as an über smoother for those
difficult woods. Just to up the Big Fight Anti,
Rob Lee has now declared about this plane that “I think this is one of the finest planes we make”. Yep, the gloves
are off here, right enough
The thing is, much to my surprise, I’m not sure I don’t sneakingly agree with
him...
Low Angle Jack £??? Shrouded in mystery at the present time 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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