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The New Lee Valley Veritas Shoulder Plane

 With references to the Clifton 420 and the Large Lie-Nielsen Shoulder Planes

by Lyn Mangiameli

August 30, 2003

Lee Valley has just come out with the first of what will be an eventual series of shoulder planes, and likely a bull nose plane as well. Shoulder planes are some of the most useful and versatile of the specialty planes. They are invaluable for trimming tenon shoulders, and can also prove useful for cleaning up tenon cheeks, the bottoms of dados and grooves, and both the sides and bottoms of rebates (particularly when router made). Nonetheless, I am somewhat of a purist when it comes to shoulder planes and think that the design principles and purchase criteria for them should be focused on how well they will make the controlled, well registered cuts that allow a tenon to be fitted cleanly to its mating mortise. Tenon cheeks in my opinion are best trimmed with a modified block plane like the Lie Nielsen #140 Skew Angle Block Plane or their #60.5 R Rebate Block Plane. Rebates proper are best formed by a dedicated rebate plane like the Record 778 or the Primus Adjustable Mouth High Angle Rebate Plane, and especially when cross grain, with a plane that has a side nicker. So, presenting my biases up front, I shall delve into a discussion of this latest offering from Lee Valley, describing it with references to two other shoulder planes which are very highly regarded, the Large Lie Nielsen Shoulder Plane and the Clifton # 420.

All of these planes are based, more or less directly, on a shoulder plane design pioneered by Preston around the start of the 20^th century, and later maintained and popularized by Record in the form of their famed #073. The Clifton probably most closely duplicates the original Preston Style; the Lie-Nielsen is most similar to the Record #073. The new Lee Valley Shoulder Plane, while generally in the Preston style,  borrows heavily from features found in Lee Valley’s bench plane line, adds a couple of unique ergonomic twists, and thus offers something that is both familiar and a significant departure—a departure that I consider an evolutionary advancement, which in my experience results in a plane that is both more comfortable to use and easier to adjust for optimal performance. 

There has been a lot of questioning and discussion over the years as to the best way to hold a shoulder plane. What has become clear from those discussions is that a lot of folks have failed to achieve a truly comfortable and efficient grip when using a Preston/Record style shoulder plane. The clasping, pinching grip that is often adequate to carry the tool to the work bench, is not so comfortable to maintain when using the tool to plow through end grain, or to control the weight and direction of the tool as it rides past the support of the tenon cheeks. Recognizing this (if I am not mistaken, Rob Lee has used Preston style shoulder planes for some of his own projects), Lee Valley deliberately sought to make their plane as ergonomically friendly and functionally efficient as possible. As the accompanying photos show, Lee Valley has abandoned the traditional Preston style lever cap in favor of a shorter, thicker one to which is mounted a vertical pivoting knob. They have also added a through hole in the body between the adjuster and the mouth. Finally, they have added a softly curved projecting nose at the front of the body. The combination of these four changes allow this plane to be grasped quite differently, and in a greater variety of ways, than the typical Preston style shoulder plane.  

For the first time with this style, it is easy to apply force from the rear of the lever cap, not just because the back of the cap offers a large vertical surface not found on the others, but because the pivoting knob rises up and can comfortably rest in the meaty web between your thumb and first finger. If force is best applied when the plane is used laid over on its side, rather than vertical, then the knob can be pivoted to either side.  If you don’t happen to like this style of grip, then the knob can be unscrewed and removed out of your way.   

The rise at the front of the body is more pronounced than on the other planes, and together with the projecting nose allows for a comfortable forward grip, with the nose being grasped with the thumb and first finger.  The rise also allows for a comfortable stop for the first finger when the plane is held in the more traditional clasping/pincher style. Relieved stippled panels on the sides of the plane also greatly assist in maintaining the traditional grip.  

The through hole must be experienced to be fully appreciated.  It seems so simple, yet it is so effective in combination with the Lee Valley shortened cap iron. It allows, when rebating, almost a pistol like grip, though with the second finger replacing the first as the “trigger finger.” Great force, comfortably applied,  can be directed using a two handed grip with the thumb and first finger of one hand on the nose, the palm of rear hand supported by the tall vertical back of the cap iron, the web of the rear hand supported by the knob, and the hand locked in place by the second finger fitted into the through hole.  

Note how many times I have used the word comfortable. It is not secondary to a limited vocabulary, rather it is because this is such a striking feature of this plane. I have used and liked shoulder planes for a long time, but I have never found one so pleasantly to come to hand, and to do so in so many different ways.  

It is not ergonomics alone that make this such an appealing plane. One of the things I like about it is that Terry Saunders, the chief designer, decided to change the bedding angle from the traditional 18 degrees found on the Clifton and Lie-Nielsen to a lower 15 degree bedding angle. Plane users often talk of the advantages of a low angle (usually 37 degree effective cutting angle) block plane for cutting end grain, yet give little thought to using shoulder planes that differ little (at 43 degrees effective cutting angle) from a typical bench plane or standard angle block plane of 45 degrees effective cutting angle. By lowering the bedding angle three degrees,  the Lee Valley shoulder plane has an effective cutting angle (with the blade beveled at the standard 25 degrees) of 40 degrees, making it closer to a low angle block plane. After all, trimming shoulders is exclusively an end grain cut. The resultant change in effective cutting angle results in a plane that not only tends to cut the end grain shoulders more cleanly, but when working with wider shoulders, it also cuts them with less effort.  

A less subtle difference between the planes is in the adjustment mechanisms. Lee Valley has chosen to carry over their Norris style adjuster and lateral adjustment locking screws from their bench and block planes. This allows for easy and precise lateral alignment, and the ability to lock that adjustment in place. It only takes having a blade shift on you once while rebating to make you appreciate the ability to firmly lock the blade in position. I also find it a lot easier to replace the blade (after sharpening) in precise position, or to make small positional changes with the lateral adjustment screws.  

Still on the theme of adjustment, the Lee Valley, like the Lie-Nielsen, offers a moveable toe piece controlled by a captured nut screw. This allows one to close down the mouth very fine for precision work, but open it up for the initial cleaning up of router made rebates. In contrast, the Clifton with its very narrow fixed mouth works quite well making very fine shavings, but lacks the ability to clear thicker ones for rapid clean up.  

Continuing with the toe, the table below reveals how Lee Valley has continued with their practice of locating the mouth farther back than on comparable planes. In the case of this plane, the toe section is about 3/8 inch longer than the other shoulder planes. Once again, the added length allows for more registration prior to the cutting edge, which I think is good. However, the Lee Valley plane offers over an inch less registration area following the cut, which I find disadvantageous in some situations. The shortened registration area will have little to no effect for rebate work, nor for cheek work, but can prove problematic with respect to hand clearance when trimming the shoulders of longer, wider tenons. Personally, I wish the plane was an inch longer, though I realize that the added length might make the plane a slightly less good fit to the hand.   

All of the planes are extremely well machined, fitted and finished. The Lee Valley and Lie Nielsen are made from Ductile Iron and come with A2 steel blades. I’m not so sure of the Clifton materials, but have never had any reason to be less than satisfied with them. For my style of work, and medium sized hands, I have long been in love with the Clifton 420 plane and its smaller brother the Clifton 410. The Large Lie-Nielsen Shoulder plane has served very well for larger projects, where its added mass and width was generally welcome, though its size and weight are more unwieldy in my hands. The combination of the three (410, 420 & L-N) has met all my needs, and in fine fashion. That said, I find the new Lee Valley to have become instantly my favorite, from the moment I first put the initial prototype to use. I doubt that it is inherently capable of a significantly higher quality cut than its excellent competition,  but I find it so much more comfortable to use and adjust that I find I am making better cuts and enjoying the task more. All of these planes are excellent, and worthy of your personal consideration and evaluation, but for me, the new Lee Valley shoulder plane marks a significant refinement on and evolutionary advancement of the century old Preston design, one that I suspect many others will find to be a very welcome step forward in design and function.  

Last Modified:  07/06/2004