Bevel up smoother?

Mac

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Joined
May 26, 2009
Messages
729
Hi guys,

Am thinking of getting hold of a bevel up smoother (Veritas has my attention) to add to my growing plane collection. Do any of you have any experience of these or advice/recommendations?

Thanks in advance,
Rick
 
I have the veritas bevel up plane and am very pleased with it. I only have one lie Nielsen plane - the strange thing for morticing hinges. All the others are veritas. I like the fact that they have made a few mods on the original designs making them easier for an untrained wood butcher like me to use. I couldn't discern any extra functional benefit from the lie nielsens, but am sure there is some if you know where to look.
Richard
 
I have the low angle jack plane from Lie Nielsen, and it is a dream plane to use. For some reason, it is slightly cheaper than the low angle smoothing plane, but obviously larger.

I would thoroughly recommend it. Because it is bevel up, it is also lighter than a bench plane and so I prefer a larger plane for smoothing than I would if it was bevel down when I use a 4 1/2 Veritas bench plane.

Whilst Veritas make excellent planes, and I have their block plane and their 4 1/2 and am very happy with them, I now lean towards Lie Nielsen wherever possible.
 
Mac said:
... Do any of you have any experience of these or advice/recommendations?

I have the Marcou S20A bevel up smoother, very high quality and it's a pleasure to use. I highly recommend it.  [thumbs up]

joraft-albums-my-photos-picture2750-marcou-3.jpg
 
Get one! As long as you are getting a plane by a premium maker (Veritas, LN or even a Marcou) you cannot go wrong. All are great makers and the preferences are often a matter of personal preference.

I have a ton of planes both old and new. When it came time to buy a bevel up plane I ended up with the Veritas. For me, the set screws, lateral adjustment and the stop screw are all innovations that I found attractive and unique. I also liked that the blade can be swapped with the smoother and jointer which are pending additions to the arsenal. Right after I get an RO 90 and a set of snipes bill planes from Matt Bickford.

If you work with highly figured woods you should also consider a toothed blade. Both Veritas and LN sell them. I have one that I intended to use on some nasty curly makore. I have been able to smooth it with my Veritas though there was a learning curve with the makore that I had not encountered with other woods.

Brad
 
joraft said:
Mac said:
... Do any of you have any experience of these or advice/recommendations?

I have the Marcou S20A bevel up smoother, very high quality and it's a pleasure to use. I highly recommend it.  [thumbs up]

joraft-albums-my-photos-picture2750-marcou-3.jpg

Damn, John! That's one gorgeous hand plane!  Armor All?  Sorry.  [ban]  It really is, though.
 
joraft said:
Mac said:
... Do any of you have any experience of these or advice/recommendations?

I have the Marcou S20A bevel up smoother, very high quality and it's a pleasure to use. I highly recommend it.  [thumbs up]

joraft-albums-my-photos-picture2750-marcou-3.jpg

Haha, this is the most unashamed tool gloat I think I have ever encountered. Bravo sir, you are a true master  [cool]

Rick

 
I cant comment on the Veritas but i have the Lie Nielson low angle smoother you speak about.  I absolutely love it.
 
Mac said:
Haha, this is the most unashamed tool gloat I think I have ever encountered. Bravo sir, you are a true master  [cool]

Hey, you asked and I responded.  [big grin]

Seriously, the heft of this plane makes it effortless to use. And it is built to last a lifetime. I think it's worthwhile investment.

Marcou Planes
 
My work is mostly furniture building by hand, and a lot of that is done with planes.  I have a lot of planes.  The best of tool companies, Lie-Nielsen and Festool included, make some tools that are clearly superb and well above even their standards.  In the Festool line-up I would include the ETS 150/3.  In the Lie-Nielsen plane range, near the top of a wide range of excellent planes, is probably their #62 low angle jack plane.  You just can't go wrong buying this plane.  The first time I saw it in action was in 2002 when Mario Rodriguez was teaching a two day class on planes with Tom Lie-Nielsen.  Mario started with an ugly board cut from a gnarly hard maple log and proceeded to flatten and smooth it.  In a room full of planes, he chose to use only three, the Lie-Nielsen #62, #4 and the #102 block plane.  He did as much as he could with the #4 but the grain was sometimes impossible to tame when it was wild and where it surrounded a large knot.  For these areas he switched to the #62 and then kept using it in areas where we would expect him to grab a big #7 or #8 bevel down bench plane.  The #62 is solid and cuts even the most difficult grain.

A few weeks ago I needed to find some quarter sawn stock among my large stack of mahogany so I started planing the end grain to see what was there.  This is difficult work with a small block plane but the #62 proved to be an efficient solution to this task.

The #62 is also sold as a "low angle jack plane set" with a number of accessory blades ground and sharpened in a selection of angles and type.  If you can swing it, the expense is worth it and you will find a number of applications where quickly swapping out blades will be helpful.

http://www.lie-nielsen.com/viewimage.php?product_id=10694&layout=blank

 
Rick:
I completely agree with Gary. While I would like the Marcou like John has (that thing looks like a jewel) the #62 is a great plane. I have used this plane extensively (see my oak mantle) and it is everything Gary says it is.
When I got this plane I was a little put off by what I felt was a lack of weight or heft. I like heavy iron. I soon got over that. You can use the #62 all day without getting as fatigued as you would with other heavier planes. I have also used it to joint long boards as well.

While I have not used the Veritas bevel up planes I have heard they are very good. I have the large and medium shoulder planes and they are great to use.

Tim
 
I should add that I also use my LN low angle jack plane to joint the edges of boards after I cut them with the TS55. This results in a perfect straight edge with no milling marks.

 
+1 to Richard's comment except I use a Veritas low-angle Jack or sometimes the smoother (on maple, smoother has a 50º attack)
 
People, he's looking for a smoother not a jack plane. 
That said, veritas or lie-nielsen, you can't go wrong.
Question is up or down.  Up allows you to change the angle very easy by either switching irons or changing the secondary bevel angle.  Its a simple design, I have several bevel up planes and no regrets.
However, smoothing usually requires steep cutting angles And it is more difficult to push a plane at a steep cutting angle. 
A bevel down smoother has a removable frog and is a much heavier plane which puts more heft behind the iron making it easier to push.  I recommend a bevel down design for your smoother.

Sent from my DROIDX
 
Jim Kirkpatrick said:
People, he's looking for a smoother not a jack plane. 
That said, veritas or lie-nielsen, you can't go wrong.
Question is up or down.  Up allows you to change the angle very easy by either switching irons or changing the secondary bevel angle.  Its a simple design, I have several bevel up planes and no regrets.
However, smoothing usually requires steep cutting angles And it is more difficult to push a plane at a steep cutting angle. 
A bevel down smoother has a removable frog and is a much heavier plane which puts more heft behind the iron making it easier to push.  I recommend a bevel down design for your smoother.

Sent from my DROIDX

Ahhh, good points Jim.
I don't use my Jack Plane as a smoothing plane.
Tim
Tim
 
I have also raised this point with Mac via a PM.  Low angle smoothers are primeraly for end grain work & if a more tricky timber was to be planed then a standard smoothing plane might serve him better.  For realy tough timbers like Burls you quite often see scraping planes or scrapers being used, about as far away from a low angle plane as you can get.  Like i said to him, it depends what type of work he intends on using it for.  He probably has a very good reason for wanting the low angle smoother.

I know i had many standard smoothers before i added a low angle plane.

Woodguy.
 
Hi guys, and thanks all for your detailed thoughts and suggestions.

As Woodguy said, I'll be wanting to use this on end-grain partly, but also as another smoother for when my standard bedrock number 3 doesn't do the job. As I learn more about planes and wood, I'm finding that I more often find myself working on a piece and wishing I had another plane available which then gets added to the shopping list..!

However, I'd advise you to avoid getting involved in pm discussions with Woodguy...his last few messages have resulted in me buying this...
[attachthumb=1]

and these...
[attachthumb=2]

Approach this man with caution.
Cheers,
Rick
 
Me & Thomas Lie Nielson Have a wee understanding  [tongue]

Only joking, i love his tools  [big grin]
 
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