Bevel up smoother?

[mouppe]

Hi Gary

Here is the inlay photo (before any scraping was done).

Am I happy with the banding? Yes and no. It's clearly not as high quality as a home-made banding and it's very thin so there is little room for error. And of course most of the banding nowadays are not face grain. BUT, there are so many styles available you can get whatever you want, and it's cheap, quick and easy. For me, it's not worth the time and hassle of making my own banding although I know many people do.

Good idea about the shellac. I hadn't thought of that. Yes, shellac will probably be my chosen finish as usual!

[attachthumb=#]

 

[Nick C]

Last weekend I attended a woodworking show near Baltimore. Lee Valley had all of their Veritas planes on display, and available for trying. They had a couple of benches set up, with some sample workpieces in hardwoods with very challenging grain. I tried their low angle smoothers, and was very impressed. They have made some very innovative improvements to this somewhat basic concept. Specifically, the planes incorporate side setscrews, the purpose of which is to lock in the side-to-side orientation of the blade, so that after sharpening it can be returned to its original (presumably correct) orientation. This, along with the natural advantage of a low bedding angle, minimizes the risk of introducing corner striping. Another innovation is in the adjustable nosepiece. A small knob is provided that sets a lower limit on the throat depth. The nosepiece can be adjusted for a greater throat depth, but not a smaller one, thus preventing the nosepiece from sliding right into the blade. The nose assembly is rather substantial, providing heft right where it is needed. The cut I obtained with these planes was outstanding--thinner than my .001-resolution caliper could register, and very consistent. The feel was very comfortable. Unlike the high bedding angle smoothers (I have two--a LN 4-1/2, and an old Norris infill), the right hand is more in line with the direction of motion, which seems more natural. The cutting angle that is presented to the workpiece is roughly the same for the two styles. For the bevel-down design, 45-deg is typical. For the bevel-up design, a 15-deg bedding angle plus a 30-deg bevel results in...45-deg. To top it all off, the low-angle smoothers are available in three different sizes. And then there is the jack...and the jointer. I have used hand planes extensively for more than 30 years, and I have never handled a better smoother.

 

[RONWEN]

I use hand scrappers for final finishing however Richard has really whetted my appetite to buy a LN scrapper plane.  When it comes to bevel up planes (including smoothers) I don't think Veritas engineering can be beat.  LN wins with their quality reproductions of bevel down planes.

 

[mouppe]

Ron, don't blame me!!! You know you are powerless to resist.

With bevel up planes, I think it is better to make a decision between Veritas and Lie Nielsen before you start buying. Then you can switch blades between the planes. I have the Lie Nielsen Low Angle Jack plane and I have my eye on a Veritas bevel up smoother but the blades are incompatible (I presume). I would love to have one plane and a bunch of different blades for it. It's cheaper than buying a new router bit!

 

[RONWEN]

Ron, don't blame me!!! You know you are powerless to resist.

With bevel up planes, I think it is better to make a decision between Veritas and Lie Nielsen before you start buying. Then you can switch blades between the planes. I have the Lie Nielsen Low Angle Jack plane and I have my eye on a Veritas bevel up smoother but the blades are incompatible (I presume). I would love to have one plane and a bunch of different blades for it. It's cheaper than buying a new router bit!

Richard, I hold you responsible for many of my purchases.  [wink]  I just wish that I had all of that natural light in my garage shop that you have -- that can't be beat for older eyes.

I have the new Veritas little smoother with a compliment of blades on the way to me.  Sadly, the irons are narrower than my other Veritas bevel up planes.  Having said that it is still cheaper than buying various angle frogs for bevel down planes.

 

[mouppe]

So true. I have a pair of frogs for my Lie Nielsen jointer plane, and I never use the lower angle one. The more I try the bevel up planes, the more I like them over the traditional bench planes. My one gripe about the Veritas planes is with the lateral adjuster- it's so much more fiddly than the Lie Nielsen type.

Hand tools are very similar to most people's Festool learning curve. You start out with a bunch of different brand tools, before coming to the realisation that you should have just gone with Festool from the beginning.