YorkshireMartin
Established Member
I have a good example of a Stanley #3 which does a very good job, but I needed another, larger plane. I had always wondered what it would be like to own one of the hand planes people rave about. Without getting into the realms of custom jobs, it was really down to two brands for me, Veritas and Lie Nielsen.
In the end, I chose Lie Nielsen. They use 2" irons rather than Veritas who use the larger 2 1/4", better for me as my diamond plates are 2" versions and I prefer to sharpen with a jig and somehow I feel an affinity with the Lie Nielsen brand. Perhaps I'm also a bit of an old romantic in terms of the design of hand tools. I knew either brand would do a good job and be of high quality, so it became more about the intangibles, comfort being the deciding factor in the end, as I'd held both brands and preferred the ergonomics of the Lie Nielsen range, even if they lacked a couple of features compared to the Veritas.
I've only had about 45 minutes to have a play and of course I really have nothing to compare it to, but what caught my attention is that within 5 minutes of getting it out of the box, I'm taking full length, full width, even shavings of walnut, perhaps a thousandth of an inch with no breakout at all. The finish of the wood is like glass with no planing marks at all, even under a magnifying glass. The reason this was surprising to me is because I'm almost a complete beginner at hand planing. I mean, I've perhaps done a couple of full days in total over the past year and prior to that, had never held one.
The wood I'm using for testing is straight grained which I know makes a big difference but still, it's a testament to how well made these planes are that a complete beginner can get such results straight out of the box. I've rarely encountered that level of attention to detail before, the only other time in woodworking was with a liogier rasp.
I know Lie Nielsen are expensive. I could buy what, almost 4 new stanley planes for the price of the lie nielsen, but I'm very sure the experience would have been rather different. For £189 delivered, this has to rank amongst my best purchases of all time. It will give me a lifetime of use and my son too, perhaps even my grandchildren, if I'm blessed with any. I don't generally buy into marketing hype although now having tried one, believe these are indeed heirloom quality.
One thing I will say is that this plane is lighter than a normal bevel down jack plane (eg. Stanley no.5). This of course is to be expected, but you do have to put in slightly more effort with these bevel up patterns. This may not suit everyone.
I'm sorry this isn't a more technical review, but those are all over the web anyway and written by people who actually have the knowledge to form a technical opinion, something I don't posses. I just wanted to give my first impression of this plane as a beginner in case anyone else is considering it, because it had crossed my mind that I may have bitten off more than I could chew with this purchase.
Thanks for reading.
In the end, I chose Lie Nielsen. They use 2" irons rather than Veritas who use the larger 2 1/4", better for me as my diamond plates are 2" versions and I prefer to sharpen with a jig and somehow I feel an affinity with the Lie Nielsen brand. Perhaps I'm also a bit of an old romantic in terms of the design of hand tools. I knew either brand would do a good job and be of high quality, so it became more about the intangibles, comfort being the deciding factor in the end, as I'd held both brands and preferred the ergonomics of the Lie Nielsen range, even if they lacked a couple of features compared to the Veritas.
I've only had about 45 minutes to have a play and of course I really have nothing to compare it to, but what caught my attention is that within 5 minutes of getting it out of the box, I'm taking full length, full width, even shavings of walnut, perhaps a thousandth of an inch with no breakout at all. The finish of the wood is like glass with no planing marks at all, even under a magnifying glass. The reason this was surprising to me is because I'm almost a complete beginner at hand planing. I mean, I've perhaps done a couple of full days in total over the past year and prior to that, had never held one.
The wood I'm using for testing is straight grained which I know makes a big difference but still, it's a testament to how well made these planes are that a complete beginner can get such results straight out of the box. I've rarely encountered that level of attention to detail before, the only other time in woodworking was with a liogier rasp.
I know Lie Nielsen are expensive. I could buy what, almost 4 new stanley planes for the price of the lie nielsen, but I'm very sure the experience would have been rather different. For £189 delivered, this has to rank amongst my best purchases of all time. It will give me a lifetime of use and my son too, perhaps even my grandchildren, if I'm blessed with any. I don't generally buy into marketing hype although now having tried one, believe these are indeed heirloom quality.
One thing I will say is that this plane is lighter than a normal bevel down jack plane (eg. Stanley no.5). This of course is to be expected, but you do have to put in slightly more effort with these bevel up patterns. This may not suit everyone.
I'm sorry this isn't a more technical review, but those are all over the web anyway and written by people who actually have the knowledge to form a technical opinion, something I don't posses. I just wanted to give my first impression of this plane as a beginner in case anyone else is considering it, because it had crossed my mind that I may have bitten off more than I could chew with this purchase.
Thanks for reading.
