Router plane

[Zag73]

Hi

im in the process of buying a large router plane. The choice is between Lie Nielsen and Veritas. Any suggestions on which is the better one? The Veritas appears to have more functionalit. However, what concerns me is that there seems to be an issue with the depth stop and blade slipping. Have other experienced this issue? If this is quite common, I’d go with the Lie Nielsen.

Thanks in advance for any help,

 

[Droogs]

Personally of the two designs, i find the Veritas a little bit better all round. Though neither hold a candle to the new design I hope to be launching Q2 next year (hopefully)

 

[Zag73]

Personally of the two designs, i find the Veritas a little bit better all round. Though neither hold a candle to the new design I hope to be launching Q2 next year (hopefully)

Have you used the Veritas model? If so, have you encountered the slippage that seems to get mentioned a lot?

 

[Blackswanwood]

I have the Veritas and have been using it earlier this morning. I have never experienced and problems with the blade slipping.

I bought mine after trying both back in the good old days when Woodworking shows happened. The Veritas just felt more comfortable which is of course a personal and subjective opinion rather than a recommendation.

@Droogs - interesting that you are making progress - I remember you discussing having a go at getting something off the ground. Can you share any more detail or is it too early? Cheers

 

[Droogs]

I have yes for a long time and then I was able to get a #71 Stanley and a Preston 1399. I gifted the Veritas to a very dear friend (he really did like it) This was due to indeed having some issues with occasional loosening of the iron's brass retaining screw. I tended to use a small Knipex type plumbers wrench with soft leather in the jaws to tighten it.

 

[Droogs]

@Blackswanwood
Things have been slowly progressing due to me being ill over the last 18 months or so. Have decided to go with a modern interpretation of what a router plane should be and be capable of. I have spent a fair bit of time trying to get the design to be as versatile as possible, the design now incorporates the following abilities:
have the iron at any edge cardinal point of the plane N S E W and an inboard position just forward of the centre
the ability to route grooves and dadoes using an adjustable fence for both linear edge and curved work (round table tops etc) to a depth of 1" and maintain accuracy of depth
adjustable "wings" to accommodate routing out larger widths up to ~4" without deflection in the tool to ensure depth accuracy
adjustable height and placement of the handles including some vertical and 60 deg options (still needs some working on)

The overall design shape is based on the original Cylon Raider .

 

[Zag73]

I have yes for a long time and then I was able to get a #71 Stanley and a Preston 1399. I gifted the Veritas to a very dear friend (he really did like it) This was due to indeed having some issues with occasional loosening of the iron's brass retaining screw. I tended to use a small Knipex type plumbers wrench with soft leather in the jaws to tighten it.

Thanks for the reply. Of the two , the Veritas one looks the better one. If your wrench fix alleviates the problem of the slipping depth gauge, I can live with this given the Veritas one looks to be more versatile.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Hi

im in the process of buying a large router plane. The choice is between Lie Nielsen and Veritas. Any suggestions on which is the better one? The Veritas appears to have more functionalit. However, what concerns me is that there seems to be an issue with the depth stop and blade slipping. Have other experienced this issue? If this is quite common, I’d go with the Lie Nielsen.

Thanks in advance for any help,

As far as I know, only one person has ever stated this - Paul Sellers. And he just likes to be controversial. There is no issue. In fact, the opposite - the Veritas has a spring-loaded collar, which is aimed at holding the blade when making adjustments. I can only imagine that dear Paul got some grit in the spring, and so it would not close. It just needed to be cleaned. Instead, he went to great lengths to described how he made a special wrench to lock it down. He deleted my suggestion to just clean the spring. I have never had to do this.

Please keep in mind that I have tested tools for Veritas for over about 15 or so years, and therefore am quite reactive to rubbish like that.

The Veritas Large is a superior router plane, and very reliable. I have used one without any issues for about 15 years. The LN is also excellent, and often it comes down to the Veritas offering more blade choices as well as a few accessories, such as one for inlay work.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[deema]

Well, I have owned the LN and the LV and also a Record. I have kept the Veritas as IMO it was the best of the bunch for reasons not yet stated. However, firstly I have to say that they are all good at what they are intended for, and to be fair there isn’t really any difference in the performance between any of them. In fact, I also have a granny tooth plane that my father made when serving his apprenticeship, which equally does an excellent job.
I haven’t ever had any issues of the blade moving when in use with any of them. I sold the Record only because secondhand prices went stupid after Mr Spellers promoted them and I was able to buy a new LV and still have change in my pocket. I found a brand new LV on eBay for a silly low price so, it was rude not to buy it and then sold LN after comparing them and again ended up with plenty of change in my pocket. I sold the LN as I found the LV handles nicer for my large hands, but the biggest decider on which to keep was the fact that you can remove the cutter from the stem for sharpening. This makes sharpening up the blade much easier and quicker, as you can sharpen it almost like a normal blade, rather than having it upside down hanging off the edge of the stone which I find awkward / not easy

 

[sploo]

I've used the Veritas for years with no issues of blade slipping. I've got a few old #71 planes of various vintages and one of those is the only one I've experienced to have the occasional unwanted loosening of the blade.

 

[Zag73]

As far as I know, only one person has ever stated this - Paul Sellers. And he just likes to be controversial. There is no issue. In fact, the opposite - the Veritas has a spring-loaded collar, which is aimed at holding the blade when making adjustments. I can only imagine that dear Paul got some grit in the spring, and so it would not close. It just needed to be cleaned. Instead, he went to great lengths to described how he made a special wrench to lock it down. He deleted my suggestion to just clean the spring. I have never had to do this.

Please keep in mind that I have tested tools for Veritas for over about 15 or so years, and therefore am quite reactive to rubbish like that.

The Veritas Large is a superior router plane, and very reliable. I have used one without any issues for about 15 years. The LN is also excellent, and often it comes down to the Veritas offering more blade choices as well as a few accessories, such as one for inlay work.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks for the response. Certainly, it seems more versatile. I like that I can have the blade on the back of the plane. It wasn’t Paul Sellers that brought my attention to the slippage. It was Matt Estlea’s review of the LN and Veritas planes. Plus a few comments on retailers websites from purchasers. This being, since posting, I’ve had a response from Veritas. They’ve said that such slippage would be classed as a manufacturing defect and would be replaced without question. So, that satisfies me. Veritas it is.

 

[TRITON]

I've the LN one, open mouth version.
With hindsight I wish I'd bought the veritas one, and the reason there is blade choice in that the veritas blades are available in a range of sizes, the LN blades are not as easy to come by either.
I have no problem with the quality of the LN and it cuts like a dream, only I'd prefer to have the option of smaller blades should I want to do different widths of inlay. Veritas blades go from 3mm to 1/2". I've only seen one size of LN blade.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

When it comes to sharpening your Veritas blades, this is the method I use …

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/WoodworkTechniques/SharpeningRouterPlaneBlades.html
I showed it to Vic Tesolin, from Lee Valley, and he later made this video for FWW magazine …



Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[raffo]

He deleted my suggestion to just clean the spring.

They deleted a post of mine not agreeing with some claims regarding being wrong calling a chipbreaker a chipbreaker. Their blog seems to only tolerate non-opposing points of view.

 

[Zag73]

When it comes to sharpening your Veritas blades, this is the method I use …

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/WoodworkTechniques/SharpeningRouterPlaneBlades.html
I showed it to Vic Tesolin, from Lee Valley, and he later made this video for FWW magazine …



Regards from Perth

Derek

Hi Derek

I’m going with the Veritas plane. I have the Veritas honing guide, which I’m happy with. Any idea if it‘s possible to detach the blade from the stem and use the provided jig in the Veritas honing guide?

 

[Zag73]

They deleted a post of mine not agreeing with some claims regarding being wrong calling a chipbreaker a chipbreaker. Their blog seems to only tolerate non-opposing points of view.

I’m sure Peter Sellers is a decent bloke. But he comes as as “my way or no way”.

 

[Terrytpot]

I noticed there seems to be a new kid on the block to tempt those who are in the market for a router plane…
https://www.rockler.com/bench-dog-router-plane-with-fence-open-throat

 

[Zag73]

I noticed there seems to be a new kid on the block to tempt those who are in the market for a router plane…
https://www.rockler.com/bench-dog-router-plane-with-fence-open-throat

Saw this review. The Benchdog plane does look good. But I do see his point about one company spending money on r&d and then another company plagiarising the product.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Hi Derek

I’m going with the Veritas plane. I have the Veritas honing guide, which I’m happy with. Any idea if it‘s possible to detach the blade from the stem and use the provided jig in the Veritas honing guide?

This is indeed possible with these blades. There are a couple of photos demonstrating this in the link I provided above. These show hollow grinding on the Tormek (I now use a bench grinder - it would work the same way) and then freehanding on a waterstone. The blade holder would fit a honing guide, such as the Veritas.

Edit to add: Detaching the shaft is only on the larger sizes, not the smaller ones. I developed the grinding/sharpening method specifically for the fixed shafts.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

I noticed there seems to be a new kid on the block to tempt those who are in the market for a router plane…
https://www.rockler.com/bench-dog-router-plane-with-fence-open-throat

This is pure theft of trade dress. While the design may be legally open to copy as the copyrite period is likely past, this company appear to have no shame in stealing the trade dress of LN as well.

Regards from Perth

Derek