Things I would like Lee Valley (or someone) to make.

[Rob Lee]

A new LV tool is always a good news.A LV tool that you desire is a better news!!

Eugenio -

There are more on your list that are coming, than on anyone else's list...

I think you're 3 for 4 .... ... eventually...

Cheers -

Rob

[george wilson]

I have made several spindles and brass bearings for treadle or great wheel lathes. The high price of brass might make them a little high,plus the labor.

How bad do you want them? The easiest type for me to make is a steel spindle that runs through a front and rear pair of split brass blocks. The brass blocks have bolts going down each side,into the wood of the headstock. They can be tightened down some to eliminate wear. I made that type for the cabinet maker's shop in Williamsburg for their great wheel lathe.

Another type is 1 bearing at the front with a tapered hole. The rear end of the spindle has a center point in it,and a threaded steel screw bearing against it. This forces the spindle forward into the tapered hole of the front bearing. It is much more trouble to make,plus,you have to have a 3/4" coarse tap to thread a hole through your back poppet. The front bearing of this type spindle is tool steel. It is the type I made for the treadle lathe currently in the gunsmith/foundry shop. It probably would be pretty expensive. Oh,I forgot the wooden pulley forced onto the spindle. Both were 1" X 8 threads,no hole through the spindle on these early type spindles.

[Steve Friedman]

What about bringing back something that you no longer carry - the red metal Veritas toolbox trays (1", 2", 3")?

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...,43326&p=46037

Steve

[Sam Takeuchi]

As far as M2 blade goes, I don't think it'll be a regular replacement blade for most people. It has its place, especially on really hard or silica loaded wood, it can really bulldoze through materials that will otherwise obliterate O1 or A2 blade. I have one and I use it to overcome those conditions, but for the rest of planing, I use O1, A2 and laminated blue steel blade.

It's really tough to sharpen it. That's why it's durable and last long, but it resists wear on stone/abrasive, too. If you hollow grind and remove as much metal as possible on bevel, you may be able to achieve relatively efficient sharpening, but without that and trying to sharpen full bevel every time will be a dreadful task real quick.

It seems M2 is very picky with sharpening mediums. I don't know about the rest of you, but I've had success and failure trying to find the right sharpening medium for this particular steel. But the question is, would I want to have bunch of different setup for every steel I have. I don't. Scary sharp worked well, but I don't use scary sharp and I'm not about to have a scary sharp station just for this blade. Shapton Pro works well with all of my O1 and A2 blades and Pro #12000 never disappointed me...except I don't feel it's a good match for M2. It puts good edge, but it just doesn't seem as sharp as it could be.

I think people's experience will vary, but would most people want to experiment and try different setup, or go through all this just for a plane blade? It's a lot to be asked from a plane blade. When I ordered Paul Williams M2 blade, I thought it was expensive, but now I consider it that if you are willing to pay that much (think nearly twice more expensive than a Hock blade) for a blade, you should be determined to figure a way to sharpen it. I can imagine a lot of people giving up on them due to lack of proper or good sharpening equipments, wrong technique or whatever. I honestly doubt it'll ever achieve the kind of popularity A2 or O1 have achieved. It's not as...accommodating as those steels.

If you ever happen to use micro bevel without hollow grind, trying to grind off micro bevel is a work by itself on M2.

[David Weaver]

As far as M2 blade goes, I don't think it'll be a regular replacement blade for most people. It has its place, especially on really hard or silica loaded wood, it can really bulldoze through materials that will otherwise obliterate O1 or A2 blade. I have one and I use it to overcome those conditions, but for the rest of planing, I use O1, A2 and laminated blue steel blade.

It's really tough to sharpen it. That's why it's durable and last long, but it resists wear on stone/abrasive, too. If you hollow grind and remove as much metal as possible on bevel, you may be able to achieve relatively efficient sharpening, but without that and trying to sharpen full bevel every time will be a dreadful task real quick.

It seems M2 is very picky with sharpening mediums. I don't know about the rest of you, but I've had success and failure trying to find the right sharpening medium for this particular steel. But the question is, would I want to have bunch of different setup for every steel I have. I don't. Scary sharp worked well, but I don't use scary sharp and I'm not about to have a scary sharp station just for this blade. Shapton Pro works well with all of my O1 and A2 blades and Pro #12000 never disappointed me...except I don't feel it's a good match for M2. It puts good edge, but it just doesn't seem as sharp as it could be.

I think people's experience will vary, but would most people want to experiment and try different setup, or go through all this just for a plane blade? It's a lot to be asked from a plane blade. When I ordered Paul Williams M2 blade, I thought it was expensive, but now I consider it that if you are willing to pay that much (think nearly twice more expensive than a Hock blade) for a blade, you should be determined to figure a way to sharpen it. I can imagine a lot of people giving up on them due to lack of proper or good sharpening equipments, wrong technique or whatever. I honestly doubt it'll ever achieve the kind of popularity A2 or O1 have achieved. It's not as...accommodating as those steels.

If you ever happen to use micro bevel without hollow grind, trying to grind off micro bevel is a work by itself on M2.

There are several things that work really well for M2. I use a shapton pro 15k for a final step, but as you say, it doesn't get as keen as easy as a2 and O1. The key is using it only for the final microbevel.

If that isn't keen enough, on the cheap side, the LV green stuff on a MDF stop works well. I don't know which is more abrasive - mdf or the green stuff, but the green stuff is fine on M2.

The most ideal sharpening medium for M2 is diamonds, at least in my experience. I don't generally sharpen with small diamonds, so I don't have them around, but doing most of the grinding with a tormek and then just microbeveling makes them very tolerable to sharpen.

Polishing the entire bevel, as you say, is a torture test. I think most people would give up before they had a sharp edge.

A soft "kitayama" polish stone also works fine on them, which means that anything al-ox abrasive should be OK. When they do fail, they fail differently than a high carbon steel iron, but it takes a while to make them fail, and it is especially hard to do material damage to the edge with regular planing (like ramming into knots or backwards with a thick shaving into abrasive woods, etc).

[Chris Kennedy]

There are plenty of woodworking tools I want Veritas to make, but the thing I want is a non-woodworking tool. If you have ever used those horrible chalkboard compasses, they are a horrendous thing to use. I would like Veritas to adapt one of their larger compasses or trammels so that it can effectively used on a chalkboard.

I actually asked Veritas. It was the nicest rejection letter I ever received.

Cheers,

Chris

[bridger berdel]

as a working woodworker, not a hobbyist, I'd like to see the full line of planes with all of the excellent engineering and useful features... but if bubinga handles are going to jack up the price give me the option of beech handles, or probably maple, being that LV is Canadian after all.

the plane collectors are killing me. I can't afford to buy most of the interesting planes I want. LV is slowly adding some of them into their lineup, which is great, and better yet they are getting updated with modern metallurgy and precision manufacturing, but the leisure woodworkers are demanding luxury versions (and have the money to pay for them) and so pricing me out of that source too.

I know that working handtool woodworkers are a minority, but there are some of us out here and we need tools too.

[David Gendron]

+1 for bridger comment. I would add that using local wood is a plus, and keep the money in the country!!

[David Weaver]

I can't think that bubinga adds more than $10 to the cost of a plane (in terms incremental cost over plain hardwood). Machining and keeping the lights on probably adds a lot more.

Cheapest way to get a plane you want as a working woodworker (except probably for bevel up) is to buy old woodies, steal their irons and make laminated/krenov planes out of scrap wood. $10 or so per plane. That's a bit on the excessive side in terms of doing work to save money, though.

What's wrong with vintage stanley bench planes if cost is an issue?

[Richard Niemiec]

How about a newly designed chipbreaker?

[Larry Marshall]

Love to see someone make some treadle machines or DIY kits.

CME makes a dandy treadle lathe kit. Tom Fidgen bought one and reports on it here:

http://www.theunpluggedwoodshop.com/...works-inc.html

Cheers --- Larry

[Sam Takeuchi]

Speaking of cap iron, I would buy a bevel down plane that doesn't require cap iron. I don't know how but If it can engage yoke and lateral adjuster without cap iron, and blade is thick (ideally laminated for my personal liking), that would be good. Yes I know about how it breaks chip etc. No I haven't felt it makes convincing difference in realistic use (and yes I also have read the 'chip breaker study' which proves it makes difference when and if it is set humanly near impossible distance from the cutting edge). In the same line of thought, if Veritas offered line of laminated replacement blades for LA/BU planes, with various edge steel, I would be ecstatic, too. I'm a huge fan of laminated blade for good balance of hard edge and ease of sharpening, and if there was laminated blue steel blade for Veritas LA/BU plane, I'm content and satisfied for next couple of decades...as far as blade need is concerned.

[Rob Lee]

What about bringing back something that you no longer carry - the red metal Veritas toolbox trays (1", 2", 3")?

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...,43326&p=46037

Steve

Hi Steve -

They'll be back soon ... I think they're produced already....!

Cheers -

Rob

[Dale Sautter]

Hi Dale -

One never knows though....

Ok, I understand... it never hurts to ask...

[Mark Wyatt]

Since we are wishing:
I would love to see a #2 size veritas bench plane. Also, full iron versions of the 3 spokeshaves (don't like the wood handles).

How about a Lee Valley "frequent buyer club?"

Oh, and a magic button on the website that I can press to make everything half the price!