Just bit the bullet on LV Bevel Up Smoother

[Phillip Mitchell]

After some continued frustration with being (relatively) new to vintage smoothers, I just bought a LV Bevel up Smoother. I'd been considering it for a while now after some setbacks with a couple of older smoothers. I've read quite a bit on this site (and others) concerning the opinions and details on this plane and am excited to say the least.

I currently have 2 smoothing planes (have some other sized planes that I'm pretty happy with.) One is an English made "WS" brand A4 (no 4 1/2 size) I got from eBay a year or so ago that I've never really been able to dial in quite like I want. The other is a type 11? Stanley no. 4 that I got from the tool store above Roy Underhill's school, of all places. I test drove it in the shop and it seemed decent, but I didn't look it over as well as I should have and have since realized that the toe area of the sole is quite worn (slightly rounded away) and results in a sole that will take considerable time and effort of properly flatten. The chip breaker needs some refurbishing as well. The plane was performing ok, but not quite as well as I was expecting and I could tell the iron needed some honing and slight cambering. After flattening, sharpening, and honing the iron combined with attempting to "hone" the edge of the chip breaker for better mating to the iron, I have made it quite worse and have some a notable gap going on where the 2 meet on the last 1/3rd of one side. Now shavings immediately clog in the gap and I am back to the drawing board to work it until it mates properly. I realize that this type of fiddling and refurb is par for the course with used/vintage planes. At the moment, unlike some of you fine fellows, I don't quite have the patience, tooling and time to start from scratch with a smoothing plane just to make decent shavings.

Thus, with great satisfaction and hard earned $, the order from Lee Valley was placed. I'm looking forward to a little bit more of a plug and play experience than I have ever had with hand tools thus far. I have collected and refurbished quite a few old framing chisels, which is a simpler and less daunting task for me than plane refurbing. I do look forward to taking my time with getting the no. 4 in good shape and fine tuning it, but in the meantime

I welcome any feedback specific to the no. 4 refurb. Though I have read a good deal about this subject, my practical application skills and experience is limited in this arena. Advice and how to fix the chip breaker issue would likely be a good starting point. I'm a little more confident on the sole flattening approach...I am just hesitant because I know how long it may take to get it to the level of flatness that is needed for a good smoother.

Thanks for listening!

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Phillip,

Check out the almost hidden archive:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...al-wisdom-FAQs

There are at least a couple of threads in there about refurbishing old planes.

jtk

[Ray Selinger]

Shhhh, some one may hear me. At the factory they used a belt sander. After doing a#4 on a sheet of wet/dry, I tried a #220 block plane on my 6x48/9" . If I screw up a $5 block plane, I wouldn't cry for too long, still it was $5 after all. Guess what, it works great. Today's victim was a #605 Bedrock. When I came up my wife suggested I wash my face, my white moustache was black. It uses up one 80grit $10 belt per plane. You still have to polish up to 400grit.


Considering all the work involved, the cost of the plane, cost of the belt, 4 sheets of wet/dry, and new LV PMVII blade and cap iron, I just bought a new LV bevel down #4 1/2. The guy at the counter had suggested a bevel up #4 1/2, instead.

[Derek Cohen]

Phillip and Ray ..

A BU plane, such as the BUS, is a point-and-shoot plane. It gets excellent results with almost minimal work (as long as one follows basic sharpening rules). These are very versatile planes, that is, they can change characteristics with a few blades set up differently.

A BD plane, such as a #4 1/2 (regardless of make), can also produce excellent results. In fact, I would argue that that the BD plane has a wider range of applications with one blade than a BU plane. It does, however, require more skill to extract the best from these planes than from a BU plane.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Patrick Chase]

Phillip and Ray ..

A BU plane, such as the BUS, is a point-and-shoot plane. It gets excellent results with almost minimal work (as long as one follows basic sharpening rules). These are very versatile planes, that is, they can change characteristics with a few blades set up differently.

A BD plane, such as a #4 1/2 (regardless of make), can also produce excellent results. In fact, I would argue that that the BD plane has a wider range of applications with one blade than a BU plane. It does, however, require more skill to extract the best from these planes than from a BU plane.

Regards from Perth

Derek

+1 to what Derek says. I have a BUS and it's an extremely nice plane. The as-shipped 50 degree cutting angle (12 deg bed + 38 deg bevel on the iron) somewhat compensates for the lack of a cap iron, so the result is a plane that "just works" without much fiddling in common hardwoods. You might want to invest in a second blade with a higher secondary bevel if you work with a lot of highly figured or otherwise difficult woods though.

[Stewie Simpson]

Phillip; if you don't have the patience to refurbish earlier made hand planes, save your frustration, and just buy brand new.

[Glen Canaday]

Phillip; if you don't have the patience to refurbish earlier made hand planes, save your frustration, and just buy brand new.

Looks like that's just what he did

I have not had such bad luck with the standard bailey-style arrangement.

[Rob Luter]

I've done a couple refurbs on Sweetheart era planes and they've turned out great. That said, I didn't intend to restore the planes to "showroom" condition. I flattened the bottoms, trued the mouth openings, cleaned up the frog/base casting interface, and most importantly, invested in a Hock blade and chipbreaker. They retain their patina and vintage look but work better than new. I've gone the new route with LN and LV on a couple planes too. I'd love to have all new but the wallet can't take that kind of abuse.

[Jim Koepke]

New is nice, but my wallet was a bit thin when I started into this. With time and effort fixing up old planes not only became easy, it became a passion. Over time the only new planes or tools bought were those the collector market has driven the price to the point where a new high quality tool was less expensive than an old user.

It is good for a beginner to have a new plane from LN or LV as a benchmark for how a plane should perform.

If one has an aversion to working metal and adequate funds, there is nothing against having all new high quality tools in their shop.

On the other hand if one likes to fettle the metal, old tools can save money with a little time spent cleaning up old rust buckets.

jtk

[Patrick Chase]

Over time the only new planes or tools bought were those the collector market has driven the price to the point where a new high quality tool was less expensive than an old user.

There are unfortunately more and more of those every day. Some of the prices being asked/paid these days are kind of nutty.

[Phillip Mitchell]

My wallet is thin, too but I just decided to cry once on this purchase. As some have mentioned, it's tough when you're just starting out to find the balance between affordably used but still functional and expensive brand new. I've been buying hand tools for a couple years now and this is my first new tool purchase. Thanks for all the comments.