It came today! A large shoulder plane

[lowell holmes]

The love of my life gave me a gift certificate from Lee Valley. After considerable deliberation, I decided I wanted the large shoulder plane. It came today.

I already have the medium shoulder plane. I use it a lot so the large plane made sense.

I wiped the lubricant off of it, put the brass optional knobs on it and tried it out.

Without honing, it came out of the box making translucent continuous shavings. I will put a micro bevel on it tomorrow. I don't know how I will use it yet,
I suspect to true up a long surface that is not square and straight. I know you guys never get those, but I do from time to time.

And, they included a $10 gift card with it.

I am surprised by the heft of the plane. I expect it will power through small knots and blemishes.

[Dave Zellers]

I have the medium shoulder plane too. What a joy to use. I can't believe how perfectly it fits in my hand.

Enjoy the large plane. It will be fun.

[Ryan Jones]

no pics? you tease.. comon.

[glenn bradley]

I started with the medium and it is one of my "if I left for a desert island" hand tools BUT, I really love my large LV Shoulder plane. Congrats.

[Don Dorn]

You made a good choice. I have the LN large shoulder, but admit that I'd prefer the LV. I have a small LV and love it - use it far more than I thought I would.

[Ryan Jones]

I have the Stanley Sweetheart 92 shoulder plane. While it's a good plane, I'd love the large LV plane.

What do people do without shoulder planes? They are so useful!

[Chris Hachet]

This will be one of my next purchases.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Now that you have the large, you need to sell that medium shoulder plane... to me. :-) But seriously, if you decided you want to sell, I'd be interested. I have the large, small, and bullnose. They need a friend. I personally find the large to be a bit too large for most of my projects, but it did come in handy for the Roubo build. I don't usually build anything with that big of a shoulder. The small is great for chasing dadoes and truing up small tenons, but I should have bought the medium first.

[Brett Luna]

Welcome to the club. In spite of reading authoritative-sounding advice in forums, blogs, and magazines warning me that I don't really need a shoulder plane of any sort...ever...I bought the LVSP in medium and large flavors. Don't regret it for a minute.

[Robert Engel]

The best feature of the LV shoulder planes is the lateral adjustment screws.

[lowell holmes]

Now that you have the large, you need to sell that medium shoulder plane... to me. :-) But seriously, if you decided you want to sell, I'd be interested. I have the large, small, and bullnose. They need a friend. I personally find the large to be a bit too large for most of my projects, but it did come in handy for the Roubo build. I don't usually build anything with that big of a shoulder. The small is great for chasing dadoes and truing up small tenons, but I should have bought the medium first.

I expect to use it more than a little for smoothing. It makes translucent shavings that leaves a smooth surface.

[Patrick Chase]

Welcome to the club. In spite of reading authoritative-sounding advice in forums, blogs, and magazines warning me that I don't really need a shoulder plane of any sort...ever...I bought the LVSP in medium and large flavors. Don't regret it for a minute.

They're undoubtedly useful planes. I think the reason some people sneer at them is because their nominal purpose in life (trimming shoulders) is based on the assumption that we may sometimes saw imperfectly. The fact is that very few people can saw perfect joinery, and they have plenty of other uses besides.

[Reinis Kanders]

What is a good use for it?
I have a skew rabbet block plane and I use that quite often to fix some rabbet or tenon. I have seen Charlesworth using it to fine tune miter angles for mitered hidden dovetails, but that sort of work can be done with chisel or a bench plane.

[lowell holmes]

What is a good use for it?
I have a skew rabbet block plane and I use that quite often to fix some rabbet or tenon. I have seen Charlesworth using it to fine tune miter angles for mitered hidden dovetails, but that sort of work can be done with chisel or a bench plane.

Well, It's good to set out on the bench and admire . . . . .

It is a large plane that is easy to control. You can cut rabbets with it, level edges with it. I will find out what it is good for.

[Brett Luna]

What is a good use for it?
I have a skew rabbet block plane and I use that quite often to fix some rabbet or tenon. I have seen Charlesworth using it to fine tune miter angles for mitered hidden dovetails, but that sort of work can be done with chisel or a bench plane.

No doubt, there are a number of alternative ways to do the things a shoulder plane will do but of course, that doesn't negate the shoulder plane's usefulness. And I don't have a skew rabbet...yet. One instance where I found the SP particularly useful was in attaching return nosings to manufactured stair treads. The return moldings weren't quite identical to the tread nosing profile, so there were some mismatched miters to deal with. The medium SP allowed me to knock off outside curves, get tightly into fillets, and thanks to the high, narrow profile and rearward hand position, it left me a lot of eyeball room to see exactly what I was doing. Sure, I might have pulled it off with another tool but I found the shoulder plane easier and quicker to use with confidence. For things like this, I don't think of it as a shoulder plane. It's a detail plane.