Veritas combination plane.

[Patrick Chase]

Availability and time. Most of us don't have the MWTCA meets within driving distance. Buying anything used is a bit of a crapshoot. Buying something used over the internet is even more of a crapshoot.

We've already covered this earlier in this thread, but you're creating a false dichotomy here between "new" and "crapshoot".

If you can't make it to MWTCA or similar then you can simply buy from a dealer who does go. You'll pay market price, so you won't be able to gloat about the deals you get that way, but in exchange you get the benefit of that dealer having examined the tool and established its market value. If they're reputable then the tool will be exactly as they describe it, and they will stand behind it once they sell it to you. No "crapshoot" required.

I've started working with one dealer (Pete Taran's old business partner, Patrick Leach, who wrote the well known "Stanley Blood and Gore" site) but there are several others out there.

My time is more valuable to me than saving the money, and there's plenty of others out there who get more pleasure out of resurrecting an old plane than I.

Again with the false dichotomy. If you work with a reputable dealer and tell them that you value your time and are willing to pay for a user that will be ready to go with minimal prep, then they will sell you exactly that. For example I recently bought a #20 (compass plane) that way. It was missing a fair bit of nickel plating (which was accurately described to me before buying) but the mechanics were in good operating condition such that all that was required was some work on the iron. It wasn't that much more effort than would be required for a new tool from LV. The only difference was that the #20 required some minutes of flattening work on the iron, whereas Veritas tools come lapped dead flat.

[john zulu]

Hi,

A few general comments on some of the statements in this thread.

Planes and prices...Stanley made hundreds of thousands of Planes....Veritas and Lie-Nielsen make hundreds, and rarely thousands. Everything we make is closer to bespoke, than mass production. They cost what they cost... and I make no apologies for prices.

Blades.....I knew that our blades would be dear, which is why we made our plane compatible with Stanley and Record blades. You can pick up a set of blades ( with or without a plane) for probably $100-150, depending on condition. You will have to spend a lot of time lapping, and making them usable. Yes...they will be flat, concave, and convex. O1 warps when hardened. Manufacturers (well, those that know what they're doing, anyway) will ensure blades are oriented before grinding the bevel so that blades will be concave relative to bedding surface. Ours are flat, and lapped. All of them.

PM-V11 choice....it hardens with better dimensional stability than O1, and retains an edge much longer. For complex profiles, we think it is the best choice. It would not be economic to produce them in multiple materials.

I saw the first batch of planes running through assembly a week ago, before I left for vacation. I believe we are just waiting on boxes before we begin to ship orders.

FWIW, people's preferences are what they are - that's what keeps manufacturing going.

Cheers,

Rob

I understand your position as to the price for the tools and the scale you are running it. The time invested on research and manufacturing quality is cost unseen to the consumer. Keep up the good work on innovating hand tools for wood workers. LV is a company I will support in the future.

[J. Greg Jones]

We've already covered this earlier in this thread, but you're creating a false dichotomy here between "new" and "crapshoot".

I don't see a false dichotomy in what John said at all. I interpreted his point to be that one cannot expect to buy a vintage combination plane ("ready to go with minimal prep") for 1/4 the cost of a new combination plane. When I read your response to John, to me it suggests that the two of you are in agreement.

[Patrick Chase]

I don't see a false dichotomy in what John said at all. I interpreted his point to be that one cannot expect to buy a vintage combination plane ("ready to go with minimal prep") for 1/4 the cost of a new combination plane. When I read your response to John, to me it suggests that the two of you are in agreement.

He said "buying ANYTHING used is a bit of a crapshoot" (emphasis added) and went on from there, so no, we are not in agreement. There's a broad continuum between "crapshoot" and "new" that his comment completely dismisses.

[Pete Taran]

+1 to what Patrick said. Further, if you use a dealer like he does, you might only get it for 1/3 the cost. Leach does excellent work, and he stands behind his tools. My only point was to not forget the old stuff if you can find it and want to save money. Seems like many here think because it's old it's no good. You can believe that if you like, just more old tools for the rest of us.