Combination Plane and Lee Valley Tuition

[David Bassett]

There's a lot of angst & frustration in this thread. I hope all the good information is preserved and helpful without leaving hurt feelings and tarnished reputations. Certainly, it's a little difficult for me to isolate the bits I know I'm sure to need as I try to learn to use a combo plane from the other parts.

One recurring theme that doesn't agree with my reading of the situation is the scenario with an unprepared, even incompetent, Veritas tutor. I read the original description as Bill, the helpful friendly guy down at the local shop, was going out of his way to help. That doesn't read as expert combo plane user and instructor to me. It seems like someone who deserves credit for the try, but probably was in over their head in this specific case. Given the wonderful products & service I've received from LV, I'm offended they might have their reputation tarnished by a hypothetical situation. (I see Rob's checked in and I expect they'll again go above & beyond.)

... If I were LV I wouldn't have said anything about any "nine-year-old girl" in the newsletter, though. It's worded in a way that seems to play off of a problematic gender stereotype around tool aptitude (how about "nine-year-old child" instead, Rob?), and I also think that it creates an unrealistic expectation for ease of use.

(Ignoring possible issues with stereotypes...) I think this is one of those activities a complete novice may find easier to pick up. Usually we come at a new task / skill with a lot of baggage, both mental and as part of our muscle memory, and the first part of our learning process is unlearning bad habits. Well, not necessarily bad, just unhelpful to the new situation. A true and complete beginner who can relax and just do what the tools needs is always going to pickup the technique more quickly than I will. I think, if we're honest, most of us suffer that, each in our own way.

[Don Dorn]

It's a fairly simple matter of technique. Ask Jim, or Steven, or anybody else here who has a combo plane and they'll happily explain what you'll need to practice to be able to handle the balance issue. It's been described in several other threads for that matter.

Everything worth learning looks hard when you're starting from zero.

I agree completely. A friend tried to teach me to run a Record 778 rabbet plane of which he was a master and I was horrible. After a good bit of practice, I developed the balance and technique you speak of and now run it as well as he does. Same occurred with a Record 50 with a beading blade. If it were easy, everyone could do it - it's worth working for as it brings a great deal of pleasure and sense of accomplishment.