In this situation...should I just get a Veritas jack plane?

[Sam Shankar]

After reading/listening to a lot of Chris Schwarz stuff, I got interested in buying a vintage pre-war Stanley jack plane. And that has proven to be a harder search and a bigger PITA than I expected, (See the thread immediately below) AND I kind of need a jack plane right now to flatten my new workbench. (I glued it up a little wrong, and it has a 1/32" hill down the middle.)

Long story short, I was *given* a nearly-new Veritas jointer plane a while ago...along with a brand new toothed and high-angle blade for it(!) A retiring woodworker took interest in me, what can I say. In this situation, I'm thinking of just buying a veritas low-angle jack plane and being done with it. Yeah, it'll cost me $250 as opposed to...say...$75, but because the Veritas blades are compatible, I'll have a nice setup. And I'll just be able to get flattening. Is there something I'm missing (besides the expense vs. 'cool factor' of having a hundred-year-old tool)?

[Charles Guest]

After reading/listening to a lot of Chris Schwarz stuff, I got interested in buying a vintage pre-war Stanley jack plane. And that has proven to be a harder search and a bigger PITA than I expected, (See the thread immediately below) AND I kind of need a jack plane right now to flatten my new workbench. (I glued it up a little wrong, and it has a 1/32" hill down the middle.)

Long story short, I was *given* a nearly-new Veritas jointer plane a while ago...along with a brand new toothed and high-angle blade for it(!) A retiring woodworker took interest in me, what can I say. In this situation, I'm thinking of just buying a veritas low-angle jack plane and being done with it. Yeah, it'll cost me $250 as opposed to...say...$75, but because the Veritas blades are compatible, I'll have a nice setup. And I'll just be able to get flattening. Is there something I'm missing (besides the expense vs. 'cool factor' of having a hundred-year-old tool)?

You don't need a pre-war jack plane. One from any era will do. A Stanley Handyman would do fine and you wouldn't be scared to use it. That said, I'd just the jointer plane you already have. Put some camber on the iron and get busy.

[Sam Shankar]

That said, I'd just the jointer plane you already have. Put some camber on the iron and get busy.

Can't (easily) put a cambered blade on the jointer plane...it's a bevel-up plane.

[Frank Pratt]

Can't put a cambered blade on the jointer plane...it's a bevel-up plane.

I don't understand why a cambered iron can't go on a BU plane.

[steven c newman]

Try it, and find out.....let us know how it turned out...

[Frank Pratt]

Try it, and find out.....let us know how it turned out...

If you can answer my question, that'd be great. If you don't know the answer, well your reply is not very helpful at all.

[J. Greg Jones]

A Veritas LAJ is nice to have (I have one) as is a vintage #5 (have 1-2 of those also). However, neither would be my first choice for flattening a workbench. I just flattened mine again this winter, and my jointer plane is the go-to for this task (as others have mentioned). Put the toothed blade in the jointer to rough out the 1/32” hump in the middle of your bench, and put in the standard blade and finish the job. It’s better suited than a #4 or #5 to flatten a bench, plus you already own the jointer.

And yes, one can camber a BU blade just fine, it just takes a little more work.

[steven c newman]

There IS a WR No. 62 in my shop.....mainly used as a JACK plane/small jointer....not much account as a smoother. I have #3s and #4s for that sort of work.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I don't understand why a cambered iron can't go on a BU plane.

Well, you can, kind-of. This is what I think of when I see a cambered iron

camberedblade1.jpg

This is a view of what is the "cutting" side of the blade. In a BU plane, it is the other side that is doing the cutting. I have never tried it and do not know anyone who has, so, I do not know how that affects the cutting. I don't know if you would still call it cambered, or just that you now have a curved edge.

[Charles Guest]

Can't put a cambered blade on the jointer plane...it's a bevel-up plane.

Sure you can, though you have to remove more metal than you would on a bevel down iron.

[David Dalzell]

Bevel up planes can be given camber. See Derek Cohen's article " The Secret to Cambering Bevel Up Plane Blades" on his website. http://www.inthewoodshop.com/index.html

[steven c newman]

It's your money...plenty of people on here will try to spend it all for you....

[Winston Chang]

I have a Veritas bevel-up jack and like it a lot for some purposes. I wouldn't want to use it for flattening a workbench. For heavy-duty work like that, you really want to have a cambered blade, and a cambered blade bevel-up plane is requires a lot more camber than for a bevel-down plane to get the same effect. With the thick blades that come with the Veritas planes, that can take a lot more effort.

Derek Cohen has written about this topic: https://www.inthewoodshop.com/Woodwo...aneBlades.html

A cambered blade can remove material much, much more quickly than a flat one. If you've never used one before, you will be shocked when you see how much faster it works. Chris Schwarz also talks quite a bit about the importance of a cambered blade.

If you want a jack plane to do normal jack plane tasks, it really should be a bevel-down plane for this reason.

As I said earlier, I like my Veritas bevel-up jack, but I mostly use it as a short jointer. I could live without it, though. On the other hand, I would not want to give up the two Stanley #5 jack planes that I have -- one has a heavily cambered blade, and one has a less-cambered blade, and they are great for doing things that a jack plane is supposed to do.

[Matthew Hills]

The toothed blades are pretty good for rough flattening, too -- I used the LV LAJ and toothed blade to flatten a workbench of reclaimed doug fir. This worked better than a cambered blade due to the tendency of the petrified doug fir to tear out badly.

I would prefer a cambered blade to take down a very high spot if the grain is not too bad. You can use almost any plane for this -- a #4 or #5 of almost any vintage, with heavily cambered blade should work pretty well.

Have you tried using your jointer with toothed blade for this ridge yet? Go diagonally across the grain and keep checking with a reference edge (straightedge or edge of plane) until things looking flat, and then you can switch to a non-toothed blade for removing the roughness of the toothed blade.

Matt

[Eric Danstrom]

...I'm thinking of just buying a veritas low-angle jack plane and being done with it...

The prices are going through the roof for vintage planes right now. A vintage low angle Stanley 62 is going to cost more than a Veritas/Lie Nielson low angle jack (and a Chinese Wood River cost the same as the Veritas/LN these days). I have a Lie Nielson low angle jack and a Veritas jointer in addition to some well-working post WWII Baileys. My boutique planes worked right out of the box, I expect you'll have the same experience. If you can sharpen then you're all set. Also for fettling vintage planes it helps to see the boutiques in action to experience well-working planes.