New Toys Arrived Today

[Brent Smith]

I received my set of Veritas Skewed Rabbet Planes today. I tried them out right away! They are, as expected, beautifully made. The blades were ready to go out of the box. I honed them a bit after making some test cuts, but it didn't add appreciatively to their performance. The fence rides on two bars and is locked down with what I can only describe as router collets. It took as much sideways pressure as I applied with no movement at all. It was also at a perfect ninety to the sole of the plane through out it's movement. The nicker is another neat trick. It is easily adjustable to any depth or lifted out of the way with a simple turn of a screw.

The only thing I would do different would be a slightly bigger rear handle, but considering that it's not a smoother that I'll be using for long periods of time I think I can forgive this. All in all a very good addition to my shop.

[Gary Herrmann]

Ahem. There is no proof this ever happened.

[Brent Smith]

Ahem. There is no proof this ever happened.

Guilty as charged LOL....................no camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mark Stutz]

Brent,
We'll take your word for it...for a while I'm anxious to see these in person. My only complaint with LV planes is that the totes just do not feel comfortable in my hand. I am really hoping these are different.

Mark

[James Mittlefehldt]

Brent,
We'll take your word for it...for a while I'm anxious to see these in person. My only complaint with LV planes is that the totes just do not feel comfortable in my hand. I am really hoping these are different.

Mark

I could be wrong, it happens, but I believe this is the first plane that ALF actually liked the tote on from Lee Valley.

[Rob Lee]

I could be wrong, it happens, but I believe this is the first plane that ALF actually liked the tote on from Lee Valley.

Nope....

It was either the side rabbet, or the the small scraping plane due January....

Cheers -

Rob

[Gary Herrmann]

Nope....

It was either the side rabbet, or the the small scraping plane due January....

Cheers -

Rob

Rob, are there plans in the works for a dado plane?

[Rob Lee]

Rob, are there plans in the works for a dado plane?

Hi Gary -

Yes there is... but still preliminary...

Cheers -

Rob

[James Mittlefehldt]

Hi Gary -

Yes there is... but still preliminary...

Cheers -

Rob

MY head is spinning with all these new developments. Wondering if as we venture further and further down this road to tooling esoterica, does the development costs of each tool go down somewhat as you may have walked the path beforeand are able to build on past products?

If that makes sense maybe you could use a real world example and discuss the new premium plane in that context coming out............. when exactly?

[Rob Lee]

MY head is spinning with all these new developments. Wondering if as we venture further and further down this road to tooling esoterica, does the development costs of each tool go down somewhat as you may have walked the path beforeand are able to build on past products?

If that makes sense maybe you could use a real world example and discuss the new premium plane in that context coming out............. when exactly?

Hi James -

Good question...

"First of family" products are really the most time and capital intensive. They may involve new materials, new processes, or lots of research. We actually started design on the skews years ago - but proved out a lot of the fence design on the much more recent plow plane. (skews are project number 638, plow plane is project number 747 - 100 product/projects in between!).

Using the premium line as an example - we have to virtually design the entire range before we commit the first one to tooling. We need to have the feature set nailed, know the tolerances we want (and can hold), and develop the design vocubulary for the line. All of this has to be transferrable, and scaleable.

The premium line will have new materials, and new processes for us ... some processes we've worked out on other tools...

I can't (won't) definitively give a date for the premium line. I will tell you parts of it are in production now - and we're still working through a tricky finishing process "challenge". Be glad to discuss what it was after release though.... . Right now, it is still probable that it will be released before Christmas.

Other projects wait years for just the right timing. Today - we pulled the trigger on our dovetail saw... the concept for that has been hanging around for a year or two - and it's taken a full year of working with the materials and processes to get that one right... it clicked last week. It may not have twin handles... but it will sure generate a ton of reaction!

Timing and introduction of new product has to be balanced as well. We can't sink infinite amounts into tooling, without generating cash flow to keep going. We watch the market, and juggle priorities to maintain a good (most of the time) balance. Not to mention giving you guys a chance to refill your pockets...

Cheers -

Rob
(off to Koln to QC some Kolsch....)

[Richard Niemiec]

<snip> We watch the market, and juggle priorities to maintain a good (most of the time) balance. Not to mention giving you guys a chance to refill your pockets...

Cheers -

Rob
(off to Koln to QC some Kolsch....)

Rob, glad to see you are innovating, keep up the good work.

As to pocket refills, I just pulled the trigger on the pair of skews and the plow (along with assorted other do-dads) and will have to pay a "matching" estrogen based purchase spend (to keep my bride happy), so the premium line introduction late 4th quarter is about right for the refill........

RN
(Very satisfied customer)

[Mark Stutz]

Thanks, Rob! Seems to me that Berea would be a GREAT place to preview some of those!

Mark

[Will Blick]

OK, I must be out of the loop....

what is "premium line"

Sheeesh, I think all LV tools are Premium!

Or maybe I should not ask?

No, please tell me....

[Alan DuBoff]

Odd that the Google Ads are displaying Ebay Auctions for vintage Stanley hand planes in this thread...

Odd since it's a violation to post links to Ebay auctions on SMC, I had thought...

[Rob Lee]

OK, I must be out of the loop....

what is "premium line"

Sheeesh, I think all LV tools are Premium!

Or maybe I should not ask?

No, please tell me....

Hi Will -

When we design products, we generally have a pretty good idea of the price/performance point we want to hit - and it's a constraint for our designers (including how much time can be spent refining the aesthetics).

I've said before that our bevel-down bench planes are the "East German swimmers in the woodworking pool" (that reference is just a tad dated now...) - strong, functional, but perhaps just a tad utilitarian in the looks department....

So, for the premium line, there were no cost or material constraints at all - just pure function and design...

Once we'd worked out the concepts, we had to drag the costs (somehow) back down to a reasonable (or at least justifiable) level...

As well - we've chimped down on some tolerances, should be about half that on our current planes.... (which are already more than sufficient)...

You should be able to see the results soon...

Cheers -

Rob