Ae you soured on bevel up?

[Brian Holcombe]

This is not aimed at anyone, but I'd like to put it out there as a point of conversation; It's the decision of the buyer to make the purchase, blaming a company for marketing their product is a bit much. Do you not market your ability to produce work? Is some of your newer work better than some of your older work?

[Tony Zaffuto]

I have and use a number of planes, but it seems it always comes down to a few that do the job "better". Two are tied for top of my list: #4 LN smoother, with HAF and my #7-1/2 LN bevel up jointer. The #4 goes without saying, but the #7-1/2 just seems to have the right balance for me and feels just right. I have more than a few in the second slot, with these including my Clifton #3, my LN 102 block, my LV 4-1/2 size BU smoother, my Bedrock jack and so forth.

Point I would like to make is I am passed the point of thinking about planes when I reach for one. It has become second nature what I reach for, for jointing an edge, or for smoothing.

[Jim R Edwards]

I sold most of my bevel down planes and haven't looked back! I put a lot of emphasis on how a plane (or any other tool) feels in my hand and I gravitate toward LV bevel up planes. The only bevel down planes that see any use in my shop are a LN 4 1/2 and a flat side bedrock 5 1/2. The LN is a cult classic that is a pure joy to use and will never part with it. The bedrock was resurfaced by Tablesaw Tom, has a Hock O1 blade and chip breaker, and performs amazingly.

[george wilson]

David,I thought they shot down that Yamamoto feller in WWII.

[David Weaver]

Well, wherever he landed, he learned to make planes!

[Kees Heiden]

Are you guys aware that in the 19th. C.,they made planes for IRON (blacksmith's plane). They really were vertical blade scrapers.

Hi George,

In a German museum these Roman planes with some reproductions are on display. I immediately thought about these to be metal workers planes, with the very steep angle and the iron sole.

Kees

[george wilson]

Holtzappfel(sp?) made a blacksmith's plane,for example. The iron was vertical,about 1" wide. Metal body,stuffed with wood.

[Kevin Hampshire]

Just got a PM-V11 50 degree blade for my Veritas BUS. So far I've only found one piece of Curly Maple that didn't succumb to that combo. I prefer my LN 4 1/2 with a 55 degree frog for most Curly Maple but partially because I'm just used to a BD plane and not as proficient at sharpening the BU.


I don't have a regular LAJ but my Veritas Jack Rabbet plane with PM-V11 cuts glides through end grain with ease. None of my BD planes will even come close.

[Winton Applegate]

looking for an excuse to get an LN No. 4. That's my Holy Grail right now.

I hearby officially say : You now have an official, bonafide, one hundred percent genuine, licensed, peer reviewed, decorated, excuses to go buy your LN No. 4
There how is that ?
I gots one.
It will cut the wood you list (might get a bit tricky in the highly figured stuff until you get the "sweet spot" scoped out).





And just think you will have the added "advantage" of having a chip breaker to fart around with and master.
Can't beat that !
. . . . er. . .. ?
Come on . . .don't throw rocks, I'm just keeping the ball rolling. I bought one an kept it right ? A very nice plane in deed.

PS: for those not familiar with an Official Ovaltine Decoder Ring
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdA__2tKoIU

[Chris Friesen]

I don't understand why people want to mess with changing blades to different pitches so they can use one plane to do a couple things. Do any of you seriously only use one plane at a time on your bench? Mine gets a few on it every time I use them, because it's more efficient to just have several set up differently than it is to readjust constantly.

I'm in the Canadian prairies...used tools are few and far between and they're usually crap, and shipping from south of the border is killer. I made do for some years with just a Veritas bevel-up jack and two blades (low angle and high angle). Sure, having more tools is more efficient, but having something is better than having nothing.

[Chris Griggs]

Well, as much as I tend to prefer BD planes, I just got cyber Monday'ed and bought a small BUS, so I guess I'm not totally soured on bevel ups. That's the last one though. I'll just have that and my LA jack. All other bench planes will remain bevel down, just as nature intended.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I'm in the Canadian prairies...used tools are few and far between and they're usually crap, and shipping from south of the border is killer. I made do for some years with just a Veritas bevel-up jack and two blades (low angle and high angle). Sure, having more tools is more efficient, but having something is better than having nothing.

Chris, greetings from a fellow prairie dweller. When I first started, I thought planes were scarce around here because I never saw them, Ebay was not around yet and I needed a good source. I met an old wrench collector at a farm auction, and he got me looking in different ways. This area was settled 1860-1920, which happens to coincide nicely with the golden era of Stanley. Turns out, apparently every independant old farmer had a few planes. Some are junk, some are jewels. Farm auctions, estate sales and stuff started it for me, now people sometimes just give them to me because I'll give their old families tools a good home.

Rudy, my old tool collector friend, told me of a Phillips plow plane he bought at an auction many years ago. About 15 years later, at the neighbors auction, he was able to buy the complete and unique set of cutters for the Phillips. They are the ones with the nickers integral to the blade, and a alignment peg, and are darn near impossible to find. Pretty cool to know the history of these. Ironically, at Rudy's auction, I bought the Phillips and cutters (and about 100 others ), but someone had dropped it and broken the horn off the tote. While digging through the treasure trove that was his collection, I found a tool box with some saws and stuff I wanted. When I got it home and investigated further, in the box was the broken horn. Now the plane is together again, and it makes me smile to see it across the room, it's how Rudy would have wanted it. FYI, that day I also got a #1, most of a Millers Pat, a 10 1/4, and seriously over 100 others, all of which Rudy scrounged up over the years on this flat, boring, farming and ranching country. Oh, to keep on topic, I screwed up a bid and let a 62 and complete 72 1/2 get away, which is why I had to buy a LN to try BU. Still kicking myself on the 72 1/2, but I know where it lives now...

Long story short, don't give up on the barren prairies, they are actually fruited plains!

[steven c newman]

While trimming up a cutting board's end grain to get rid of saw marks, I just used a FrankenBailey #5 smooth sole, with a Buck Brothers iron ( $3 @ Home depot for the iron) Got some nice curlies once the end was trimmed. Just a collection of plane parts, put together and tuned up for what I do. Cutting board is just some Black Walnut and Black Cherry scraps.


The only bevel up planes in the shop are six block planes, don't need another BU plane....

[Zach Dillinger]

Not soured, but I wasn't all that sweet on them to begin with.

[Chris Griggs]

Not soured, but I wasn't all that sweet on them to begin with.

Your beloved LN No. 9 begs to differ


(I know, I know we're talking about BU bench planes, but I do recall you mentioning that you like to pull your No. 9 in for things other than shooting)