My copy arrived today... Tomorrow morning I get to spend a whole lot of time on airplanes and in airports, so I figure I'll start working on my Christmas list for Santa.
On Tue, 09 Sep 2003 03:56:37 GMT, Dave Balderstone pixelated:
Do NOT leave it on your seat when you use the airplane restroom, Dave. It won't be there when you get back, and if you do succeed in finding it, you'll have to wrestle it away from a large number of drooling men and it's sure to be soiled. Keep it with you and hide it from crowds!
I was lucky enough to get one of the scraper planes for testing. Unfortunately, due to a recent virus infestation, I have lost the review I sent to them.
So let me sum up: I can honestly say that I can see this plane taking the place of both my #80 and my #112. It has two irons available, and the thin one can be flexed much like you would do with a #80. The thicker iron seems to be comparable to the #112 in use. In use the thick iron performs as well as the #112, IMHO. The thinner iron behaves similarly to the #80, but with better blade support, and the "true" plane form is preferable to the "gull-wing", IMHO.
It is wider and has a longer toe than the L-N, which is a good thing, as most of the problems I have when using a scraper plane occur at the beginning of the cut when the iron first engages. The longer toe allows for more stability at this point.
It is definitely worth the money if you are in the market for a scraper plane. If you get a chance, I'd recommend you try it before investing in a #80 (even the excellent LV remake of the #80) and a #112 or similar. I believe it will serve both functions for a price much lower than a single #112.
I haven't had a chance to play with the shoulder plane yet, but it looks excellent. Again, they seem to be making substantive improvements to original designs. While their planes may not be as aesthetically pleasing as L-N models, every one I have tried has been close to the L-N counterpart in function (and in some cases I preferred the LV tool outright).
Chuck Vance Just say (tmPL) No affiliation, I just love what Lee Valley is doing and will keep sending them money if they keep making good tools.
I also dropped the $139US on the shoulder plane, having a similar problem with the Clifton price. The L-N counterpart is just scaled too big (and $224US) for the tenoning I do.
There's no way to compare this to that Stanley POS #90. I had to regrind/remill all the critical surfaces (bottom, bed) on that thing just to get it halfway usable, and the iron is far too soft. They're just shipping plated pig iron in something that resembles a plane shape now.
The only slight nitpick I could make with the L-V that the body was .695" +/- .001 wide and the iron came .714" +/- .001, so you'll have to grind it a bit if you want to dead-center the blade and use both sides of the plane. But that's done only once (I guess I got one at the extreme edge of the tolerance band) and the iron holds a great edge.
Same here with hard maple. Now one of my top five favorite tools.
Hmmmm ... $179 Canuckian is what ... $10 USAian? ;-)
I was wondering about some of the design elements. The lateral setscrews have rapidly become a favorite aspect of their planes I own, so I was happy to see them. I was interested in the center grip hole. It looks good, but does it really function as well as it looks like it should? (My problem with the #9- series was always feeling like I had nowhere to properly grip the plane. And when I played around with a friend's L-N, I was having a heck of a time trying to figure out the best way to grip/control that big boy.)
Also, the pivoting cap screw seems like a handy addition to the plane. Has it worked well for you?
If it works that well, I'll have to put it on my want-list. One thing I've used my #90 and #92 for is touching up hand-raised panels (cleaning up little bits of tearout that you get because you always wind up going against the grain at some point), and it sounds like this plane will be just the ticket for that.
Thanks for the info, and d*mn you, Rob Lee for making another plane I have to have. ;-)
I think you were being overly generous and misplaced the decimal. $1.0USAian
My biggest problem with my #90 is the ridiculously short toe.
I like the center grip hole. It just feels "right" to hold it that way. Obviously, if the tenon is very long you can't hold it that way..
So far, I haven't use it. I tried laying the plane on its side and shooting the shoulders but I didn't feel comfortable. I preferred wokring on the pieces in a vise.
Ah but this is only the first. :-) To quote from the LV web site, "This is the first model of an upcoming line of shoulder planes".
D*** you Lee Valley. I never got my catalog. After reading multiple posts about the new catalog, I called today. Mine was mailed August 28th but it never got here. I had to beg for a new one........
Yeah, it's almost impossible to get the thing started properly with thatlittle stub of a toe. That's why I also got the #92. I use it when its narrower width isn't a problem.
Good to hear that it works well. LV's design changes seem to be consistently good. Even though there have been a few that I didn't care for aesthetically when I first saw the planes (the chunky totes and recessed finger hole on the low-angle planes, for example), I can't think of any that didn't work well in practice.
I prefer shooting shoulders with the piece clamped to my benchtop, so it may come in handy for me.
Oh yes, I had forgotten about that. D*mn him again. Now I have to wait and see what other sizes he's coming out with. :-)
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