LV jointer plane fence is too tall for me

While the fence is well constructed, I was wondering to my self before it arrived if it wasn't going to turn out to be too tall at 2-1/4" for me to edge joint some of my project boards.

Turns out my intuition was correct and so I finally devoted some shop time to making at new fence out of red oak (I would have used maple but I just couldn't bring myself to cut into some nice hunks of maple I've got laying around. I made it slightly longer than the LV fence, 1-5/8" tall and thick enough to resist bending.

To make the rabbet, I used a dado blade on the TS, but when I attached it to the plane the fence face wasn't QUITE perpendicular, so I recut the rabbet on the router table. That did the trick. I used a Forstner bit to recess the area around the LV brass screws so that enough threads would engage the threaded holes in the side of the plane. (That allowed me to keep the rest of the top section of the fence thick enough to resist bending under pressure from using the plane).

I Crazy glued washers over the holes to prevent repeated attachment cycles from deforming the wood surrounding the screw holes.

Right now it's drying from it's first coat of shellac. If anyone wants a pic I'll post late today, but it's so simple I doubt anyone here cares what it looks like.

NOW I can joint the edges of narrower boards without rapping the LV fence against the vise.

I noticed the same complaint about the fence from some guy reviewing the plane

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"To Lee Valley I would recommend that they produce the fence in a narrower depth, either as a replacement or as an alternative. The 2? depth is still a limiting factor ? once you clamp a floorboard in a vise, there is not much leeway to maneuver. I suspect that a 1 ½? (perhaps even a 1?) deep fence would still provide enough stability through a cut. To illustrate this point, when squaring up shallow board, I sometimes use a Record #778. "

If you read that article you'll find other comments that I found sympathy with, such as the lack of repeatability of perpendicularity of the fence to the sole of the plane. LV has sent me new screws (only 1 is needed) that seem to have fixed the issue.

I put in my two cents worth to LV that I'd prefer the adj. screw be repositioned lower on the fence so that it would contact the machined surface, rather than the rough casting (it's painted black). Since the fence can be shifted forward/aft when attaching it, that means the adj. screw could likely contact differing heights of the rough cast surface, since the NEW screws have a sharp tip now. That difference in distance translates to the fence changing it's relationship to the sole, when the screws are tightened, ergo loss of perpendicularity. I DID try the new screw 4-5 times and honestly I didn't have that problem, but I'm guessing that another plane with gross roughness in the casting under the screw tip area would exhibit a lack of consistency from one installation to the next, requiring the user to grab a machinist's square and small screwdriver to "get it right".

I used green Loctite to keep the screw from moving around. As long as it always contacts the same spot on the casting, it doesn't need adjustment.

I'd like to see LV come out with either an optional narrower fence, or just redesign and sell one narrower one. And move the screw down about

1/8" so that the tip contacts the machine surface instead of the rough casting.

Dave