veritas or wood river planes

Can say about the Wood River, but I got a Veritas log angle block when they were about $75 and love that little thing. I use it more than all my other planes together.

Never tried a Wood River so I cannot comment. Love the Veritas plane though.

Whenever one of the woodworking mags does a comparison review of planes and such things, it seems that Lie-Nielsen and Veritas are always the top two. Sometimes Veritas is on top, as with their shoulder planes, sometimes it's Lie-Nielsen. The September/October 2012 Fine Woodworking did a comparison review of low-angle block planes, and their top choices were the Lie-Neilsen

Even after all that, my own everyday low-angle block plane is an old and somewhat beat-up Stanley 60 1/2 that I've spiffed up with a Hock blade. Does a nice job even if it's not as fancy as the others. I do have a lot of Veritas stuff (although none of their planes) and it's always top quality; excellent design work and engineering. I have a few Wood River items around the shop as well, and they seem to be well-made but they're obviously built to a price point below the leaders. The L-N and Veritas ones would probably be ready to cut wood right out of the box, depending on your personal sharpening standards; the WR one might need a little fettling before it was ready to go. And much depends, I think, on how frequently you'd be using them. I don't mind buying a lower-tier product if it's for a special purpose or will be infrequently used.

Tom

The L-N and Veritas are within about $20 of each other (w/ L-N actully the cheaper) excepting for the Veritas nickel-alloy body supreme version.

Comparing _any_ Wood River tool with either is like comparing H-F house brands to Milwaukee or the like.

I have a low angle block from LN. I have a low angle jack from LV. I like both, but I really like the LV planes. They are nicely designed with the screws to keep the blade centered, and the throat opening.

I also like the multiple blades you can get for the LV LA Jack. I don't like the shape of the LV blocks...

I avoid the Wood River line. I bought some WR clamps, and they are just not worth the price. They are ok if they were half the price, but they twist. They were not cheap, and not up to the jorgs or bessey's (which they knock off)