Low angle planes

Found in a flea market

I love hand planes.

The look beautiful, they raise no dust; and I find using them a meditative joy. Of course, they’re not so popular with my friends in the woodturning community, but those of us who also do flatwork know that you cannot get a better finished surface than that produced by a sharp and well-tuned hand plane.

I’ve bought several premium planes over the years, most of them from Lie-Nielsen Toolworks. And occasionally I’ve been lucky enough to find an old warhorse at a flea market, ready to reward tender, loving care with beautiful shavings. I actually use my planes, so when I restore them I clean them up, replacing damaged parts as necessary.

But ever since I first learned to use bench (bevel down) planes decades ago, I’d thought the chip breaker (which forces the blade down against the frog near the mouth of the plane) was essential to good performance. It broke the chip, I reasoned, to keep the wood from splitting below the planed surface and tearing out. But Neal White, who teaches a Hand Plane class at The Sawdust Shop, told me that wasn’t the case. And he backed up his contention by letting me use his new Veritas low-angle jack plane. This plane mounts its blade bevel-up, like a block plane, and has no chip breaker.

After a couple strokes with that plane I knew I wanted one, and I recently received it.

This plane came sharp and perfect, right out of the box. A couple strokes on the strop and the blade was sharper than a harpie’s curse. Almost without effort, it would take full-width shavings, half a thousandth of an inch thick.

This is my first Veritas plane, but I’m impressed with the fit and finish, as well as the functionality. Sides and base are flat and square. The back of the blade is flat as well. This flatness saves hours of labor tuning the plane.

There are nice design features, such as set screws in the ductile iron body on either side of the blade that center and stabilize it. There’s also an adjustable mouth, with a stop screw so you can quickly close down the mouth to a preset size. And then there’s the sheer mass of the plane, which provides the inertia to power through hard spots.

Veritas offers two blade options: A2 and O1 steel. A2 holds an edge longer, but is harder to get really sharp. I don’t mind sharpening, and want that blade to be really keen. So I opted for O1 steel.

The plane isn’t cheap at $219, but it’s becoming one of my favorites. I find myself reaching for it ahead of my others for trimming edges and flattening sides. Like Neal, I recommend this plane.