I need your opinion again...

Re: I need your opinion again...

Dave Anderson Chester, NH

>You should be able to get a old Stanley #40 scrub for about $40-60 depending on condition. Scrubs are pretty simple and are not precision instruments. You could get by taking an old beater smoother or jack and opening the mouth and putting a radius on the blade. Unfortunately this approach gives you a plane heavier than a scrub which will take more effort to use over the long haul.

Re: I need your opinion again...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>I can't see spending that amount on LN's scrub. I have a Stanley I ebayed works great. Alot of folks here swear by wooden ones. I think they like the ECE wooden scrub.

Re: I need your opinion again...

Steve Wargo

>Of course you could always just buy a flea market plane and camber the iron and oprn the mouth. I paid about $3 for my stanley handy man #3 and it works fine.

Re: I need your opinion again...

deanj

>Well, I'll come forward as someone who thinks the LN scrub is "worth" it. Looked at a few beat up #40's and decided my time was worth some money.

The LN scrub is very nice, well balanced and seeing as it takes the place of a planer in my shop, it was *cheap*

Good Luck!

-Dean

Re: I need your opinion again...

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>I own a gloatworthy Stanley and like it, but this is possibly the simplest of planes and certainly among those for which fine tuning is the least required - I can't imagine spending LN money on one.

It's not like you're measuring whether the mouth is one or five thousandths. One cheap solution, if you're cash-poor, would be to buy a replacement iron for an LN or ECE and roll your own. A Krenov-type plane design, with sides glued to a front and back, would be an afternoon's work. And you could put your initials on it, thus ensuring that your grandchildren would fight over it.

Re: I need your opinion again...

Rob Lee

>Hi Tony -

There'll be another choice later this year - will certainly be below $100 - most likely $89-$95...

Cheers -

Rob

Re: I need your opinion again...

Robert Weber

>Rob's teasing us again!

ECE scrubs

Mike Lietzow

>I grew impatient of looking for a #40 and bought an ECE scrub plane. It works very well; even in the hands of the inexperienced (i.e. me). If you're comfortable regrinding an iron with a radiused bevel, then converting a $5 jack plane is probably the cheapest way to go. Otherwise, I'd suggest a new plane that just needs a little final honing and it's ready for action. HTH.

Cheers,

Mike

Re: I need your opinion again...

Hank Knight in SC

>Tony, I bought a nice Stanley 40 on e-Bay for about $50. I also inherited an ECE scrub from my father, so I have both. I think you would be satisfied with either one. I use them interchangeably, depending on my mood, and they both work well. Tools for Woodworking, a Wood Central sponsor, has the ECE listed for about $80. I wouldn't waste time converting a beater #5 to a scrub; you wind up with an even worse beater #5. Good scrubs aren't that expensive. Buy one and spend your time rehabing and fettling a nice smoother.

Wow! And thanks!

Tony Augruso

>Some excellent suggestions here. Thanks All.

Of course my decision has now been delayed because Rob Lee is leaking insider information from Lee Valley.

Tony

Re: ECE scrubs

Roy from Cincy

>I was in the same shape as you, Mike. I ran out of patience looking for a good #40 and bought the ECE. I don't regret it. It works great. The front horn design works surprisingly well. I wish I had the #40, though. It would look more like part of a matched set with my other Stanleys. I could get both. Do you think the Boss would mind?

Re: Wow! And thanks!

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>I picked my stanely 40 up for 35US off of e-bay and spent a few bucks making a blade for it. Can't wait to see what Rob Lee has coming though.

Make Your Own.

Tom Wolf

>I'm sure that any of the options will provide you with a fantatstic sollution. However, my vote is to take the opportunity to find some info on making wooden planes (ie. David Finck's book) and make a scrub plane out of some scrap wood and a LN block plane blade. It's the root I took to aquire a scrub plane and begin gaining experience making planes by starting with on that doesn't need precision or expertise in making. Good luck.

Tom

I can just never resist *LINK*

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>A tool similar in design to a scrub plane, though different in function, is a butt hinge mortise plane. I built one from wood some time back and have committed an article on this very website, a link to which you can find below.

It was stunningly simple to do.


Butt hinge mortise plane article

Woodie vs. Stanley

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>I really like my No. 40, but I always worry, faintly, when wailing away on a piece of stock about bending the tote bolt. It's an OK design for a bench plane, but seems kind of weak for a scrub plane. A woodie, where your hand is behind the whole plane and pushing, seems like superior engineering. I try to compensate by vigorous pushing on the knob, too, more than with the bench planes.

Re: I need your opinion again...

Christopher Fitch @ Memphis

>So what's the date for this little surprise?

Re: I need your opinion again...

Frank Joseph Mantua NJ

>Make your own.. I made two one for me and one for a son they work well and its a realy great feeling to make something with tools you made....

Re: I need your opinion again...

Rob Lee

>Hi -

Not sure of a date yet, but I'm pressing for before Xmas...

What one has to understand is that there's a huge pile of new stuff in the fall catalog already - and our shop's really getting pressed :)

So far, there's a new router table system (surprise!), straightedges, concave shave, lg shoulder, and a killer roller stand....and another half dozen or so misc Veritas items...

Internally - we're calling the scrub a "limbo plane" - as we want to see "how low we can go" with the price. Like the apron plane, we may offer it with a choice of two blades, as the A2 blade alone is now more than 30% of the price of the plane. Conceivably, with a second suitable steel choice for the iron, we could get the retail price in the ballpark of a spokeshave (one of ours, that is :) ).

BTW - in case anyone noticed, 500 prices dropped yesterday, in advance of the mailing..... :)

Cheers -

Rob

Re: I need your opinion again...

Wendell @ Murphy, TX

>Any date on the new LV sharpening jig that you've hinted about in the past?

Wendell

Took the words right out of my mouth Wendell

Brad in Ottawa

>

Re: I need your opinion again...

Rob Lee

>Hi Wendell -

It will definitely be after Christmas. Tooling has been complex/expensive for this one, so we've gone slower than normal. Design is finished, and it's queued up - but we can't commit to a date (at least until we have a few critical components - still a minimum of 8 weeks away...)

Cheers -

Rob