LN 60 1/2R ???

Re: LN 60 1/2R ???

Gary from Vancouver, BC

>Doug, I don't have my 60 1/2R in front of me to measure the mouth opening, however its fine. My memory says about 1/32", maybe someone else can give you an actual measurement. Works great for end-grain and running rabbets. I have never found the lack of mouth adjustment to be detrimental. What I have found is that only a slight tighting of the level cap is needed to secure the blade. Torquing it down has the affect of flexing the sole. So only a gentle touch is needed to tighten down the blade, allowing even some lateral repositioning by hand, its that slight. Fit and finish is LN standard, and has become one of my favorite planes.

Good memory

Frank D. in Montreal

>You're right on, the mouth is 1/32".

I like the plane a lot too. It's really nice for tenons (I prefer it to a shoulder plane becasue it's wider and fits in my hand better), and on soft woods I use it as a shoulder plane with great results. It works cross-grain but you don't really want to use it for finish work like raising panels. I've never felt the need for a tighter mouth.

Frank

You guys confuse me big time

Hoa Dinh

>I'm planning for the next handplane purchase. For bench plane, I'm waiting for the new LV LA so no bench plane until then. Also, I need to have an LN plane, just to own one. The remaining contestants are LV medium shoulder plane and LN 60 1/2R. I have been following a thread on another WW forum and pretty much decided on the shoulder plane. Later on, for LN plane, I'll get either a #2 (my son will love to get his hands on that baby) or a #10 1/4.

Now reading your posts that the LN 60 1/2R is your favorite, I don't know what to do any more.

So you have it, so many planes, so little money!

-- Hoa

Nickers

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

>Don't forget that you can order it with a pair of nickers for $25 more!

(you do not want to be caught without your nickers...)

Re: Nickers

Dan Clermont in Burnaby

>I think the nickers are for the #140.

I love my LN 60 1/2R and don't feel the need to own a shoulder plane with this little guy in my tool cabinet.

I don;t think it would be my first choice for raised panels though, nor would it be my second.

If I was raising panels I would probably use something like a Stanley 45 to cut a groove and then follow up with a smoothing plane to remove the raised panel waste.

Dan Clermont

Re: The alternatives (long)

Lyn J. Mangiameli

>Choice of hand planes will always come down to many things in addition to or overiding performance, such as personal preferences, priorities, style of work, and characteristics of the primary woods worked. It keeps forums rich in content, and plane makers happy.

I have the 60.5, got it as soon as it came out. Hardly ever use it, though the L-N LA adjustable mouth block plane from which it is adapted, is by far my favorite and most used block plane.

For shoulders, I will take a real shoulder plane anyday, with the LV Medium Shoulder plane being my favorite (though until it came along, I really prefered the Clifton 410 & 420). Most shoulder planes will have greater height that allows your hand to clear longer tenons (or deeper rebates), are longer (that when combined with the greater height, allows for more registration surface) and have more mass that is often welcome cutting endgrain. They also tend to be stiffer than the rather weak 60.5.

For cross grain work, I just haven't found anything to be superior to the LN-140. It's skewed blade is perfect for cross grain (mostly usually tenon cheek) work, particularly when obtained with a nicker, and it is larger than the 60.5 giving greater hand clearance and registration against the shoulder, and wider, to handle longer tenons. It also has greater mass that helps with denser woods.

So for me, for fitting tenons, the combination of a good shoulder plane and a good skewed blade cheek plane (i.e., LN-140) is the perfect combination. For rebates, I would prefer a Record 778 (or something similar), but if I had to do them with a block plane, I'd again prefer a 140.

Now this all applies to my style of work which is predominantly the making of furniture from the harder, denser, often wildly grained woods, and my willingness (and financial ability) to have tools more specific to a single task. Now if it was working at a smaller scale, I might have a greater appreciation for the 60.5 (though I doubt it, as I really like the small Clifton 410 and would love to see a small LV shoulder plane).

So though the 60.5 has many supporters, and I'm sure for good reasons, it just never find myself choosing it over the other alternatives I have. If you don't already have a good shoulder plane, I'd suggest starting with the medium LV shoulder plane. It will let you do a good job with shoulders (no surprise), will allow you do do some rebate work (at least as well, IMO, as the 60.5 for the most common sizes of rebates), is narrower than the 60.5 which means you can use it to clean up 3/4 inch grooves and dados, and many don't mind using it for cross grain work (though I'd give the nod to the 60.5 here if the choice was solely between these two and you are working with longer tenons). As for your first/next L-N purchase (and assuming you aleady have a good conventional LA block plane), I'd suggest (if you are right handed) you get a L-N 140 in the LEFT hand version with nicker.

Re: LN 60 1/2R ???

Derek

>25 mils (or 1/40" - just measured for you.

Re: LN 60 1/2R ???

Frank D. in Montreal

>Hi Derek,

It depends on the depth of cut too. With the blade at 12� any change in the depth of cut will affect the mouth opening threefold.

Frank

Re: The alternatives (long)

Frank D. in Montreal

>Hi Lyn,

This is not at all to argue, just to expand a little on why I like the 60.5 R for shoulders in some situations. The opening for chip ejection on the sides of the plane are about half the size as on my LV medium shoulder. This gives me twice as much registration where I like it-- on the tenon, near the blade during the cut. Also, shoulders aren't that wide so there isn't much resistance in the cut. It's not like a shooting board cut where you need to enter the cut with the plane in motion, so even though the 60.5 doesn't have as much registration before the cut (the nose), for softer woods at least I find it isn't needed because I power my way through, starting with the blade very close to the shoulder. I also find that I the grip offered by the plane makes it easy to keep my fingers away from the cut, not like a shoulder plane where fingers are wrapped around the plane on all sides. Got to run, we are having guests and if my wife sees me typing I'm dead.

Just my .02 Canadian,

Frank

Re: LN 60 1/2R ???

Derek

>You are correct but it is also a function of the bevel angle.

Re: Nickers

Todd Stock

>The 60-1/2R with nickers is currently a stock item. Likewise, the 140 (LH & RH) with nicker is stocked.

Re: The alternatives (long)

Lyn J. Mangiameli

>Hi Frank,

I agree, your not arguing at all, just offering a different set of experiences. As you illustrate, one can have a sound but differing rationale based on one's own conditions of use. While there are certain conventions with respect to the size of tenons and the shoulders and cheeks associated with them, most of us develop our own idiosyncratic conventions, or modify the more usual ones to meet a specific need.

My tenons, for instance, are often relatively long as I often use through tenons for the visual style I like in my furniture. Those longer tenons require the added height associated wtih a more traditional style of shoulder plane. If I were making shorter tenons, I might look at things differently. Similarly, my tenons are often a bit wider than is conventional, again for the visual style I wish to achieve, which not only makes the added length of a shoulder plane desirable, but makes a larger block plane desirable.

A person varying from the conventional in the opposite direction might well prefer a different set of tools. I think what's great is when folks can not only say what their preference is, but provide a thoughtful rationale for it. Something which you did, and I appreciate.

Re: Nickers *LINK*

Dan Clermont in Burnaby

>hi Todd,

LN doesn;t seem to list nickers as an option on the website.

Am I missing something???

Dan Clermont


LN 60 1/2R

Re: Nickers

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

>Yes. Lie-Nielsen sells things (well, has options, anyway) that are not in their catalog. The 60�R is available with nickers for an additional $25.00US. One can also return one's 60�R for nickerization for the same price (plus shipping).

Re: Nickers

Todd Stock

>I like that...'nickerization'!

For the record, L-N will go all out to make you a happy camper - provided that does not involve a 289 repro (sore subject).

Ask (Jennifer in shipping) and ye shall (likely) receive.

Like Mom told you - it never hurts to say "please."

289 Repro... in Bronze!

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

>

New Britain to Release 289 Repro in Jul 05

Todd Stock

>Not true...but maybe a good rumor will get either Rob or Tom off the dime and working on it.

This has been a topic of discussion since L-N was hawking unhandled chisels and kits for shoulder planes. Seems like with the price of 289's on the 'Bay, someone would jump in to build this (admittedly complex) tool.

Re:289

Lyn J. Mangiameli

>You have company on that one. I've lost track of how many years I've been on the "list," but I do hope to see it while I still have the strength to use it.

Re: Nickers

Ray Browne

>Do you find the nickers make much of a performance improvement? Is that gain mostly seen in cross-grain work or can it also be seen in forming rabbets with the grain?

On a side note someone mentioned a rare earth magnet fence, I've just been clamping a piece of oak down to serve as a fence, any designs on the rare earth idea? Forming a long rebate exclusively with the plane can take awhile sometimes and perhaps a better fence would speed things up.

-Ray

Re: LN 60 1/2R ???

Tony - Memphis

>I hesitate to post here much cause I'm no expert. But, I bought one on the pre-sale deal because I thought it would be useful for tenon cheeks. I cut mine on a ts jig, then finish them with the plane. It works really well for me. Setting it up just right is a bit challenging and you have to be careful keeping it square when you sharpen it. I used it last night to clean up some dovetails and it worked really well for that too. Not real sure about the mouth opening (never looked!).

Tony

Re: Nickers

Todd Stock

>Cross-grain only, as far as I've seen.

Re: Experts

Lyn J. Mangiameli

>Nn "expert" can improve much on a thoughtful, sincere posting describing the experiences one actually has with a tool.

They may be in a better position to conduct a design analysis, or have more experience with alternative tools to provide comparisons, but none of that is an adequate substitute for posts such as yours.

I used mine

Derek

>to fit 12 tenons this past week. It worked fine - though I suspect that the 140 would work better. I am happy with mine.

Thank you!

Tony - Memphis

>