Rob Lee you guys are killing me...

Re: LV back orders

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Christopher, I made the mistake of waiting until the bullnose got in stock before ordering, back in November, mainly because I'm constitutionally indisposed to back orders. However, someone here said the thing to do was to back order to get in line for when the next batch is done; so I did, payoff is close. LV won't charge until the item ships anyhow; so order that puppy now.

Pam

Re: Rob Lee you guys are killing me...

Rob Lee

>Hi Chris -

We're "in and out" regularly now...we're clearing back-orders, and tranferring stock to our stores...slowly...

The feb 14th date isn't correct - it's a "complete by" date on a large order...we may be in again tomorrow...

You just gotta have faith...those that ordered one today got theirs!

Cheers -

Rob

Re: Rob Lee you guys are killing me...

Lyn J. Mangiameli

>All I have to say is how it is great to learn that so many folks are getting this outstanding plane into their hands. This plane is just a knock out in its combination of versatility, performance and value. It is now my single most used plane. I'd probably have less than half the planes I know have had this plane been available when I first started woodwork----well, at least they'd be different planes :-)

Re: Rob Lee you guys are killing me...

Frank Mutchler in Colorado Springs

>Rec'd. mine yesterday. It is a Christmas present from LOML. Sadly, it will be a couple of weeks before I can use it. Can't wait!

Can You Compare for me the differences

Jim Shaver - Oakville, Ontario

>Hi Lyn,

I have the LN LA Jack, I like it very much. Can You please tell me how would you compare the performace of the LV with the LN in your work?

I have been eyeing the LV LA smoother as a match to my LN LA Jack,

Appreciate the comments,

Take care,

Jim

Hey Frank!

Alan Bierbaum

>A while back; you were talking about building a new shop. Did you ever get started? Let me know when you will be in Denver. Maybe we can get together.

Alan

Re: Can You Compare for me the differences

Lyn J. Mangiameli

>Ah, this is what I get for my post.

I've been trying to avoid writing a comparative review between these two because I feel I cannot do so without the appearance of bias since I've had a lot input into the LV plane (not that they necessarily followed all of it). I was considering writing one with someone else as co-author, but that fell through.

They are really two very different planes, and thought of best as being of a similar family rather than direct competitors. The LV version is longer, wider, heavier, with a much greater length of sole before the mouth. This makes it worthly, and properly described by the title of 62.5. It has a mushroom shaped front handle that I'm very fond of, and introduces a screw adjustable mouth that I've long called for. It has the side blade stabilization screws and Norris style adjuster common to all the LV planes. The great mass and low angle bedding of the blade makes it function well with very high effective cutting angles, a little more authoritatively than others of this style. There is more forward weight, which initially I didn't like, but have come to appreciate. Of all the many, many planes I've used, this plane most closely rivals the stratospheric smoothing performance of the SMT adjustable mouth custom infill.

This is not to slight the L-N #62 which is a great plane and the one which brought back bevel up Bench-sized planes into modern consideration. With you already having one, I'd say you are on the mark to try the upcoming LV LA 164.5 first, then maybe their upcoming LV LA adjustable mouth Jointer. Still, if you like larger planes, and might like a large size super smoother for table tops and the like, you might find it not inconceivable to appreciate having both your LN and the LV LA jacks. You could keep the LN set up with a low effective cutting angle and the LV with their high effective cutting angle blade.

The other thing that is so neat with the upcoming family of LV #164.5; LV 62.5 and LV LA Jack is that they will all take the same blade width. You could then just have the three blades that come with each, set them up for say 30, 40 and 50 degree bevel angles, and switch them between planes to give you the equivalent of 9 planes of different size and pitch--all for the price of three.

Some day I may have to face it and just write a formal comparative review. If I do so, I'll probably wait until the LV 164.5 comes out, and start by making it very clear that I had a lot more opportunity to give input on the one set of planes than the other (where I had none). Of course, if I do this before finishing writing up the second plane study, I may really find a lynch party in my front yard. :-)

Re: Hey Frank!

Frank Mutchler in Colorado Springs

>Got started and then stopped. My contractor was in over his head and got as far as moving some dirt around before he quit. Actually, I had to terminate him for numerous reasons. I'm rescheduling for this summer and hope all goes as planned this time ;>)

I don't often go to Denver but would be happy to meet up again as we did last year. There are some other WC'ers in Col. Spgs. that may want to get together. I'll check around & see.

Re: Can You Compare for me the differences

Greg Sloop, Portland Oregon

>I'll write this before I read Lyn's response...

I've had a LN 62 and sold it a few weeks ago - specifically to replace it with the LV 62.5. I used both, side by side for several weeks, and pretty carefully compared both.

I've had a friends LV 62.5 for some time, and just got my own "replacement" 62.5 from LV today - HOORAY! (The back-order log-jam seems to have cleared.)

Here's a post I wrote earlier, comparing the two.

http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/handtools.pl?noframes;read=50648

In short - ok, epistle length - the comparisons are these.

The greater heft (weight) and width are very nice on the LV. I always felt like the LN was probably a bit too light. If I'd have kept mine, I'd probably have fasioned a lead weight to give it some more heft. I suspect balance would have been an issue then.

Advantage: LV by a mile

Mouth is a lot farther back on the plane, making it work like a longer plane, and making it easier to work on short boards.

Advantage: LV

The adjuster has less lash IMHO. I prefer the LV lateral adjust, even though I am unlikey to use it for anything.

Advantage: LV

The LN lever cap, at least on mine, had a propensity to loosen, and I notice more and more chatter, and realize that the lever cap was loose. Too tight and you couldn't adjust the projection, too loose and you'd get chatter. There was a narrow window that would allow both, but I was often frustrated in trying to find it.

Advantage: LV

The LN uses long sqare irons, which I like better, as it makes it easier to make sure the iron is really square in my Veritas jig. But really this is a *very* minor nit.

Advantage: LN, perhaps.

Currently, LV doesn't produce a toothed blade, though I believe they are considering or planning to do so. I don't use it much, but on wild grain stock, I feel more comfortable taking large bites with a 25� toothed blade, knowing I won't get huge gouges that will be a real bear to clean up when pushing a 60� total cut angle iron.

Advantage: LN (At least till LV makes a toothed iron.)

The adjustable mouth on my LV plane moves much more smoothly and easily than the LN. I was never really thrilled with the cam-style adjuster for the mouth on the LN. Not a huge detraction, but annoying sometimes. I suspect it's just a "one-off" problem with my LN, but it did annoy me.

This also brings up the "stop" that the LV has to prevent the adjustable mouth from banging into the iron and dulling/chipping it. However, that little knob does gather wispy shavings under it when you take very light cuts with the mouth wide open. In general, I much like the LV design better. You can quickly open the mouth to dislodge shavings, and close it back up - right back to the right setting - instantly.

Advantage: LV

I'm not much of an asthetics kind of guy, but I do think the LN planes are probably a bit prettier.

Advantage: LN

Price: Well, the LV is a lot cheaper, as are the irons. Further, the irons on the Jack, Wide Smoother (yet to be introduced) and Jointer (also not yet available) will all be interchangeable. This is a very big deal for me. I'm likely to end up with a couple of irons at each angle and this will allow me to stop to sharpen half as often.

Advantage: LV, By a mile.

So, IMHO, unless you have a love affair with LN, I think the LV is really the most utilitarian and best plane. It's not gold-plated, and it probably looks a bit clunkier (sorry Rob and design/engineering crew) but frankly, I'd rather have people drooling over the stuff I made rather than my tools. (Kind of like cycling. Yeah, you may have a carbon fiber bike and tri spoke wheels and dura-ace throughout, but you die on the hills. I guess the bike and US Postal/Lance jersey look nice and probably attract the chicks, but hey you suck at riding.)

By the way, the moisture and minor nits I found with the LV plane my friend got do NOT appear with the item I got today. It's flawless.

Cheers,

Greg

Re: Rob Lee you guys are killing me...

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

>I hear you. The new bull-nose has been on the new-fangled Wish List for a while, but when ever my wife takes a look (I think), it is out-of-stock.

Not as exciting...

Tony - Memphis

>I ordered some of the new LV tool rolls and they were on backorder as well. Came in yesterday though. Really nice design and can't be beat for their price. I got two and filled one yesterday. My wife had made my first one, but when we saw these, it wasn't worth her time and these have more features. Good stuff.

Tony

Re: Not as exciting...

Rob Lee

>Hi Tony -

Wait 'till you see the Spokeshave roll... ;)

Even left an "empty" space or two....

Cheers -

Rob

Foreshadowing alert!

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>I see at least 2 more spokeshaves in the plans...JR

I'm dubious Rob

Dave Anderson Chester, NH

>If the spokeshave roll holds less than a dozen I'll need two. I need 4 spaces just for my MF#1 cigar shaves. ;-))

but will it "rock" ? So much for my bank roll:-)

Eric Hedberg

>

Re: I'm dubious Rob

Rob Lee

>We're counting on it Dave.... we calculated the average number of 'shaves accumulated by the time you're halfway down the slope...and divided by 3...:)

It's really quite neat - it even wall mounts, removeably...

Cheers -

Rob

Re: Rob Lee you guys are killing me...

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Got to take a leap of faith, Don, and just order it whether in stock or not. Granted, I don't like for LV to spend so much extra on shipping (my last order will be filled in 3 shipments, for which I only paid $12 or so); and I prefer to get one big order at a time, partly to minimize shipping, partly to minimize bother. However, this is the approach they've encouraged.

Pam