Lee Valley Large Shoulder Plane

Re: Lee Valley Large Shoulder Plane

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>Hey RJ.

What a great gift suggestion. Congrats on the anniversary. (My 32nd was last Sept)

From my examination of the medium plane, I would think the ergonomics would be greatly improved over the L-N/Record/Preston #73. Although I can't say that I have handled the large LV, the body hole will make a huge difference IMO. Go for it!JR

Re: Lee Valley Large Shoulder Plane *LINK*

Alice Frampton, UK

>RJ,

Link to my review below. I've skimmed through it and see no reason to change my opinion of it since then. I also have a #073 and, as you'll see, found the LV considerably easier to control.

Oh, and congratulations to you both on 32 years :~)

Cheers, Alf


LV large shoulder plane review

Thank You Alice

R.J.Whelan

>A very helpful review - I am a little "put-off" by the out of square, unflat sole. Maybe Mr. Lee will chime in and reassure me that these issues have been address in the production models.

I really do want to get this plane, but since going professional I find myself reluctant to spend much time rebuilding and refining brand new tools.

Thank you again ... rj

Re: Lee Valley Large Shoulder Plane

Alan Bierbaum

>I have one, with the brass knobs, and really like it. However, with the work that I do, it does not get much use. I find that I use the medium quite a bit and the large not much at all. If you need the size, it is a great plane.

Alan

Re: Thank You Alice

Brad in Ottawa

>RJ,

Did you make it to the end of the thread to see Rob Lee's entry? His response might cover off your concerns.

On Alice's Large Shoulder the resulting misalignment would result in a .0005 error in the cut. (Heavily abbreviated version of Rob's response!)

I would think that blade alignment and sharpening would contribute more error than that tolerance. (At least at my bench!!!)

Hope this helps!

Brad

PS - You mentioned that this is the only hand tool you want... I find that a little hard to believe ;)

PPS - Happy Anniversary!

Congratulations and a hijack

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>Congratulations on the anniversary. We're slightly ahead of you (35 years together, 33 of them legal), and it keeps getting better.

So, there's a medium and a large shoulder plane. This implies that there exists in Rob Lee's imagination a small one. I wonder what that will be like?

Re: Congratulations and a hijack

Lyn J. Mangiameli

>I'd like a small one, as I really like my Cliftion 410, but I doubt one is in the cards--at least in the medium term. I think Rob's idea of the small one is the Bullnose.

Re: Lee Valley Large Shoulder Plane

Frank D. in Montreal

>Hi RJ,

Happy anniversary in advance!

My experience with the plane is very limited. I own the medium LV shoulder and the LN 073 which I like a lot. I gave a seminar on planing last year (for another web site I participate in) and Rob Lee sent us a few planes to try out along with our own. The large shoulder was in the lot and I took it home for a few days and worked with it for a few hours or so. I thought it was more comfortable to hold than my 073 and considerable easier to use. The ergonomic improvements are--well, definitely improvements! As I said my use is far from extensive but if I lost all my shoulder planes I'd buy the large LV first.

HTH a little,

Frank

I'm no help but...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond,CA

>32 years dang, man ya got 30 on me. Not counting the 7 livin in sin:) Congrats RJ! Hope the new plane works out.

Scott, who will never part with his 073.

TWO, no THREEE WORDS RJ...

HC Sakman

>Congratulations.

GET IT!

Chico...

What Brad said

Alice Frampton, UK

>I've been using the plane subsequently and it's just fine, and I've not so much as waved a piece of wet and dry within 2 feet of it. No, it wasn't absolutely dead-on square, and that's a shame as the medium and bullnose both were (but apparently that was just dumb luck), but the amount it was off by was miniscule. Tiny. Atoms would have to diet to get through the gap between square and plane. But if I don't find something to pick on about these planes the reviews are going to turn into endless, boring, peons of praise, and somebody's going to start wondering how much Rob is paying me. Reading the review again I can see I made more of it than it really deserved, but it was one of those reviews where everything that could go wrong, did. I'll make an adjustment to it I think.

Anyway, the bottom line: It's well within "woodworker's tolerances". i.e cuts shoulders easily square enough to fit with no gaps.*

Cheers, Alf

* And my thanks to BugBear for coming up with that idea of how to describe the tolerances so I can avoid squares and feeler gauge suggestions in future.

OT: long time together

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>It creeps up on you, Scott, but you know it's OK when you realize that you've been together X or XX years and you notice that you're smiling.

An Embarrasing Confession

Patrick Gibbons, Space City, TX

>I bought the large shoulder plane when it first came out. When I received it, it just felt too big. Before I had a chance to use it I attended a woodworking course where the instructor preferred chisels. My doubts about the plane continued to grow. I already owned a Stanley 93 and decided that I would just send the Veritas back. One of the exchange pieces I got was the new bullnose. I had forgotten that I put the medium shoulder on my wish list and sure enough my wife bought it for me for Christmas. I NEVER send back presents bought for me unless they are damaged or don't fit. I have been making a lot of mortise and tenon joints lately. I put the medium to work for the shoulders and some for the cheeks, though I used my Record 778 for that mostly. The medium is wonderful in its construction, use, ergonomics and utility. I tried using the 93 again and was amazed at its unfriendliness of use. While the Veritas bullnose performs admirably, I've found very few instances (so far) where it has been the right tool for the job. My embarrasment is that the large Veritas shoulder plane, my first choice, was probably the best all around pick for my shop. I've seen it written that the larger size is better for tenon shoulders on larger pieces, but I have found the medium has worked just fine on my 6" tenons I've been using on bed construction. Fine tuning of the cheeks and more authority on large shoulders is where I think the larger plane would shine. I may just buy it yet or I may get a rabbet block plane or I may just continue to make due for a long while. But I think that the large shoulder plane would have worked well enough to get along without the medium and the bullnose and the Stanley 93. I just didn't allow myself the time to get use to its size which was greater than I thought it would be.

Thank you Everyone

R.J.Whelan

>Both for the congrats on 32 legal years (well, truth be told, we'd only been dating/co-habiting for 4 months when we tied the knot - who say's "marry in haste, repent in leasure"); and for the advice.

I'm sold - I'll print the page from the on-line catalog and place my order .... rj