Lie-Nielsen Question

Re: Lie-Nielsen Question

Dean J in MN

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Does anybody out there have any comments on the Lie-Nielsen low angle smoothing plane?

Do a search here for 'low angle' and you'll have enough to read for a while! Having said that, it is a fine tool, and even flexible in regards to effective cutting angles...

And can it be used as a jointing plane also??

Mmm, well, that is difficult to answer. If you mean jointer in the sense of plane used to prepare long edges of boards for a glue joint, then I'd say there are much better planes for the task. For one, the LA smoother is rather short for a jointer (unless your boards are really short) and also, most smoothers have a convex blade and a jointer has a sqaure blade.

If you mean jointer in the sense of a longer plane used to bring a face or edge square and/or flat (i.e. a try plane) then my advise is, if the boards are really short, sure. A try plane has a convex edge, so would your smoother and in a pinch you can use your smoother as a sort of try plane.

But then you wouldn't have an excuse to by anther tool!

-Dean

I love mine...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>It's a great plane. Lots of others like the LV one, but it's too ugly for me.

As said there's been a lot of talk about these lately.

I can't recommend it as a jointer. It's too short; it might work well on short pieces, but not on long boards.