LV LA Jack to Smoother

Re: LV LA Jack to Smoother

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>The LA jack with the high angle blade makes a pretty good smoother.

Re: LV LA Jack to Smoother

glh

>I don't know if I would do either. You might want to get another blade for your LA jack and follow some of LV (Leonard Lee's) recommendations for secondary bevels (perhaps back bevel) and use it. I've never used a LA plane as a smoother, but I like a larger than normal smoother. I use a #5.5 as my primary smoother.

I don't see where you gain much by getting the LA smoother unless you just like that size for a smoothing plane.

I'd get others' opinion on this. All I'm suggesting is that you may be able to the results you're looking simply by buying another blade for your jack.

Re: LV LA Jack to Smoother

glh

>I didn't realize it, but you beat me to the draw. I guess there's at least two votes for trying the LA jack first.

Re: LV LA Jack to Smoother

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>Smoothing planes have finer mouth openings than jack planes. Metal planes, including the LV I believe, have adjustable mouth openings, permitting you to vary mouth opening. If you've shaped your LA jack iron for the classic purposes of jack planes - cambered or curved, in other words - then you'll probably want another iron. If you've sharpened it straight across or nearly so, then just adjusting the mouth opening might get you there. Whether that's enough depends somewhat on what kind of wood you're smoothing - for a lot of the North American hardwoods, that might be enough. For more exotic woods, another iron with a higher blade angle might be desirable.

To some degree, the various names applied to metal planes are holdovers from the wooden planes, in which the mouth opening, blade angle, and so on were optimized for the particular function - stock reduction, achieving a straight or flat surface, smoothing, etc. Adjacent sizes in metal planes can often fulfill adjacent functions, if you pay attention to mouth opening and (for a low angle plane) sharpening angle.

Re: LV LA Jack to Smoother

Frank D. in Montreal

>Hi Marcus,

I'm with Jim and glh, try another blade in your jack. But it also depends on what kind of wood you use and what you make. The jack with a high-angle blade should be fine for smoothing, and the weight is nice, but you might find it a little long if you do small work or if you smmoth boards that don't have to be very flat. But definitely try another blade if you think the size suits you. I use mine very often for smoothing and I like it a lot. LV will also be coming out with a LA heavy smnoother within the next month or two, and it will take the same blade as the LA jack, so if you find the jack too long you can always pick up the LA heavy smoother and use the same blade.

HTH,

Frank

Re: LV LA Jack to Smoother

Lyn J. Mangiameli

>FWIW, the LV LA Jack used with a blade that is beveled to give me a 63 degree effective cutting angle (12 + 50 + 1), is one of my three most frequently used smoothers. Why, because it simply is a delight to use and leaves one of the best possible finishes on hard to plane woods. I have my LV LA Jack matched to three blades, one beveled to approximately 25, one beveled to approximately 40 and one beveled to approximately 50. This lets me match the plane to a wide variety of wood characteristics.

Re: LV LA Jack to Smoother

Alice Frampton, UK

>Marcus,

Go with the additional blade in the jack. As Frank mentioned, if you don't like it you're no worse off because it'll fit the new smoother anyway. Personally I consider the jack as more of a bevel-up Panel Plane, and find I'm using it in preference to all my "proper" smoothers. Actually it's getting used in preference to practically everything at the moment, which is a bit of a problem for a plane junkie such as myself...

Cheers, Alf

Re: LV LA Jack to Smoother

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>Marcus

I am just adding my voice to those who come before me who say that the LV LA Jack makes a great smoother. Technically, we should stop calling it LA and refer to this style of plane as "bevel up" because you are more than likely going to use it with as a HA set up. Should we abbreviate this to BU (for bevel up)? Rob, you out there? Are you going to rename the planes (LV BU Jack?)!

I also agree with Alf who refers to it as a panel plane. I think that this is appropriate. After all, panel planes are really long smoothers. This is how I view my LV LA Jack - as a smoother of large panels. But it probably gets as much (possibly more) time as a shooting plane.

You are considering the LV 4-1/2 as an alternative, so my last remarks are probably not going to really interest you. I much prefer smaller, lighter smoothers and my favourite (by a wide margin) is the LV LA (uuhh ... BU) smoother, with is a #4 size. As Lyn suggested, with a cutting angle of 63/64 degrees these are remarkable planes. You will probably prefer the forthcoming LA 4-1/2 (which has the added convenience of sharing blades with the Jack).

While it is inviting to buy just the LV LA Jack plus an array of blades, after a while you will want to dedicate your planes to specific tasks and not have to reset one plane (although the LA planes are relatively easy to do). I guess this is the point when the Jack (of all Trades) becomes a Panel Plane, and you acquire a separate Smoother.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: LV LA Jack to Smoother

Glenn Madsen

>I can tell you that the LV LA Smoother with the higher angle blade is every bit as good at smoothing as my old Stanley SW 4.5.

And them there's the Steve Knight option...

Extrapolate as desired for your own work styles.

Re: LV LA Jack to Smoother

David Wheeler

>Lyn,

What hone guide do you use to set 50 deg? The Veritas guide won't set to 50 deg because the bottom support hits at around 45 deg.

Thanks,

David

Turn it around

Frank D. in Montreal

>I'm not Lyn,

But if you just turn the jig around so the bottom support protrudes toward the rear end of the blade there's no problem.

FWIW,

Frank

Re: LV LA Jack to Smoother

Norman (Metcalfe, Ont.)

>Marcus,

I was torn between the LA type planes and a conventional LV smoother. I went with the LV 4.5.

No regrets, it is an exceptionally performing plane and easy to dial in for whisper-thin shavings.. It has the increased mass I was looking for, I work with figured wood quite a bit..

Norman

Re: LV LA Jack to Smoother

Lyn J. Mangiameli

>I'm afraid my method will not be too helpful, as I usually do it on the LV Power Sharpening System (QPSS) using primarily the trailing mode. I have a several hand guides and I'll try to see what might work the best, though Frank's idea sounds pretty good to me.

Soon there will be a very elegant hand solution, but I can't talk about it for another six weeks or so.

Re: Turn it around

David Wheeler

>Frank,

Thanks... I should have thought of that!

-David

Re: LV LA Jack to Smoother

Brad in Ottawa

>Just to help you... get the second blade for your LV LA Jack.

Then buy the LV LA Smoother! Not the current model but the new one that will be released later this year. It will be bigger than the current LA Smoother and will accept the same blades as the Jack.

This advice is pretty much in line with everyone else's but I wasn't sure if you were aware of the opportunity to buy another plane with this strategy!

Brad

Re: LV LA Jack to Smoother

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>To add a microbevel of 52 degrees (64 degree cutting angle - 12 degree "frog"), it helps first to be able to measure this angle and transfer this setting to the honing guide you use.

Since the LV angle guide does not measure 52 degrees, the simplist way to do this is to draw the angle on a piece of cardboard (I have several angles set up on a piece of plywood) and stand this upright. Place your honing guide+blade alongside and manipulate until the angles match. David Charlesworth can be seen doing this in his video on sharpening (using the Eclipse guide). Once you have set the angle, then measure the blade projection over the end of the guide so that you can replicate the angle next time. Several of us have posted jigs here that we use to do make this process easier.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Spill the beans please

Frank D. in Montreal

>You just did talk about it Lyn. Could you maybe just talk about something else, like what a new LV sharpening guide, if hypothetically there were ever such a thing, might be like?

Frank

Re: Turn it around

Greg Sloop, Portland OR

>Funny thing. I've always used it that way, and thought it was *supposed* to go that way. Now you've given me a complex, you insensitive clod! *grin*

Oops - but I guess it produced good results anyway. (First time I think my oops could be passed off as a "design" decision!)

Cheers,

Greg

Re: LV LA Jack to Smoother

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

>IMHO, I think that it should be noted that using a longer plane as a finish smoother requires that the surface being planed be more nearly level than would be required with a smoothing plane of more typical length. That is, perhaps, why they have trended towards a shortish length over the centuries.

Re: Spill the beans please

Rob Lee

>Hi Frank -

Not long now...we're still awaiting the first castings...

It'll have a 10-54 degree range on the setting/squaring jig .... hypothetically speaking.

Cheers -

Rob

Greg!

Frank D. in Montreal

>Now now,

Don't feel too bad, because I always use it that way too! I find when I use it the way I'm supposed to my bevels are slightly crooked, so I always use it "backwards" and it's great. Maybe we should start a club or something.

Frank

Thanks Rob,

Frank D. in Montreal

>I guess that'll do for now. I see you keep a close watch on your testers ;).