LONG/BIG Quasi-review - Veritas LA heavy smoother.
Greg Sloop, Portland Oregon
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The other day I got a new toy from Lee Valley to try out.
I was told this was a "second" with some casting flaws, but other than one issue I'll tell you about, it's a pretty bloody nice "second."
So, here goes my tour/test-drive of the new heavy smoother from LV.
My wife got the box and was giving me the evil eye about what I could possibly have gotten from LV. Me: "Um. Nothing dear. Just some pencils, uh, yeah, that's it. Pencils. Lee Valley was all out, that's why I forgot about them. Uh, yes, they are made from depleted uranium - that's why the box is so heavy. Yes, I'll quickly remove it from your kitchen, out into the shop." Whew!
While the packaging doesn't have the same pizzazz as Lie Nielson stuff, it's definitely more than good enough.
The pencil is shown for size comparison here...
There are a few scuff marks on the shoe of the plane, but these are cosmetic, more than functional problems. (And clearly should be expected with a manufacturing second with casting flaws.) They are not "feel-able" and thus are very, very minor. I am embarrassed to say but I've done a lot worse to my own planes. Perhaps LV can offer this as a service to their customers. This way you won't feel so bad when, hypothetically speaking, you brush up against your hand plane with the belt sander. DAMHIKT! ("No mom, that story was all fabricated to make me look bad. Can you imagine me even thinking about the belt sander with this fine thing around? Uh, you can huh? Ok, well just don't tell anyone.")
After having unpacked the thing and looking everything over carefully, I can't find any significant fit or finish problems. Paint looks good. The iron is actually pretty sharp right out of the box. The lateral adjustment set screws are almost perfect - though the irons from my LV LA Jack are a pretty snug fit. They do fit though. I was too lazy to adjust them, just a little fiddling and they pop right in. Now that's service!
Notice here that everything is nice and clean. When I unpacked a friend’s LV LA Jack I was surprised to find some water in the adjuster recess. It hadn't caused any problems really, but it did surprise me. When I got my own LV LA Jack a while later, I found it as clean and water free as this one. I suspect the problem I found in the first one was an aberration we likely won't see again. Again, note how nice everything is. The only possible issue I could find, other than the cosmetic flaws I've noted so far was that the rear handle might have been put on just oh so slightly mis-aligned. You can see the tiny sliver of machined casting on one side, but not the other. Lazy as I am, I didn't even consider fixing it till I started writing this paragraph - obviously a pretty minor nit, unless you're way more anal retentive than I.
First shavings!
Now, you can see one of my peeves. Adjusting the depth of cut is a bit of a problem with my short fingers. Still, this is IMHO a minor nit, and I really don't have a problem with it. Just the first couple of times I adjusted it, I was a bit puzzled. The space is tight in front of the handle, and too long behind it. I just modified my grip a little and now adjust from in front of the handle, and above the knob. Works fine. More than anything, it's a notice that I've got smallish hands and short fingers
Here, you see the LV LA Jack on bottom and the heavy smoother on top. The irons really are interchangeable. SWEET! (At the top is the LV sanding block, btw. Very nice it is. I'm glad I got it for Christmas.)
I decided to crank off a few shavings, even with my dull high angle blade. It does a very nice job even then, leaving a very nice surface with just the most minor tear out if I’m not careful.
I then proceeded to crank off a few shavings from a 1 by 1 piece of sycamore I had laying around. It's not as figured as some of the stuff I have, but quite nice just the same.
At 37 degrees total cut angle, some tear-out is inevitable. Not horrible, but some.
At around 50 degrees, it's pretty good, but very directional. If I plane against the grain, tear out sprouts everywhere.
At around 65 degrees total cut angle, the finish is perfect - no matter the direction.
You can see some of the tear-out on this piece. This is about 50 degrees total cut angle. What you're looking at is the best I can get with the semi-dull iron used here.
Still, given the grain and such, the quality isn't bad at all. Even a light hand sanding would clean this right up. The shavings are pretty impressive too, IMHO.
This next series is of a board that was seriously trashed while going through the planer, and too thin to use for anything much. I thought I’d clean up everything except the deepest gouges. I sharpened the iron before doing this, and it performs beautifully. At least as well as the LA Jack, probably better. You certainly don’t have to take down as much of the board to get an area smooth anyway. The width of the plane is very nice. Any tear out you see, is what’s left over from the power-planer pass. Sorry these pics are not the very best. It’s really difficult to show everything you want to without elaborate setups.
Here’s a picture or two of the thin curlies I get. Pretty nice ‘eh? And smoking easy to get ‘em too!
Next I took a highly figured board of the same QS Sycamore and went to remove some minor imperfections left on them. Here you see a heavy plane track.
It took the plane track out very nicely and left a flawless surface. Again without much effort… The shavings are IMHO pretty incredible – and incredibly easy to produce. Also note, that this is sapwood, rather than heartwood. Getting perfect surfaces on sapwood is a lot harder, and getting shavings like this is too. This all says a lot about the ability of the plane, because it’s not like this operator is any serious guru.
I also went down to the end of the board and cleaned up there a bit. After a pass or two, I cranked off this shaving. Again, the board was left in the best possible condition.
My overall thoughts about the plane. I really like the width. I could probably even stand it wider, but interchangeability of irons is a very big plus for me. I’d likely have at least two irons at the two highest angles, perhaps three. This would allow me to sharpen all of them at once and not have to go back again for a while. Plus I could more easily afford irons at three or more angles for the whole set of planes (Jointer, Jack and Smoother) vs. having to have dedicated irons for each plane. (e.g. 3 angles, two irons each = 6 irons vs. 18 if one has to have different irons for each of the three planes. At $30 a whack, that adds up quick.)
Lynn has complained about the handle, but I really seem to be just fine with it. Perhaps if he’d send me some of his ultra-high-end smoothers I might get spoiled enough to hate this one, but I don’t think so. It feels just fine to me. Comfortable and no irritation at all. Perhaps it has something to do with hand size? I dunno.
I’ll reiterate the fact that I really love the precise nature of the adjuster. It’s a breeze to set projection and the lateral adjust is very good. On the LN LA smoother and jack, I believe there’s more play in the adjuster and it often was a minor irritation. Not so for me on LV stuff. Lash is almost non-existent, and the adjust is very smooth.
The lever cap is also very well done. They appear to be identical on both planes in every respect.
I’ll also repeat my like of the shoe adjust – especially the screw stop. It makes it a breeze to clean the throat of the plane. Simply twist loose the front handle, push/pull the handle toward the front of the plane which opens up the throat, and clean it. Then just slide back up against the stop and tighten again and you’re back exactly where you left off. Also, getting a really fine mouth is a lot easier with the thumb screw than the eccentric ring on the LV LA Jack – especially if you want to avoid banging the iron with the shoe.
As far as smoothing ability goes, I think it’s easier to get perfect finish with the smoother than with the Jack, and this isn’t just because you don’t have to flatten the whole panel/board. I find it us easier to fit in where needed, easier to skew, and just leaves a very nice surface with little effort. While I really still like the Jack, this smoother is better at smoothing. (Who’d a thunk it, huh?)
The price is pretty decent too, IMHO. And before I get a dozen replies about how terribly it handles long grain, please note that I have several irons configured to cut angles from 37 degrees to 65 degrees, which handles everything from end grain to the most crazy reversing stuff all with equal aplomb. That said, if you get one, be sure to get an extra iron or two to hone at angles greater than 25 degrees. My current sets are at 25, 37 and 53 degrees for total cut angles of 37, 49 and 65 degrees respectively. (Total cut angle is iron bevel angle + 12 degrees bedding angle.)
