Why does reading this thread get my blood boiling?
Denis Ch�nard, Orl�ans, Ont.
>I read everything in here from "cast in concrete" old statements to name-calling to outright fallacies.
Jeff asked about getting ONE bench plane, not ten... As such, versatility of the chosen plane ranks high on the want list.
The Veritas LA jack is bar none the best in terms of adjustablilty of all the jack planes on the market.If you have ten (or more) planes in your arsenal chances are you will set the frog once and use that plane for one purpose only. If you buy only one plane and use it for many purposes, easy adjustability is most definitely welcome.
The Veritas LA jack is the most versatile of all the planes out there, including the other Veritas planes. Bevel down planes can be tweaked from the starting frog angle going up, through replacement frogs (if available) and/or back bevels on the blade. But bevel down planes CANNOT be brought down to a lower cutting angle, putting them at a disadvantage when doing end grain or shooting. Sure, one can work end grain with a BD plane, I've seen Rob Cosman plane end grain with the LN #8. But, between you and me, would you want to do a whole butcher block with a 45 degree angle plane? There's a reason why there are low angle planes for sale...
Someone mentioned the relative scarcity of the original Stanley #62 as an indicator that this plane design wasn't popular for a reason, inferring that the Veritas is in the same league. Anyone with an internet connection can find out that the Stanley 62 weighed in at 3 5/8 lbs. (Blood & Gore), whereas the Veritas LAJ comes in at a hair below 6 lbs. We're talking quite different animals here...
Another mentioned that the LAJ (and other jacks by extension) is "too long for smoothing, too short for jointing". That one leaves me puzzled. Unless one is planing a "rollercoaster" board, sole length is in most cases not much relevant. If there's a tricky grain area on a board that makes a jack too long, a standard smoother will probably be too long too. One would have to go down to block plane-length or less in order to work a localized area. When it comes to jointing, granted, longer is better, and in an ideal world one would have a range of planes, but again, we're talking ONE plane here, and the LAJ makes the best compromise possible.
All of this wouldn't matter much if the plane didn't perform, but the fact is that the LAJ works as well if not better than the other planes out there. Add to this the fact that it is substantially less expensive than the other high quality offerings, making the LAJ the absolute no-brainer. Add to this the ease with which shavings can be cleared (twist the knob, open the mouth, blow shavings, and return the mouth at exactly the same size as before), the least amount of slop in the adjuster, the setscrews that keep the blade centered in the opening, the low center of gravity, that puts "the cherry on top of the sundae"...
The only issue that one could legitimately criticize the LAJ for is the tote, which is shaped and angled differently than the classic Stanley tote used by most other manufacturers. In use I don't notice it, but to one used to the Stanley type I can see that it may feel "unnatural".
In the end, though, I think many who "diss" the LAJ either haven't used it, are rebarbative to trying a different design, or are POed that they paid more for a lesser plane, and try to justify their purchase by putting down the LAJ.
Respectfully,
DC
