LV LAJ and "The Rules" *LINK*
Denis Ch�nard, Orl�ans, Ont.
>This is mostly in response to Dave Thompson in the "Why does reading this thread get my blood boiling" sub-thread far below, so I'll start a new one up here... I guess I missed Dave's response when posted, otherwise I would have replied already.
"I've never even held an LV62"
Well, that explains your lack of enthusiasm for the beast... Try one, you will be impressed... And not to be picky, it should be called a 62 1/2...
"I think the weight had zero to do with it. #62 is a jack of all trades, master of none.... well, actually, I do think it is a very fine chute plane, and probably the best out there for end grain butcher blocks. I still stand by my assertion that the relative scarcity [of Stanley 62s] may be an indication of how favorable a BU jack was back then amongst a much larger plane user population."
Well, the 62 1/2 is indeed a jack of all trades, but the "master of none" part shows that you haven't tried it... In Blood & Gore Leach sees the Stanley 62 as a very good plane, yet at the same time warns the potential buyer to check for nicks and cracks, which to me indicates that the Stanley's construction was too weak, probably hampering performance and durability. That would help explain its lack of popularity, although I'm speculating here (inertia probably helped too). The LAJ weighs about 60% more than the Stanley, so it is sturdy enough. Weight has everything to do here, not zero...
"I suggest you try using your jack size plane for smoothing and also edge jointing for a a couple of projects. I have a high level of confidence that you'll have the same opinion. If you already have been doing this, then I would suggest comparing this to a smoother for smoothing, and a jointer for jointing. Depending on the length of your stock, a short jointer is going to reduce your chances of producing a straight edge. Regarding the smoothing, one is trying to just take off gossamer shavings... If one has a long smoother, there is absolutely no room for even the slightest of stock warpage and still keep that blade pulling off gossamer shavings, i.e. the kind of warpage one might see over a couple of day period by just allowing the wood to sit untouched in one's shop acclimating to humidity changes."
"The Rules", oh, "The Rules"... Not addressed to you in particular, Dave, but this one gets me cranked up every time... Where in the world is it written that one has to use an absolute specific plane to do one given task? Pushing it to the extreme, one could joint with a block plane or smooth with a jointer (which is what Ian Kirby allegedly does, BTW). If the piece you were working on warped a bit, shouldn't you make it flat again before smoothing anyway? I saw Rob Cosman take transparent end-grain shavings with a #8, talk about mismatch... But it worked, although I doubt he'd use the same plane all day for that kind of task...
The fact is, if the surface you're working on is flat enough for a smoother and not for a jack, the "out-of-flatness" must be quite severe, certainly enough to have to flatten the board flat again, given the relatively small difference in size between a smoother and a jack. I should run numbers on this...
As far as jointing with the jack goes, if the surface is relatively small the jack will do a fine job. Sure, if the surface is long and/or wide the jointer obviously has the advantage. But get to a 4' x 10' tabletop , and the regular jointer gets too small too... That's probably why they used to make woodies at 30+ inches long for jointing long stock. In the end it's just an issue of scale, and for furniture-size parts one can do a lot with a jack. I'm not saying that the jack is the best tool for jointing, but in lots of situations it will do the job, and probably save time from going from a jointer to a smoother. And as far as gossamer shavings goes, the LV LAJ does them beatifully...
Again, in the end Jeff asked about getting one plane. You don't see this as being realistic. Whether or not it is true, he gave no indication that he wanted to start a collection. So the issue becomes what plane would be best suited for someone who's buying only one plane. I maintain that the Veritas LAJ is the best choice given the parameters given.
I'll go even further than that... You can put me on the record for saying that the Veritas LAJ surpasses all the smoothers that I've tried. That would include all the Veritas (I've tried them all, even the 164 that you like a lot), and the LN, Record and Clifton #4. The weight, feel, balance and performance are incomparable IMHO. That the plane is so versatile is just the icing on the cake.
Since you don't mind having more planes, I'll issue a challenge... Buy the LV LAJ, try it, and if you're not impressed you can even return it at no risk to you. But something tells me that you'll end up keeping it...
As far as aesthetics are concerned, I don't really care for them. If the plane performs, that's all that matters to me. If not making it better looking makes it less expensive, I'm all for it.
And finally, I'm not here to defend LV, they don't need my help :)
Take care,