Comparison between Veritas and LieNielsen hand planes?

"grampa simpson" wrote ...
> I am curious as to what is the difference between the veritas and Lie
> Nielsen products. I have heard good things from guys who use both, but i
> have not seen any comparison of the two.

I have Lie Nielsen products but no Lee Valley planes as yet (although I am
planning buying their new shoulder plane). With that out of the way, the
answer first depends on which planes you are talking about - I will assume,
however, you mean the bench planes. The Lie Nielsen bench planes are
patterned off the Stanley Bedrock line that was discontinued decades ago.
This line has generally been touted as the cream of Stanley's crop. In
comparison, the Lee Valley bench planes are redesigned to some degree and
are somewhat unique. Unfortunately, having a boat load of antique Stanley's
myself, I have no need to purchase a Lee Valley plane even though I would
like to try one out. As far as use goes, as I said I have no experience
with the Lee Valley products but I find that the Lie Nielsen planes don't
cut wood any better than my antique Stanley planes (either Bedrock or Bailey
pattern) when they are tuned properly. The LN planes are purty though.

--

Cheers,
Howard

----------------------------------------------------------
Working wood in New Jersey - [email protected]
Visit me in the woodshop - www.inthewoodshop.org

I'll add my vote for older Stanleys. I have a selection of WWII era bench
planes that I've picked up at fleas and estate sales. The nost I've paid was
$50 for a #4 1/2 ..3's 4's 5's & 6's $10 to $17 each. #7 & #8 $25 each.
Sure, they needed a little work but then that's half the fun. Sharpen them
up, true up the sole and clean off the grunge and you have a user you can be
proud of. And in the process of tunig it up you'll get a working knowledge
of how the plane works. I tend to go for the WWII stuff because they usually
have a heavier casting..even though they skimped on some of the other
features. One thing I do know for certain, once you start with hand planes,
you're hooked. pretty soon you end up building shelves to hold all of the
heavy metal that just happens to follow you home. The upside is that there's
less dust in your shop and your lungs and you really get an upper body
workout truing up a tabletop. If you have the extra $$ by all means go for
the LN..they're beautiful and work right out of the box..same with the LV's
but I will guarantee that you'll be searching out some of the old rust
sooner than you think.

walt q in Connecticut
an old tool and proud of it!

On Fri, 05 Dec 2003 15:54:58 +0000, Andy Dingley
<[email protected]> wrote:


>On the whole though, you'll get a lot more finding re-usables off
>eBay.

I've bought several WWII or before era, user-quality, non-collectible,
Stanleys for less than $30 each. Some were in the $20 range. Adding
a Hock or LN iron and an hour or so's labor gave me several great
planes for $50-60 or so each.

I sprung for a new Veritas low-angle block, as I couldn't seem to nail
a low angle block down used for a decent price on eBay. I _really_
like the Veritas LA plane. I'd buy another in an instant.

Barry

On Fri, 5 Dec 2003 06:51:14 -0800, "grampa simpson"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Any imput would be great.

Veritas - more bang for the buck

Lie Nielsen - your only source for that obscure discontinued Stanley.

Clifton - don't make many models, but I prefer them to the Lie-Nielsen

When it's down to a head-to-head (like the #112), I'd choose the
Veritas.


On the whole though, you'll get a lot more finding re-usables off
eBay.

--
Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

walt wrote:

> start with hand planes, you're hooked. pretty soon you end up building
> shelves to hold all of the heavy metal that just happens to follow you

I got a good chuckle out of that statement. Exactly where I sit today, and
I only have two planes so far. (So far... :) I keep moving them, from
workbench to saw top to router to workbench to floor... Wherever I'm not
working. I need to give those babies a nice, spiffy home.

Wall space and bench space are at a premium though, and I haven't yet come
up with a good idea. Maybe build a cabinet on the back wall to hold my
portable power tools, then give the shelf under the workbench over to a
nice compartmentalized plane box. Put some light bulbs in it to stave off
rust year-round maybe.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/