Smoothing figured wood - LA smoother vs Scraping plane

Patriarch wrote:
> Nate Perkins <[email protected]> wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
> <snip>
> >> I sometimes use the terms interchangeably. That may be an error. LV
> >> is bringing out another low angle, bevel up plane, which will use the
> >> same blade as the Low Angle Jack. Supposed to be heavier, too. There
> >> is a lot of archived detail and some beta tester comment at the
> >> Handtool forum at Woodcentral.com. (THOSE guys are the hand tool
> >> gurus. I am but a rank beginner in their specialties.) I think the
> >> new one is called a 'heavy smooth'. Roughly based on the Stanley 164?
> >>
> >> Should be shipping soon, I think.
> >
> > Yep, it's up on the Lee Valley website. They have pics of both their
> > low angle smoother and the bevel up smoother, and they appear to be
> > pretty much the same except for the difference in the bevel angle (i.e.,
> > both are bevel up and both have the same bed angle).
> >
> > I have not seen the Woodcentral.com forums. Thanks for the tips. I
> > will read over there.
>
> The new one has a wider blade, I believe. LV intends to keep both in
> production, IIRC. I have not yet risen to that bait, but it may only be a
> matter of time.
>
> Patriarch

Hi Patriarch,

The Woodcentral archives were very helpful. Thanks for the pointer!

I'll summarize here for anyone else who might be interested ..

As you mention, the big difference seems to be in the blade width. The
other thing is that the new bevel up smoother is more specialized for
smoothing (lower center of gravity and shorter sides, I believe).

Apparently the low angle smoother is available with a blade that gives
a max cutting angle of 50 degrees (unless you bevel your own), vs a max
cutting angle of 62 deg on the blades for the bevel up smoother. The
sides of the low angle smoother are also apparently better if you want
to try to adapt the plane for any shooting (I know, not the best choice
for a shooting plane).

Regards,
Nate

Nate Perkins <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:


> So now I see LV has this new bevel-up smoother. Sure does look nice.
> I'm thinking it might be my next step in the quest for the perfect
> figured wood smoother.
>
> So my question for the group is: has anyone here compared a scraping
> plane versus the new LV bevel-up smoother for figured woods? Especially
> with the 50 degree blade? What did you think?
>

Both the LV LA Smoother (older style) with the HA blade, and the Knight
Coffin smoother, 50 degree, do a better job on material such as you
describe than the LN 85 scraper plane.

The 85 looks seriously cool sitting in the tool shrine, however.

But so does the little cocobolo Knight smoother with the brass adjuster
Steve showed earlier this week. So he's building me one.

Is there a 12 step program for this stuff?

Patriarch

Patriarch <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> Is there a 12 step program for this stuff?
>
> Patriarch
>
>

I don't have a problem. I don't need to quit.

Regards,

JT
(who's waiting on a new fix from LV. -- cabinet scraper stuff's somewhere
in the mail ...)

Patriarch <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> Nate Perkins <[email protected]> wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
>
>
>> So now I see LV has this new bevel-up smoother. Sure does look nice.
>> I'm thinking it might be my next step in the quest for the perfect
>> figured wood smoother.
>>
>> So my question for the group is: has anyone here compared a scraping
>> plane versus the new LV bevel-up smoother for figured woods?
>> Especially with the 50 degree blade? What did you think?
>>
>
> Both the LV LA Smoother (older style) with the HA blade, and the
> Knight Coffin smoother, 50 degree, do a better job on material such as
> you describe than the LN 85 scraper plane.
>
> The 85 looks seriously cool sitting in the tool shrine, however.

Right, I'm using the Veritas scraping plane. It is a nice piece of
work, typical of Lee Valley. But it is so far giving me an inferior
finish on figured or even straight grained wood. I think there's
something subtle with my hook angle. The shavings come off paper thin,
but the wood seems slightly burred as if it's slightly pulling the
fibers ... even on a clear piece of flatsawn poplar. By comparison, my
#3 with razor sharp Hock edge leaves a glassy smooth surface. It takes
a lot of force to work, and if the blade isn't set really light it
chatters a bit. The plane is obviously of immaculate quality and I
think these problems stem more from the user than the equipment. Need
more experimentation with the sharpening.

So this is why I've got my eye on the low angle smoother.

Question for you, Patriarch ... aside from the difference in the bevel
angle on the blade, what's the difference between the Lee Valley low
angle smoother and the Lee Valley bevel up smoother?

> But so does the little cocobolo Knight smoother with the brass
> adjuster Steve showed earlier this week. So he's building me one.

The few wooden planes I've used that require hammer setting for the
blade depth have been tricky. I looked on Steve's website and didn't
see a model with the brass adjuster ...

> Is there a 12 step program for this stuff?

If there is I don't want it :-)


p.s. Thanks for the advice to all who replied.

Nate Perkins <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

<snip>
> So this is why I've got my eye on the low angle smoother.
>
> Question for you, Patriarch ... aside from the difference in the bevel
> angle on the blade, what's the difference between the Lee Valley low
> angle smoother and the Lee Valley bevel up smoother?

I sometimes use the terms interchangeably. That may be an error. LV is
bringing out another low angle, bevel up plane, which will use the same
blade as the Low Angle Jack. Supposed to be heavier, too. There is a lot
of archived detail and some beta tester comment at the Handtool forum at
Woodcentral.com. (THOSE guys are the hand tool gurus. I am but a rank
beginner in their specialties.) I think the new one is called a 'heavy
smooth'. Roughly based on the Stanley 164?

Should be shipping soon, I think.

>> But so does the little cocobolo Knight smoother with the brass
>> adjuster Steve showed earlier this week. So he's building me one.
>
> The few wooden planes I've used that require hammer setting for the
> blade depth have been tricky. I looked on Steve's website and didn't
> see a model with the brass adjuster ...
>

There was a recent thread "FS new tools". Steve had links to his new
offerings. He showed the prototype the first week of April. Sweet little
handplane, and easier for some folks to use.

Patriarch,
spreader of rumours and partly remembered tales...

Nate Perkins <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:
<snip>
>> I sometimes use the terms interchangeably. That may be an error. LV
>> is bringing out another low angle, bevel up plane, which will use the
>> same blade as the Low Angle Jack. Supposed to be heavier, too. There
>> is a lot of archived detail and some beta tester comment at the
>> Handtool forum at Woodcentral.com. (THOSE guys are the hand tool
>> gurus. I am but a rank beginner in their specialties.) I think the
>> new one is called a 'heavy smooth'. Roughly based on the Stanley 164?
>>
>> Should be shipping soon, I think.
>
> Yep, it's up on the Lee Valley website. They have pics of both their
> low angle smoother and the bevel up smoother, and they appear to be
> pretty much the same except for the difference in the bevel angle (i.e.,
> both are bevel up and both have the same bed angle).
>
> I have not seen the Woodcentral.com forums. Thanks for the tips. I
> will read over there.

The new one has a wider blade, I believe. LV intends to keep both in
production, IIRC. I have not yet risen to that bait, but it may only be a
matter of time.

Patriarch

Patriarch <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> Nate Perkins <[email protected]> wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
>
> <snip>
>> So this is why I've got my eye on the low angle smoother.
>>
>> Question for you, Patriarch ... aside from the difference in the
>> bevel angle on the blade, what's the difference between the Lee
>> Valley low angle smoother and the Lee Valley bevel up smoother?
>
> I sometimes use the terms interchangeably. That may be an error. LV
> is bringing out another low angle, bevel up plane, which will use the
> same blade as the Low Angle Jack. Supposed to be heavier, too. There
> is a lot of archived detail and some beta tester comment at the
> Handtool forum at Woodcentral.com. (THOSE guys are the hand tool
> gurus. I am but a rank beginner in their specialties.) I think the
> new one is called a 'heavy smooth'. Roughly based on the Stanley 164?
>
> Should be shipping soon, I think.

Yep, it's up on the Lee Valley website. They have pics of both their
low angle smoother and the bevel up smoother, and they appear to be
pretty much the same except for the difference in the bevel angle (i.e.,
both are bevel up and both have the same bed angle).

I have not seen the Woodcentral.com forums. Thanks for the tips. I
will read over there.

>
>>> But so does the little cocobolo Knight smoother with the brass
>>> adjuster Steve showed earlier this week. So he's building me one.
>>
>> The few wooden planes I've used that require hammer setting for the
>> blade depth have been tricky. I looked on Steve's website and didn't
>> see a model with the brass adjuster ...
>>
>
> There was a recent thread "FS new tools". Steve had links to his new
> offerings. He showed the prototype the first week of April. Sweet
> little handplane, and easier for some folks to use.

Thanks, Patriarch. I'll find it via a Google search of the archive.

Cheers,
Nate

On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 15:39:23 GMT, Nate Perkins <[email protected]> wrote:

>Hi folks,
>
>I do a lot of smaller projects using highly figured maple and other
>woods ... especially birdseye, fiddleback, and quilted maples.

a 45 or 47 or 50 degree smoother of mine will handle them fine even if you go
against the grain. maple seems to be pretty easy to plane with a woody other
domestic like curly walnut and cherry are a bit harder.

--
Knight-Toolworks & Custom Planes
Custom made wooden planes at reasonable prices
See http://www.knight-toolworks.com For prices and ordering instructions.