ROUTER PLANES
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Anonymous13 November 2012 at 6:15 am #3148
Hey guys, Ok I’m going to Invest in a router plane. Veritas or Lie- Nielsen that is the question.
They both look nice planes, and I know It’s personal choice at the end of the day, I have not used a router plane before, but from what I have read about them, I think I’m leaning more towards the Veritas.
HaHa I only have the money to buy one or the other, so I would like to get it right.Cheers
Ken 🙂Ken, I was in your shoes a month ago or so. Choosing between Lie-Nielsen and Veritas for a new router plane.
From the information I collected before my purchase you really can’t go wrong with either one.
The Veritas comes with two blades (in Europe? Or perhaps it used to be be three blades…), straight and point 1/2 inch, and no fence. The larger blades dismount from the stem in order to ease sharpening, included is a jig that enables you to place the iron in a normal honing guide.
Lie-Nielsen ships with only one blade but includes the fence. The irons are one solid piece and will require some trix when sharpening (no big deal).
I went with the Veritas plane eventually and havn’t been disappointed!
Here are links to some online reviews of the Veritas plane. Please note that they are reviewing the old version with a different depthstop mechanism.
Veritas Router Plane Review by Chris Schwarz
Router Plane Review by Derek Cohen
Veritas Router Plane Review by Alf on UKWorkshop forum
Happy shopping 🙂Anonymous13 November 2012 at 8:16 am #3151Hi Ken, I wish I could help with some relevant advice, but only have a couple of router planes by Record and Stanley (Closed and open throated jobbies by both companies). I’m certain you’ll make the right choice as Veritas and LN produce extremely good planes. 🙂
Anonymous13 November 2012 at 1:27 pm #3161Thanks guys, looks like Veritas could be the one, if I can find someone who stocks the newer version, I think the new depth stop will work better.
Thanks again for the help 🙂
13 November 2012 at 3:42 pm #3164You didn’t mention if you were talking about a large or small router plane–I’m assuming you are referring to the large.
One of the things that sold me on the Veritas router was the ability to configure it as both closed and open (or bullnose, as they describe it) throat, and even “laterally” if that is your thing. With Lie-Nielsen, there is a separate tool for open and closed throat.
I don’t know if this is *that* important, but that configurability added value for me. As I often say, Veritas seems to offer the biggest bang for the buck.
Anonymous13 November 2012 at 4:47 pm #3165Yeah sorry It is the large router plane. Everyone I have phoned today only have the one with the older depth stop. I don’t suppose it makes much difference, just me being picky. The blades for the Veritas are so much cheeper than the Lie-Nielsen and more choice.
Thanks again for all the help guys 🙂
A key difference that has not been brought up between the Veritas design and the LN is the attachment of the blades to the plane body. The Veritas design works very much like the Stanley/Record 71 & 71-1/2 (in fact the Veritas large blades will fit the Stanley design if you flip the adjuster nut over to put the rim at the top of the post) while the LN uses a broached hole through the body of the plane and a square posted cutter.
The caveat to using the Veritas blades on vintage Stanleys is that on some of the earliest 71-1/2 models, the threaded rod may not be long enough. And for the Type I 71-1/2 which does NOT have the threaded adjuster, it is a non-issue as you simply clamp down with the collar and tap things into place. Same goes for the model 71 but the dates shift about a bit as it is an older design than the 71-1/2. Also, prior to 1892, the model #71 was a closed throat design, only later did it become an open-throat design.
Frankly, the business about removing the heads to sharpen being easier I find to be a bit silly as it is little to no trouble to sharpen the traditional “L” shape on a couple of stones with the leg hanging off the stone. No messing about with allen keys and small screws.
I also don’t find the fence to be all that useful except maybe for curved edges. For a straight edge, I’ll probably just use a plow plane for the bulk of the work and the router w/ fence only if I have stopped grooves. A bit more difficult to groove around a curve with a #45…
I’ve used both, both work well, both are VERY nice. The depth stop works fine on both (the old vs. new design on the Veritas is not a big deal). Frankly, I don’t bother much with the depth stop because I’ll either be working to a line which may be a tad different from piece to piece or I wait until all the related joints need trimming and do them as a group. In that situation, you just keep adjusting down the blade in small steps, hitting each piece in turn at each setting until done. It is very simple and easy to just adjust the cutter down or up until it registers in a knife line.
It has been my experience that the LN design with the broached hole holds the blade more solidly during heavy cutting. However, you aren’t generally going to be taking heavy cuts with a router plane.
On the whole, my preference has been for the closed throat design, I can see perfectly well what I’m doing given the port in the base and having that extra material across the front is just a little more bearing surface. Or if needed, I make an offset sub-base and have plenty of support on my workpiece. YMMV.
Full disclosure : at home I have a Stanley 71-1/2 type 5 (http://www.hyperkitten.com/tools/routers/stanley/stanley_71.5.html is a nice type study if you go looking for vintage tools) with two original blades (narrow and standard width chisel fronts) and I did purchase a set of the Veritas blades to try out. I do like the spear point but more frequently I use the vintage ones. My experiences with the Veritas was using a borrowed one for maybe a week and the LN model we have at the KCWG shop for use by our members along with a vintage 71 (I don’t remember the type).
@ken: Sorry about the errant info then. I checked for the exact same thing before placing my order and got the impression that the new version was the only one available. This was German online dealers.
But send an email or call Veritas. I can’t imagine that they won’t send you an update kit.
@rob: As you have experience with both planes, would you say that the Lie-Nielsen has a wider base surface (as it extends the full area under the knobs) than the Veritas? That was one concern I had when choosing but couldn’t find any facts about.@Jesper Thorson : I cannot say from memory if the base of the LN is more “solid” or wider than that of the LV. I believe the LN base is shaped very much like late model #71-1/2 but with a thicker, more substantial casting. I believe there are groove in the base for alignment of the fence. The LV base I think was a bit more rectangular.
Both designs had provision for attaching a custom sub-base so really, to me small differences in their size is a moot point. If for example you wished to use the router to trim tenons, you could either place an identically thicknessed piece along side to support the non-reference wing, or you can make an offset base and have the large wing of the base fully supported on your workpiece and not worry about the need for a second support piece of the same thickness.
If you purchase the LV and decide in 6 months you really wanted the LN, sell the LV (or vice versa). These planes hold their value and with a little patience in the sale and negotiation you can be out only about 10% of your purchase price. Think of that as a rental fee.
And with pretty much the same level of patience, you can locate a vintage Stanley/Record as they are very common on the secondary market and either get one with a single cutter (the three cutter kits often vanish to the 4 corners of the world, along with extra socks). Or just order a cutter from Veritas. Heck, Stanley themselves were even selling replacement cutters as recently as last year but I haven’t checked to see if they still have them. The vintage units in good shape, needing only a little TLC go $50 to $75 nearly every day of the week on eBay.
15 November 2012 at 10:27 pm #3274I am going against the grain here, I have a vintage Stanley #71 with the ( 3 ) blades from Veritas and it works wonderfully, in fact I used it this past weekend. If I were to buy new I would probably buy the Veritas, I did buy the Veritas small router and that has come in very handy for making hinge mortices.
Steve
Anonymous15 November 2012 at 11:49 pm #3288Ok I have ordered the Veritas, I don’t think I can go wrong with that or the Lie Nielsen, but the Veritas wins on blade selection.
Thanks for all the input guys, nice job 😉I’ve been using a Veritas Router and it’s terrible, there isn’t enough surface when you don’t have the router on both sides. So for example, if you’re cleaning a tenon and have one side of the router on the board and the other is floating, the surface that is on the board is much smaller than the stanley which I really like. Also the angle of the wooden nobs is at a 45 degree instead of straight up and down (stanley’s have up and down), which the up and down style allows for one to easily put pressure on one side so the other can float. Also the head on the Veritas comes loose all the time (the head is exchangeable, unlike the Stanley which you have to change the whole bit, but it works better than the Veritas and doesn’t come loose).
Anonymous16 November 2012 at 10:31 pm #3338Hi Mexiquite,
The simplest means of bypassing the problems you’ve outlined are
1. Rest the floating element of the router on another piece of material matching the thickness of the section being routed. This could be an off-cut or another section of timber prepared to match.
2. Extend the base of the router plane by adding a wooden sole plate.
3. Threaded elements can be locked temporarily using thread-lock adhesive.I’m not a Veritas router owner or user, but the above are potential fixes for the problems you’ve mentioned and I hope they help in some way.
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