Veritas skew rebate plane - a review (lots of pics)

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
I've now had a chance to use the two planes, both the right-hand and left-hand versions. There's not much to add to Paul's excellent review but I'd make a few points.

1. The finish that Veritas achieve is absolutely stunning. I received a Lie Nielsen small shoulder plane recently, so was sharpening the new blade from that alongside the new blades from the Veritas skew rebate planes. It was noticeable that the Veritas blades were far more smoothly lapped with the non-bevel side perfectly flat. The Lie Nielsen blade took about thirty or forty minutes work to get to the same condition.

2. Staying with the finish quality, the edges of the Veritas skew rebate plane depth stop are actually bevelled to prevent any chance of digging into the work. What lovely attention to detail! However, there was still some small machining marks on the bottom of the depth stop, to make absolutely sure the work piece is protected I took about five minutes to polish these out.

3. Besides general quality and finish these Veritas skew planes have two distinct advantages over the 778 that I previously used. Firstly, as Paul pointed out, the skewed blade does a far superior job of cross-grain work. But secondly is the fact that they come in a handed pair, which means you can work a rebate right around a work piece without tear out. And it's here that the beautifully engineered cross-grain spur really comes into its own. I used this as the reference datum to ensure both planes were identically set, and measuring the completed rebate afterwards with a measuring caliper, I found it's possible to make the depth of the rebates match to within .001".

4. I've had mixed views on the Veritas grub screw system for aligning plane blades. When I was looking for a low angle jack plane I weighed up both the Veritas and Lie Nielsen versions, but didn't think the grub screws offered a real advantage for the way I work. However, on these skew planes, I really can see a benefit. One of the problems of skewed blades is the exactitude that they require in both honing and then in fitting back into the plane chassis. With a bench plane I normally grind the blade to a curve, so I'm often tinkering with the setting after every sharpening and personally I prefer the flexibility of the traditional system. But with the skew plane I just want absolute repeatability, and that's exactly what the grub screw system delivers.

5. One disappointment was the throat opening, at nearly 2mm I thought this was excessive. You'll usually want to remove stock reasonably quicklywith any rebate plane, so obviously the fixed throat will have to be biased towards a wider opening. But there will be times when you'll want a very fine finishing cut, especially if you're just using one plane to go right around a board, when you'll be working against the grain on one side. Given that the design of the plane lends itself to very efficient chip clearance, with no potential choke points, I think the throat could be redesigned to be quite a bit narrower.

6. Paul mentioned that it's possible to grip both the fence and the chassis to provide both downwards and inwards pressure just ahead of the blade. On a wide board like the one Paul used this would also be my preferred grip. But on a work piece with a smaller cross section this won't be possible. It's then that the canted front handle shows the good design sense that's gone into this tool, giving a "sure footed" ride along the work piece with the rebate maintaining crisp, 90 degree angles.

7. I'll certainly fit a small wooden auxiliary fence. The outside of the pre-drilled fence holes are countersunk, so I'll tap the appropriate threaded holes into a lignum fence, 5/16" or 3/8" 2BA brass screws will match the plane's brass hardware neatly. I want a fence that protrudes by 1/2" at the front, because when using the plane and looking down from the top it's difficult to see the location of the plane's fence, so this arrangement will make the tool that fraction easier to use.

All in all I'm very pleased with this pair of tools. For short runs of rebating it'll be a pleasure not to have to set up the router and its attendant jigs and dust extraction. However, I won't be putting my 778 on Ebay. As well as furniture making I'm also involved in boat building, and the 778 is just a more appropriate tool for throwing in a work bag and using outside in the damp salt wind. One of my rules for boat building is never use tools that are prettier than the boat!
 
Excellent review Paul!
I had the chance to use both the versions of these fantastic planes. I totally agree with custard regarding the two grub screws, that in these planes are really useful, especially when you need to set the blade and align it to the side of the plane (forget the paper trick). The front knob seems at first useless, unless you try to pull the left-hand version of the plane! I really suggest to add a small wooden auxiliary fence, no thicker than 10 mm, which help to drive the plane.

you may want to take a look to this looong review (I'm sorry it's in italian, but we are working to translate it in english)

http://www.arcadilegno.it/contenuti.php?post_id=24993 (part I)
http://www.arcadilegno.it/contenuti.php?post_id=24994 (part II)
http://www.arcadilegno.it/contenuti.php?post_id=26762 (part III)
 
Thanks whybob :wink:

Thanks for posting those links to your review - fabulous pictures and illustrations.

Cheers :wink:

Paul
 
Hi -

Thanks for the kind comments - both our designers and our machine shop staff have done a great job on the skews. It's literally taken a few years to prove out some of the concepts realised here. For example, the small plow was a test of the fence system for the skews..

We did discuss an adjustable throat for the skew rebates, but decided against it. We felt it would significantly raise the cost plane, and would add too much complexity for not so much benefit. While it is a fine plane - we did not feel it was so much a "finesse" plane. It is certainly capable of taking 1/2 thou shavings, that's not it's primary function - it has to be a solid worker first and foremost.

The "good" news is - our skew block planes (RH and LH!) will have an adjustable throat... no promise date on those though... they're still in design.

I would also encourage you to have a look at the Italian website - it's extremely well done... !

Cheers -

Rob
 
Hi at all.
Thank you very much for your kind opinions on our site and our reviews.

Hi Rob, really a interesting news for the adjustable throat on the two planes.

Cheers !
 
I had to buy five quids worth of glue... and ended up with this plane in the basket too... how does that happen ?!

Anyway, I was thinking about raised panels and this is probably a silly question but how do you create the flat areas. I understand that you can create the angled/sloped profile with an appropriate section of wood on the fence but how do then create the two 90 degree parts that transition back to the flat... guess a picture would help.
I think this is a question of doing things in the right order...

raised%20panel%20profile%203.jpg


i.e the 3rd one down on the left.

Thanks,
Ed
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top