custard
Established Member
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!
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!
