Hi all,
Recently, I had my trusty #5 jack plane stolen from a job site. It was an old friend; it was with me for over 20 years.
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I’m looking for a replacement. In fact I’m thinking of a low angle jack plane. I always seem to have my Lie Neilsen low angle block plane in my hand when ever I encounter difficult wood.
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So guys and gals, any thoughts? Should I stick with the standard jack plane or is the low angle plane worth a try?
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FYI: most of my work is cabinetry, built-ins, and I work with a variety of hard & soft woods.
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Thanks for the help.
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Jay
Replies
If you typically work with straight grained woods then a low angle plain would be great. Assuming that the cutting angle is 37*. If however, you work with anything else, I would stick with the standard jack plane bedded at 45*. Option three is to get a low angle plane with multiple blades all sharpened at increasingly higher angles. Low angle plane with 33* bevel bedded at 12* is the same as a standard jack plane bedded at 45*. The options are endless!
For simplicity sake go with the standard - if you want the flexibility of changing and setting blabes then go with the LA.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=49708&cat=1,41182,48944
Veritas low angle jack and a additional blade for the same price of the LN alone. I've been very pleased with mine so far after switching from a Bailey #5 knockoff.
I also just bought the VERITAS low angle jack plane. The palne came with a almost dead flat sole, and a blade that took me about 10 minutes to flatten and hone. And after that I was taking shavings that measured .04 to .02 of a millameter. It is a great plane.
Kaleo,
I'm having difficulty believing you're even able to measure down to .00002" (that's what .02" of a millimeter comes out to being, as mentioned in your Knots thread)!
That having been stated, though, I've also got a Veritas low-angle plane (the jack) and am very impressed with how well it planes.
Marty
If you have a set of veneer caliper and it can measure in millimeter, it can measure to .00 of a mil. Meaning that you can have a piece of veneer let's say 1.02 mils. So you can measure down to anything .01 of a mil.
if your tools are at risk working on-site, personally I wouldn't replace it with anything I couldn't afford to write off... replace like with like but put a decent blade and chip breaker into it..
Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Thanks to everyone for the input...you have all been very helpful.
A note to Mike:
After more than 20 years of building cabinets, pergolas, installing trim..., I have only lost a few tools. But I have never lost anything of real value. My guess is the Baileys #5 looked too good to pass up. Now, here’s the real kicker. When I lost the plane, only the home owner was home, their son, and a few of his friends! I tactfully told my client a tool was missing and both parents apologized, almost too much. I just hope who ever has it appreciates it as much as I did.
Again thanks to all.
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Jay
Jay, I hope you made them feel guilty enough, so that your plane pops up again. I hate to lose tools, but even worse is to have some one take the tool. Especially when you know they wouldn't know how to use or care for the tool
I have not tried the low angle jack plane but it seems like they are really ment for end grain. If you liked your old plane you might try looking on e-bay. I picked up an old KeenKutter k5 which was made by stanley before ww2 and they are based on an old bedrock design. I cleaned it up and it works really well. Don't buy one labeled KK5 these are not as nice. Anyway good luck
Troy
old Chinese proverb:
"a stolen plane experiences a thousand tear-outs"
I have the LN low angle jack and more than any other plane I look forward to opportunities to work with this tool. There is something I can't quite describe about how this plane feels when you are driving it (and I have other LN's so it's nothing about any LN plane). Needless to say, I recommend this plane (spend the extra $25 and get the rosewood handles, wish I did, they just look better if nothing else).
I use the low angle most of the time, but there are occasions when #5 would work better, and in those cases I think the LN #5 1/2 is actually a better plane because of it's heft (#5 long, #7 wide).
One other point that isn't made a lot about the low angle jack is that it's a block plane (bevel up) so if you get yourself a second blade you can set it up with a higher angle, although probably no more than 40 degrees vs. the 37 degrees that the plane comes with.
The Veritas bevel up planes are really interesting (I have their #6 and am happy with it, good value). Their low angle jack is setup exactly like the LN however they offer 38 and 50 degree blades. I guess the 50 would effectively make this a scraping plane? Anyway, I don't exactly know why you could not do the same thing with the LN plane given that the mouth is adjustable. I think that Lee Valley has really done an admirable job of building a line of very high quality and respected hand planes that are also significantly more affordable than LN.
I also have one of the LV low angle planes and am *very* pleased with it. Planed Tiger Maple without a hitch. This was done with the standard blade that comes with it.
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