Veritas vs Lie Nielsen Jointer plane bevel down no 7
Rifleman97
| Posted in Hand Tools on
I’m in the market for a jointer upgrade, I’m between the Veritas custom no 7, and the lie-Nielsen.
I have a 22” wooden jointer that I despise. It’s too light to get any weight behind it when I’m jointing hard rock maple, which is nearly exclusively what I work with. I also have to change the depth of cut a lot so the wooden jointer makes me take a lot longer to do my job.
also I’m a professional and my time is worth more than the many hours it may take to restore a vintage, so that’s not even going to be considered. I have a Veritas custom no 5 that I love so I’m tempted to stick with the Veritas, but I keep hearing about how nice the Lie-Nielsen’s are and I kindof want to see if they live up to the hype.
thoughts?
Replies
It looks to me like Veritas is trying to reinvent the wheel, but I am a bit of a traditionalist.
Lie Nielsen planes are solid and you can't go wrong.
Another good choice is Clifton.
I had a Clifton #4 years ago and replaced it with a Lie Nielsen Bronze#4. I was not unhappy with the Lie Nielsen, but I soon wished I had the Clifton back...
https://www.woodcraft.com/products/no-7-jointer-hand-plane-clico
What did you like about the Clifton that you liked better than the Lie-Nielsen?
I love my L-Ns and also have several Veritas that function very well but never quite deliver the same degree of pride and satisfaction in their use. As for the Clifton vs. L-Ns it may depend on which side of the Atlantic you are on.
I’m in America. Where I’m at the Clifton is 485, the LN is 500, the Veritas is 470. (It’s 450 but I consider the $20 tote change mandatory)
For all intents and purposes they’re all 3 the same price
What is the $20 tote change in reference to?
@wpr100
The tote that comes with Veritas planes is nearly vertical. You get a choice of 6 totes. The small medium and large, of standard and traditional.
Standard is nearly vertical, traditional is forward leaning and shaped more like a, well, traditional plane handle. I don’t like the feel of the standards, I like the small or large traditional totes depending on if I’m planning to use 3 finger or 4 finger grip.
The fit and finish was as good as the Lie Nielsen, but it had a bit more heft which made for a nicer feel when using.
I think the #7 is also heavier than the others as well. - if that matters to you.
Woodcraft and Tools for working wood carry them in the US.
I have the Lie Nielsen 7. It's perfect, and I couldn't think of a thing to change.
Rob, if you love your #5 Veritas Custom, then you will love the #7 Custom.
I have the Custom #7 with a 40 degree frog. With the chipbreaker closed down, you will be able to plane interlocked face/edge grain with- and against the grain, as well as shoot edge grain.
Below is a photo of the #7 on a shooting board.
I also have a 50 degree frog, but this is has not been used in years.
For those interested in a review (plus more) on the Veritas Custom planes: https://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/VeritasCustomPlanes1.html
Regards from Perth
Derek
I have the L-N #7. Aside from the quality which is way above average as is typ. for L-N - I like the weight/heft of it - useful for me.
Honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with either plane. If you already have a Veritas #5, might be good to stick with what you know.
Ended up ordering a Lie-Nielsen. If I end up not liking it I should be able to get most of my money back and get a Veritas. Thanks for the input guys, but for people like me in the future feel free to continue sharing your opinions in this thread
Maybe too late, but if you want a Lie Nielsen jointer, why not a #8?
Truthfully the only thing holding me back on an 8 is Availability. I was able to snag a 7 (and I think I got the last one available on the website since 5 minutes after I ordered the site said out of stock, and it was out of stock the day before)
Where did you find the Lie Nielsen no7 in stock? I’ve been looking for one.
If you're a pro why are you wasting your time? Get a jointer and a 6 inch orrbital sander on a HEPA vac and be done with it.
Theres no way you can be reasonably efficient working rock maple with handplanes and make a livable wage. I like my hand planes and they have their place jointing maple is a no win scenario. Its fun to play along online and fantasize about hand work like the old days. Pros ditched their planes for the vast majority of work a very long time ago. Get with the program.
Really? There are many professional craftsman who rely on hand tools predominantly. Just because your preferred method of working doesn't, doesn't give you the right to pass judgement on those who do.
Be nice or go elsewhere. This is your only warning.
I responded to this already but I don’t see it so maybe it didn’t go through. I do very specific tasks with my hand planes, I’m not a furniture or cabinet maker, I’m a piano restorationist. I use planes to take more material off at a time than a sander in a controlled way so I can finely change the angle while keeping a perfectly flat joint for glueing up the pinblock to the piano.
As you can see from my pictures, I already have all of the tools you think a professional needs and more, and I still have a use for hand planes that none of the electric tools in my shop can fulfill.
In the piano picture, the pinblock is the piece of rock maple that has like 250 holes in it (for the tuning pins) and how precisely it is fit determines where the plate/harp sits inside the piano, the speaking length of the strings, the down bearing of the strings, and the tensions that is put on the piano (as if you don’t correct the angle, after the strings are installed and tensioned it can break some of the glue joints if it was not fit to allow for that)
Sanders don’t work for jointing and my delta jointer cannot joint an edge this wide while also changing the angle like I can do with hand planes.
For what it worth, have you even considered trying out the Wood River planes? I bought my no. 7 years ago because I couldn’t afford the LN at the time. I enjoy my Wood River enough to not want to replace it with another. That said, I now own several LN planes and love them. I also have a few Veritas specialty planes that I enjoy just as much. I think the best tool you can buy is the one you want to use and it doesn’t set around collecting dust. Please let us know which one you go with and the pros and cons. Thanks for your thoughts
First off, the reviews I've read have them half a step or more down from the absolute perfection of LN planes, but for me, I sure hate it when a potential customer of mine opts for chinese stuff when there is an American made alternative.
I gladly shell out considerably more for a product that does NOT say made in China on it. There are very many good reasons to avoid Chinese made when possible.
My block plane is woodriver, as is our #3. I can’t stand the things, design has been changed from the standard Bailey just enough to make me mad. Especially since I push on the block plane pretty hard to chamfer faster with very deep cuts, and the block plane comes apart by pushing forward on it. I much prefer the lie Nielsen screw tension design that doesn’t fall apart if you push on it too hard.
And if you tighten it down so it doesn’t, then it’s impossible to adjust the depth of cut without loosening the cap, and then having to re adjust your blade to be straight again. The number 3 is fine but it doesn’t feel very good in the hands. I’ve never used a lie Nielsen 3 so nothing to compare to, but I really don’t like the wood river products we use at work. They don’t seem well designed for what I do. They’re probably fine for what they’re intended for, but I do use them differently than most so they’re not for me.
I have the same problem with my WR block plane. That said, a friend gave me a stanley and it sits on a shelf with the WR. I still pick up the WR because it was my first plane and there is some weird connection to it. Also, maybe I've just gotten used to how it needs to be worked, but I haven't had the cap fly off in years. It used to drive me crazy!
I haven’t had the cap fly off in a while but the fact it is even possible drives me nuts. However I totally get that strange sentimentalism to a tool that you didn’t like just because it was your first, I still use my WR block plane multiple times a day. I’m a former engineer, so every time I look at the fact they could’ve put the larger part of the slot in the back rather than the front irks me every time. It’s a more than well enough quality plane, it’s just one design flaw that ruins it for me. But unless lie Nielsen has a sale (lol) I probably won’t be picking up another block plane as long as this one does what I need it to do. That’s why I like to buy quality tools the first time, because I know if I don’t, but it works “good enough” I’m going to keep using it and keep being frustrated with it.
@Rifleman97
Looking forward to your impressions of the L-N #7. I have a number of their bench planes and really like them. My #7 is an exceptionally well preserved Stanley that serves me well on those occasions I need it.
I have a number of both L-N and Veritas planes and think they are both extremely good. I also have a #7 Clifton, which I think is just as well made as either of the above. If anything, it is a little too heavy. This is great when working on the wide face of a board, but you lose a little bit of the feel of the plane when edge joining. Overall, though this is a very minor complaint and I love the plane. The controls are precise and the workmanship is up to the standard of the other two. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. I was origionally going to go with the #7 LN, but this was early in the pandemic when they were very scarce, so looked around and after a lot of research decided to take a chance with the Clifton. I anticipate this will be a lifetime investment.
It’s at the post office today for pickup, I’m excited but I’m not sure I’ll get time to pick it up before they close today.
I’m Canadian so in the past when I wanted to add a plane to my collection I always bought Veritas. I currently own ~ a half dozen. I love them.
I’ve never owned a L-N and the exchange rate doesn’t help but I would love to try one. A friend has a number of their products (he’s richer than me) and likes them a lot.
Arrived today. What a beautiful plane, only complaints so far is there’s more slop in the adjuster than I expected, a bit more than half a turn to 3/4 turn. I know it’s cheap and easy to buy one of those oversized ones and make a perfect fit yourself, and I’ll probably do that, but I was hoping for better. However, everything else is absolutely perfect. I don’t use the ruler trick to flatten the back (I find it stupid, just spend the few minutes to flatten the whole back and never mess with it again) and even with flattening the whole back it only took about 2-3 minutes of sanding to get it entirely flat and polished.
Same with the bevel, it was flat enough I went straight to 1000 grit for polishing and then strop and it is sharper than razor, it could cut hairs without even being pressed against the skin.