Last year I bought a scraper plane from Veritas and I has sat on the shelf largely unused until the last week. Too many things got in the way too many times. But this week I saw a break in the clouds and actually spent the time to properly set up and use the toy.
So what do I think
Well to save others the bother let me point out that:
1. No it is not necessary to buy one. There are alternatives which do a good job
2. It is expensive.
But I like the thing. It is a pretty little object, well made with lots of fiddly bits for a fiddler like me to play with. It is certainly not a tool you can take out of the box and start making shavings with. Mine still has the standard Lee Valley blade in it and I have read that Ron Hock make a better one but the standard one seems to be working okay.
I have used it on some wild grained camphor, some Tasmanian Myrtle and a couple of other bits and pieces. Set up it leaves a glassy flat finish. Not set up I bucks and kicks and carries on. If you get one, and I cannot think of any good reason other than fun to do so, it pays to read the instructions carefully and then actually follow them. Once I did that (and I might try it again one day) the plane produces translucent shavings with ease.
I have lots of camphor and I can get a good finish, most times, with a BU smoother, provided the blade is ground to around 40 degrees (all thanks to Derek Cohen for that bit of advice). But there have been a few bits that defeated my best attempts to plane them. The scraper so far has beaten every bit of wood I have tossed at it.
I suppose a sensible man might have gone onto the net and got an old Stanley scraper and I dare say it would have done just fine. But if you like hand tools and mucking about with them then I do not think you would be sorry to muck about with the scraper plane from Veritas.
So what do I think
Well to save others the bother let me point out that:
1. No it is not necessary to buy one. There are alternatives which do a good job
2. It is expensive.
But I like the thing. It is a pretty little object, well made with lots of fiddly bits for a fiddler like me to play with. It is certainly not a tool you can take out of the box and start making shavings with. Mine still has the standard Lee Valley blade in it and I have read that Ron Hock make a better one but the standard one seems to be working okay.
I have used it on some wild grained camphor, some Tasmanian Myrtle and a couple of other bits and pieces. Set up it leaves a glassy flat finish. Not set up I bucks and kicks and carries on. If you get one, and I cannot think of any good reason other than fun to do so, it pays to read the instructions carefully and then actually follow them. Once I did that (and I might try it again one day) the plane produces translucent shavings with ease.
I have lots of camphor and I can get a good finish, most times, with a BU smoother, provided the blade is ground to around 40 degrees (all thanks to Derek Cohen for that bit of advice). But there have been a few bits that defeated my best attempts to plane them. The scraper so far has beaten every bit of wood I have tossed at it.
I suppose a sensible man might have gone onto the net and got an old Stanley scraper and I dare say it would have done just fine. But if you like hand tools and mucking about with them then I do not think you would be sorry to muck about with the scraper plane from Veritas.
Veritas Scraper Plane
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