Veritas Combination Plane Comparison

Mosquito said:

Introduction

First off, I'd be remiss if I didn't thank fellow LumberJock Dave Polaschek for inviting me to his shop making this direct comparison possible for us. I do not own the Veritas plane, so I wouldn't have been able to compare them without his generosity letting me play with his new toy!

Second, I'm going to throw out the disclaimer that this was by no means a 100% exhaustive test. We did not do things like study edge retention, sharpening, and haven't done any prolonged use/testing of the Veritas plane. It was largely just a comparison of the two on a visual, mechanical, and basic general use level. We only had the one standard Veritas iron, and spent about 4 hours messing around with the two planes. We didn't try every single operation, or every single iron, so take that for what it's worth.

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. General Comparison
3. Irons Comparison
4. Rods and Fence Comparison
5. Thoughts on Use
6. My Conclusions
7. Living with the Plane - A Perspective from Dave

Click to expand...

Mosquito said:

Introduction

First off, I'd be remiss if I didn't thank fellow LumberJock Dave Polaschek for inviting me to his shop making this direct comparison possible for us. I do not own the Veritas plane, so I wouldn't have been able to compare them without his generosity letting me play with his new toy!

Second, I'm going to throw out the disclaimer that this was by no means a 100% exhaustive test. We did not do things like study edge retention, sharpening, and haven't done any prolonged use/testing of the Veritas plane. It was largely just a comparison of the two on a visual, mechanical, and basic general use level. We only had the one standard Veritas iron, and spent about 4 hours messing around with the two planes. We didn't try every single operation, or every single iron, so take that for what it's worth.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. General Comparison
3. Irons Comparison
4. Rods and Fence Comparison
5. Thoughts on Use
6. My Conclusions
7. Living with the Plane - A Perspective from Dave

Click to expand...

Thanks for doing this comparison. I have been waiting for one.

- knockknock

Click to expand...

Mosquito said:

Introduction

First off, I'd be remiss if I didn't thank fellow LumberJock Dave Polaschek for inviting me to his shop making this direct comparison possible for us. I do not own the Veritas plane, so I wouldn't have been able to compare them without his generosity letting me play with his new toy!

Second, I'm going to throw out the disclaimer that this was by no means a 100% exhaustive test. We did not do things like study edge retention, sharpening, and haven't done any prolonged use/testing of the Veritas plane. It was largely just a comparison of the two on a visual, mechanical, and basic general use level. We only had the one standard Veritas iron, and spent about 4 hours messing around with the two planes. We didn't try every single operation, or every single iron, so take that for what it's worth.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. General Comparison
3. Irons Comparison
4. Rods and Fence Comparison
5. Thoughts on Use
6. My Conclusions
7. Living with the Plane - A Perspective from Dave

Click to expand...

Mosquito said:

Introduction

First off, I'd be remiss if I didn't thank fellow LumberJock Dave Polaschek for inviting me to his shop making this direct comparison possible for us. I do not own the Veritas plane, so I wouldn't have been able to compare them without his generosity letting me play with his new toy!

Second, I'm going to throw out the disclaimer that this was by no means a 100% exhaustive test. We did not do things like study edge retention, sharpening, and haven't done any prolonged use/testing of the Veritas plane. It was largely just a comparison of the two on a visual, mechanical, and basic general use level. We only had the one standard Veritas iron, and spent about 4 hours messing around with the two planes. We didn't try every single operation, or every single iron, so take that for what it's worth.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. General Comparison
3. Irons Comparison
4. Rods and Fence Comparison
5. Thoughts on Use
6. My Conclusions
7. Living with the Plane - A Perspective from Dave

Click to expand...

Mosquito said:

General Comparison

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. General Comparison
3. Irons Comparison
4. Rods and Fence Comparison
5. Thoughts on Use
6. My Conclusions
7. Living with the Plane - A Perspective from Dave

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General Comparison:

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Veritas, Type 6 Stanley, Type 15 Stanley​

The Veritas combination plane is more on par with the older style Stanley castings (Type 6 and earlier, where the knob is on the main casting). The size is much more similar to that than the Type 7 and later castings.

The weights also reflected that as well. The Veritas was 60.75oz (~3.8lbs), the Type 7 was 68.55oz(~4.28lbs), and the Type 15 was way off the deep end at 82.1oz (~5.13lbs). There was a significantly noticeable difference, as one would imagine from a nearly 1/3 increase in weight.

I found thetote on the Veritas to be a lot more comfortable than I was expecting. I liked it since the shape was better, to my feel, than the other totes from Veritas. It's different than on the shooting plane (only Veritas plane I own), as well as the skew rabbit plane (only other Veritas Dave had). It feels a little thicker than the other tote, and a little larger than the #45. Something that took some getting used to at first was a lack of anything to rest my pointer finger against, which is how I typically hold a #45. It didn't take long to get used to, though, as I didn't notice it when I was actually using the tool.

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Veritas skates top, Stanley Type 15 bottom​

The skates on the Veritas have a wider contact point than the #45 does. I think this helped a little bit with the stability of the plane. It felt less wobbly in use than the #45. It is possible that the stability is also a result of less weight than the #45 too, but that's difficult to prove with the time and resources we had.

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Veritas sliding skate blade guide knob​

Something that I found quite handy when setting up the plane was the knob in the center of the sliding skate on the Veritas. Veritas calls it the blade guide knob, and it pushes against the side of the blade, keeping it in place against the main casting. If you've used a #45 you've probably gotten used to making sure the plane blade was pushed over while tightening it down. That's essentially what this knob is for, and it works well. It also helps to position the sliding skate exactly where you want it too, we found.

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Veritas small blade guide knob​

Veritas also covered the scenario where you have a smaller iron and may not have the sliding skate installed. There's a small brass knob that screws in just behind the blade, and will similarly hold it against the main skate. Something we found was that the Stanley 1/8 and 3/16 irons didn't work for this, since the blades weren't wide enough for the knob to reach it. The Veritas irons are wider and have a step down to the narrow widths, so it works for their irons.

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Click to expand...

Mosquito said:

Iron Comparison

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. General Comparison
3. Irons Comparison
4. Rods and Fence Comparison
5. Thoughts on Use
6. My Conclusions
7. Living with the Plane - A Perspective from Dave

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Iron Comparison:

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Veritas iron left, Stanley iron right​

The irons are the same thickness, but the #45 irons are a little longer. This particular #45 iron is about 1/8" shorter than what a wew/old stock #45 iron would have been, but they still work (see note below, though). The notches in them are the same, or at least close enough to the same to work in either of the two planes.

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Veritas iron in Stanley plane​

The Veritas iron works fine in the Stanley plane. The notch works with the depth adjustment mechanism and it's not too thick to fit in the casting. The only thing is that the Veritas irons shorter length means you're close to the end of how far you can adjust the iron in the #45. once it's been sharpened down far enough, you could eke out a little more life of the cutter by not using the notch for adjustment but instead just having the depth adjuster push on the end of the iron. Regardless, the point is they work, and it should take a while before you'd wear through that much iron anyway.

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Stanley iron in Veritas plane​

Since the Veritas irons work in the Stanley plane, we'd assume the reverse is true too, right? Well it is, though with a slight caveat. They fit and work with the plane; however if the Stanley iron is, or is close to, full length it gets really close to running out of threads on the depth adjustment knurled nut. It fits and works fine, but I would prefer to have more than just a couple threads engaged on the depth adjustment nut myself.

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Veritas depth adjustment nut with Stanley iron​

It's tough to get a picture of it well, but here you can sort of see how far out the depth adjustment nut is, and how far down the threaded rod is.

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Stanley irons in Veritas iron box​

Being that the Stanley irons are longer, you won't be able to buy the Veritas boxes to house your Stanley irons, unless they've all been sharpened enough to be shorter.

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Click to expand...

Mosquito said:

Iron Comparison

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. General Comparison
3. Irons Comparison
4. Rods and Fence Comparison
5. Thoughts on Use
6. My Conclusions
7. Living with the Plane - A Perspective from Dave

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Iron Comparison:

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Veritas iron left, Stanley iron right​

The irons are the same thickness, but the #45 irons are a little longer. This particular #45 iron is about 1/8" shorter than what a wew/old stock #45 iron would have been, but they still work (see note below, though). The notches in them are the same, or at least close enough to the same to work in either of the two planes.

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Veritas iron in Stanley plane​

The Veritas iron works fine in the Stanley plane. The notch works with the depth adjustment mechanism and it's not too thick to fit in the casting. The only thing is that the Veritas irons shorter length means you're close to the end of how far you can adjust the iron in the #45. once it's been sharpened down far enough, you could eke out a little more life of the cutter by not using the notch for adjustment but instead just having the depth adjuster push on the end of the iron. Regardless, the point is they work, and it should take a while before you'd wear through that much iron anyway.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stanley iron in Veritas plane​

Since the Veritas irons work in the Stanley plane, we'd assume the reverse is true too, right? Well it is, though with a slight caveat. They fit and work with the plane; however if the Stanley iron is, or is close to, full length it gets really close to running out of threads on the depth adjustment knurled nut. It fits and works fine, but I would prefer to have more than just a couple threads engaged on the depth adjustment nut myself.

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Veritas depth adjustment nut with Stanley iron​

It's tough to get a picture of it well, but here you can sort of see how far out the depth adjustment nut is, and how far down the threaded rod is.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stanley irons in Veritas iron box​

Being that the Stanley irons are longer, you won't be able to buy the Veritas boxes to house your Stanley irons, unless they've all been sharpened enough to be shorter.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Click to expand...

Mosquito said:

Iron Comparison

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. General Comparison
3. Irons Comparison
4. Rods and Fence Comparison
5. Thoughts on Use
6. My Conclusions
7. Living with the Plane - A Perspective from Dave

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iron Comparison:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Veritas iron left, Stanley iron right​

The irons are the same thickness, but the #45 irons are a little longer. This particular #45 iron is about 1/8" shorter than what a wew/old stock #45 iron would have been, but they still work (see note below, though). The notches in them are the same, or at least close enough to the same to work in either of the two planes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Veritas iron in Stanley plane​

The Veritas iron works fine in the Stanley plane. The notch works with the depth adjustment mechanism and it's not too thick to fit in the casting. The only thing is that the Veritas irons shorter length means you're close to the end of how far you can adjust the iron in the #45. once it's been sharpened down far enough, you could eke out a little more life of the cutter by not using the notch for adjustment but instead just having the depth adjuster push on the end of the iron. Regardless, the point is they work, and it should take a while before you'd wear through that much iron anyway.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stanley iron in Veritas plane​

Since the Veritas irons work in the Stanley plane, we'd assume the reverse is true too, right? Well it is, though with a slight caveat. They fit and work with the plane; however if the Stanley iron is, or is close to, full length it gets really close to running out of threads on the depth adjustment knurled nut. It fits and works fine, but I would prefer to have more than just a couple threads engaged on the depth adjustment nut myself.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Veritas depth adjustment nut with Stanley iron​

It's tough to get a picture of it well, but here you can sort of see how far out the depth adjustment nut is, and how far down the threaded rod is.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stanley irons in Veritas iron box​

Being that the Stanley irons are longer, you won't be able to buy the Veritas boxes to house your Stanley irons, unless they've all been sharpened enough to be shorter.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Click to expand...

Mosquito said:

Rods and Fence Comparison

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. General Comparison
3. Irons Comparison
4. Rods and Fence Comparison
5. Thoughts on Use
6. My Conclusions
7. Living with the Plane - A Perspective from Dave

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Fence Rod Comparison:

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Long rods, Stanley left, Veritas right​

I did not measure the diameters, but they are clearly different. They're about the same length for both the long and short rods (Stanley rods are about ¼" longer). The Veritas rods have a very slight taper on the end, and it isn't polished like the rest of it. This helps locate and get the fence or sliding skate on, but I found it to still have the same problems with the skate/fence not sliding well, and binding. The #45 has the same problem from time to time, but a little wax seems to fix that for me.

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Veritas's picture of their skew rabbit plane​

I don't have a picture of it, but they are the same diameter as the rods and spacing on the skew rabbet plane, so the fence fits on it. The difference, however, is that the skew rabbet plane rods screw into the casting of the plane, so you'd be able to use the skew rabbet rods in the combination plane, but not the other way around. Also, the fence locking mechanism on the skew rabbet (or small plow) is different, and I kind of like it more.

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Veritas rod in Stanley fence ​

In case you're a "picture or it didn't happen" type: See I told you that's not going to work…

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Stanely fence, Veritas plane​

"Ok, but if I enlarged the holes on the Veritas plane to use Stanley rods, then I could use the Stanley fence, right?". Nope, you'd also have to move the location of the rods as well, sorry.

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Stanley in Veritas box​

With the rods spaced closer together on the Stanley plane, we knew it wouldn't sit in the box like the Veritas does. As it turns out, the Stanley plane is also slightly longer as well, and wouldn't fit in the Veritas box if the iron boxes were also in it.

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That about does it for the visual/mechanical comparison, the only thing left was to make some shavings with them both…

Click to expand...

Mosquito said:

Rods and Fence Comparison

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. General Comparison
3. Irons Comparison
4. Rods and Fence Comparison
5. Thoughts on Use
6. My Conclusions
7. Living with the Plane - A Perspective from Dave

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fence Rod Comparison:

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Long rods, Stanley left, Veritas right​

I did not measure the diameters, but they are clearly different. They're about the same length for both the long and short rods (Stanley rods are about ¼" longer). The Veritas rods have a very slight taper on the end, and it isn't polished like the rest of it. This helps locate and get the fence or sliding skate on, but I found it to still have the same problems with the skate/fence not sliding well, and binding. The #45 has the same problem from time to time, but a little wax seems to fix that for me.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Veritas's picture of their skew rabbit plane​

I don't have a picture of it, but they are the same diameter as the rods and spacing on the skew rabbet plane, so the fence fits on it. The difference, however, is that the skew rabbet plane rods screw into the casting of the plane, so you'd be able to use the skew rabbet rods in the combination plane, but not the other way around. Also, the fence locking mechanism on the skew rabbet (or small plow) is different, and I kind of like it more.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Veritas rod in Stanley fence ​

In case you're a "picture or it didn't happen" type: See I told you that's not going to work…

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stanely fence, Veritas plane​

"Ok, but if I enlarged the holes on the Veritas plane to use Stanley rods, then I could use the Stanley fence, right?". Nope, you'd also have to move the location of the rods as well, sorry.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stanley in Veritas box​

With the rods spaced closer together on the Stanley plane, we knew it wouldn't sit in the box like the Veritas does. As it turns out, the Stanley plane is also slightly longer as well, and wouldn't fit in the Veritas box if the iron boxes were also in it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

That about does it for the visual/mechanical comparison, the only thing left was to make some shavings with them both…

Click to expand...

Mosquito said:

Rods and Fence Comparison

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. General Comparison
3. Irons Comparison
4. Rods and Fence Comparison
5. Thoughts on Use
6. My Conclusions
7. Living with the Plane - A Perspective from Dave

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fence Rod Comparison:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Long rods, Stanley left, Veritas right​

I did not measure the diameters, but they are clearly different. They're about the same length for both the long and short rods (Stanley rods are about ¼" longer). The Veritas rods have a very slight taper on the end, and it isn't polished like the rest of it. This helps locate and get the fence or sliding skate on, but I found it to still have the same problems with the skate/fence not sliding well, and binding. The #45 has the same problem from time to time, but a little wax seems to fix that for me.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Veritas's picture of their skew rabbit plane​

I don't have a picture of it, but they are the same diameter as the rods and spacing on the skew rabbet plane, so the fence fits on it. The difference, however, is that the skew rabbet plane rods screw into the casting of the plane, so you'd be able to use the skew rabbet rods in the combination plane, but not the other way around. Also, the fence locking mechanism on the skew rabbet (or small plow) is different, and I kind of like it more.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Veritas rod in Stanley fence ​

In case you're a "picture or it didn't happen" type: See I told you that's not going to work…

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stanely fence, Veritas plane​

"Ok, but if I enlarged the holes on the Veritas plane to use Stanley rods, then I could use the Stanley fence, right?". Nope, you'd also have to move the location of the rods as well, sorry.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stanley in Veritas box​

With the rods spaced closer together on the Stanley plane, we knew it wouldn't sit in the box like the Veritas does. As it turns out, the Stanley plane is also slightly longer as well, and wouldn't fit in the Veritas box if the iron boxes were also in it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

That about does it for the visual/mechanical comparison, the only thing left was to make some shavings with them both…

Click to expand...

Mosquito said:

Thoughts on Use

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. General Comparison
3. Irons Comparison
4. Rods and Fence Comparison
5. Thoughts on Use
6. My Conclusions
7. Living with the Plane - A Perspective from Dave

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Thoughts on Use

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So… Realizing that this is going to be completely subjective and strictly my opinion based on my limited use of the Veritas plane, both Dave and I used both the Veritas and the Stanley (Type 15) back to back in a few different scenarios.

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Grooving
The first thing we tried was just a simple groove along the face of a board, much like one would do for a drawer or box bottom. We used the ¼" irons for both, since that's the only one we had for the Veritas at the time. We used the sliding skate on both, though with ¼" it's technically optional. Both planes got the job done effectively, and I wouldn't necessarily say that either one of them did a demonstrably better job than the other.

One difference that I noticed was that the Veritas plane felt more stable to me. With the Stanley #45 it felt like it had more of a tendency wobble side to side, causing the plane to not always be perpendicular to the work piece. I didn't notice the wobble as much when I was using it, but the Veritas definitely felt more effortless in operation. I've also had many hours of practice with the #45 as well, so I didn't have any problems with it. I did notice it a lot more, and almost immediately, when Dave first used both. I'm sure he'd get the feel for the #45 after using it for more time, but it seemed like for a first time use scenario the Veritas was easier to handle.

I think the stability difference, at least with the ¼" iron, may be down to the width of the skates where they contact the bottom of the groove, and the tolerance of the skate walls fitting to the iron better. With the wider skates on the Veritas, it probably had a little more of a positive feel for when it was and wasn't square to the work. The other thing was that blade alignment knob on the sliding skate pushes the sliding skate right to the edge of the iron every time. Something that's more difficult with the Stanley since you have to eyeball it and do it by feel.

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Center Beading

The next operation was to center bead. Since we didn't have a Veritas beading iron, we used a ¼" Stanley beading iron on both planes. Again, the blade alignment knob in the sliding skate made the set up a lot easier on the Veritas, since it more or less did it for you. Again there was no demonstrable difference in either planes ability to put a bead in the center of the board.

Neither plane really did a whole lot better than the other when the fence was at the far end of its long rods. You still have to be careful not to rock the fence while planning with both of them. Even the Stanley camrest doesn't fully solve the problem, as you have to keep remembering to adjust it frequently. If anything, I'd saw the previously mentioned stability of the Veritas plane probably lets it edge out an ever so slight lead here.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dado

The last thing we did before packing up was to cut a dado. Again we used the ¼" irons for both planes. We set up to do the edge of the face, similar to when we cut the grooves; just going cross grain this time.

Setting up the knickers on the #45 is easy, you take out a screw, turn the spurs, and put the screw back in. The Veritas is a little more involved, and lets you fine tune things as you need to. There's a screw that holds the spur, and another set screw that can adjust the distance from the body or skate, to get it perfectly lined up with the edge of the skate. The knickers on the Veritas are shaped much more like the slitting iron on a #45 but only beveled on one side.

It was a little tricky to get the Veritas knickers set just right. The common problem with a screw holding something down is that tightening down the screw caused it to move a little bit when one side grabbed and the other hadn't yet. Not a huge deal, but noted none the less.

It was strange, however, when we actually used the knickers on the Veritas. We were only using a pine board for the demonstration, and the first time or two that I pulled the plane backwards across the board, one of the knickers had the tip curl over. "Was that like that before we set the knicker and we didn't notice? I'm not sure", so we flattened it out, reset the knickers, and tried again. The plane worked, and it scored the wood, but afterwards we noticed the other knicker now had the same problem. This may have been poor heat treating due to the small edge, or it could be an issue with the shape and size of the tip (being pointed), we're not sure. I would probably sharpen these to eventually be rounded, and look more like a fingernail than pointed, as that may hold up better with use.

That issue aside, before the tips curled, the Veritas plane's knickers worked much more smoothly than the Stanley's. The issue with the knickers on the Stanley is that they've got 2 settings; Engaged and disengaged. There's no depth adjustment beyond just filing and sharpening one of the 3 spurs shorter. In the pine, the heavy depth of the knickers on the #45 was noticeable, and some parts along the edge had some tearing where the wood didn't cut cleanly on the back stroke. The Veritas was much more like a marking knife line, and worked well.

After that both planes cut the dado fine, and behaved much like the grooving operation.

It may also be of note, that Veritas didn't really get much accomplished to solve the mouth jamming up with shavings, especially with thin or narrow shavings.

Click to expand...

Mosquito said:

Thoughts on Use

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. General Comparison
3. Irons Comparison
4. Rods and Fence Comparison
5. Thoughts on Use
6. My Conclusions
7. Living with the Plane - A Perspective from Dave

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thoughts on Use

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

So… Realizing that this is going to be completely subjective and strictly my opinion based on my limited use of the Veritas plane, both Dave and I used both the Veritas and the Stanley (Type 15) back to back in a few different scenarios.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grooving
The first thing we tried was just a simple groove along the face of a board, much like one would do for a drawer or box bottom. We used the ¼" irons for both, since that's the only one we had for the Veritas at the time. We used the sliding skate on both, though with ¼" it's technically optional. Both planes got the job done effectively, and I wouldn't necessarily say that either one of them did a demonstrably better job than the other.

One difference that I noticed was that the Veritas plane felt more stable to me. With the Stanley #45 it felt like it had more of a tendency wobble side to side, causing the plane to not always be perpendicular to the work piece. I didn't notice the wobble as much when I was using it, but the Veritas definitely felt more effortless in operation. I've also had many hours of practice with the #45 as well, so I didn't have any problems with it. I did notice it a lot more, and almost immediately, when Dave first used both. I'm sure he'd get the feel for the #45 after using it for more time, but it seemed like for a first time use scenario the Veritas was easier to handle.

I think the stability difference, at least with the ¼" iron, may be down to the width of the skates where they contact the bottom of the groove, and the tolerance of the skate walls fitting to the iron better. With the wider skates on the Veritas, it probably had a little more of a positive feel for when it was and wasn't square to the work. The other thing was that blade alignment knob on the sliding skate pushes the sliding skate right to the edge of the iron every time. Something that's more difficult with the Stanley since you have to eyeball it and do it by feel.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Center Beading

The next operation was to center bead. Since we didn't have a Veritas beading iron, we used a ¼" Stanley beading iron on both planes. Again, the blade alignment knob in the sliding skate made the set up a lot easier on the Veritas, since it more or less did it for you. Again there was no demonstrable difference in either planes ability to put a bead in the center of the board.

Neither plane really did a whole lot better than the other when the fence was at the far end of its long rods. You still have to be careful not to rock the fence while planning with both of them. Even the Stanley camrest doesn't fully solve the problem, as you have to keep remembering to adjust it frequently. If anything, I'd saw the previously mentioned stability of the Veritas plane probably lets it edge out an ever so slight lead here.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dado

The last thing we did before packing up was to cut a dado. Again we used the ¼" irons for both planes. We set up to do the edge of the face, similar to when we cut the grooves; just going cross grain this time.

Setting up the knickers on the #45 is easy, you take out a screw, turn the spurs, and put the screw back in. The Veritas is a little more involved, and lets you fine tune things as you need to. There's a screw that holds the spur, and another set screw that can adjust the distance from the body or skate, to get it perfectly lined up with the edge of the skate. The knickers on the Veritas are shaped much more like the slitting iron on a #45 but only beveled on one side.

It was a little tricky to get the Veritas knickers set just right. The common problem with a screw holding something down is that tightening down the screw caused it to move a little bit when one side grabbed and the other hadn't yet. Not a huge deal, but noted none the less.

It was strange, however, when we actually used the knickers on the Veritas. We were only using a pine board for the demonstration, and the first time or two that I pulled the plane backwards across the board, one of the knickers had the tip curl over. "Was that like that before we set the knicker and we didn't notice? I'm not sure", so we flattened it out, reset the knickers, and tried again. The plane worked, and it scored the wood, but afterwards we noticed the other knicker now had the same problem. This may have been poor heat treating due to the small edge, or it could be an issue with the shape and size of the tip (being pointed), we're not sure. I would probably sharpen these to eventually be rounded, and look more like a fingernail than pointed, as that may hold up better with use.

That issue aside, before the tips curled, the Veritas plane's knickers worked much more smoothly than the Stanley's. The issue with the knickers on the Stanley is that they've got 2 settings; Engaged and disengaged. There's no depth adjustment beyond just filing and sharpening one of the 3 spurs shorter. In the pine, the heavy depth of the knickers on the #45 was noticeable, and some parts along the edge had some tearing where the wood didn't cut cleanly on the back stroke. The Veritas was much more like a marking knife line, and worked well.

After that both planes cut the dado fine, and behaved much like the grooving operation.

It may also be of note, that Veritas didn't really get much accomplished to solve the mouth jamming up with shavings, especially with thin or narrow shavings.

Click to expand...

Mosquito said:

Thoughts on Use

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. General Comparison
3. Irons Comparison
4. Rods and Fence Comparison
5. Thoughts on Use
6. My Conclusions
7. Living with the Plane - A Perspective from Dave

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thoughts on Use

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

So… Realizing that this is going to be completely subjective and strictly my opinion based on my limited use of the Veritas plane, both Dave and I used both the Veritas and the Stanley (Type 15) back to back in a few different scenarios.

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Grooving
The first thing we tried was just a simple groove along the face of a board, much like one would do for a drawer or box bottom. We used the ¼" irons for both, since that's the only one we had for the Veritas at the time. We used the sliding skate on both, though with ¼" it's technically optional. Both planes got the job done effectively, and I wouldn't necessarily say that either one of them did a demonstrably better job than the other.

One difference that I noticed was that the Veritas plane felt more stable to me. With the Stanley #45 it felt like it had more of a tendency wobble side to side, causing the plane to not always be perpendicular to the work piece. I didn't notice the wobble as much when I was using it, but the Veritas definitely felt more effortless in operation. I've also had many hours of practice with the #45 as well, so I didn't have any problems with it. I did notice it a lot more, and almost immediately, when Dave first used both. I'm sure he'd get the feel for the #45 after using it for more time, but it seemed like for a first time use scenario the Veritas was easier to handle.

I think the stability difference, at least with the ¼" iron, may be down to the width of the skates where they contact the bottom of the groove, and the tolerance of the skate walls fitting to the iron better. With the wider skates on the Veritas, it probably had a little more of a positive feel for when it was and wasn't square to the work. The other thing was that blade alignment knob on the sliding skate pushes the sliding skate right to the edge of the iron every time. Something that's more difficult with the Stanley since you have to eyeball it and do it by feel.

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Center Beading

The next operation was to center bead. Since we didn't have a Veritas beading iron, we used a ¼" Stanley beading iron on both planes. Again, the blade alignment knob in the sliding skate made the set up a lot easier on the Veritas, since it more or less did it for you. Again there was no demonstrable difference in either planes ability to put a bead in the center of the board.

Neither plane really did a whole lot better than the other when the fence was at the far end of its long rods. You still have to be careful not to rock the fence while planning with both of them. Even the Stanley camrest doesn't fully solve the problem, as you have to keep remembering to adjust it frequently. If anything, I'd saw the previously mentioned stability of the Veritas plane probably lets it edge out an ever so slight lead here.

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Dado

The last thing we did before packing up was to cut a dado. Again we used the ¼" irons for both planes. We set up to do the edge of the face, similar to when we cut the grooves; just going cross grain this time.

Setting up the knickers on the #45 is easy, you take out a screw, turn the spurs, and put the screw back in. The Veritas is a little more involved, and lets you fine tune things as you need to. There's a screw that holds the spur, and another set screw that can adjust the distance from the body or skate, to get it perfectly lined up with the edge of the skate. The knickers on the Veritas are shaped much more like the slitting iron on a #45 but only beveled on one side.

It was a little tricky to get the Veritas knickers set just right. The common problem with a screw holding something down is that tightening down the screw caused it to move a little bit when one side grabbed and the other hadn't yet. Not a huge deal, but noted none the less.

It was strange, however, when we actually used the knickers on the Veritas. We were only using a pine board for the demonstration, and the first time or two that I pulled the plane backwards across the board, one of the knickers had the tip curl over. "Was that like that before we set the knicker and we didn't notice? I'm not sure", so we flattened it out, reset the knickers, and tried again. The plane worked, and it scored the wood, but afterwards we noticed the other knicker now had the same problem. This may have been poor heat treating due to the small edge, or it could be an issue with the shape and size of the tip (being pointed), we're not sure. I would probably sharpen these to eventually be rounded, and look more like a fingernail than pointed, as that may hold up better with use.

That issue aside, before the tips curled, the Veritas plane's knickers worked much more smoothly than the Stanley's. The issue with the knickers on the Stanley is that they've got 2 settings; Engaged and disengaged. There's no depth adjustment beyond just filing and sharpening one of the 3 spurs shorter. In the pine, the heavy depth of the knickers on the #45 was noticeable, and some parts along the edge had some tearing where the wood didn't cut cleanly on the back stroke. The Veritas was much more like a marking knife line, and worked well.

After that both planes cut the dado fine, and behaved much like the grooving operation.

It may also be of note, that Veritas didn't really get much accomplished to solve the mouth jamming up with shavings, especially with thin or narrow shavings.

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