Thread: Veritas Low Angle Jack Problem

Growl

The A2 blades from Veritas are tough. While it is a given that all Aussie hardwood demands a high angle setting to avoid tearout, a low angled blade should not "dint", unless you are repeatedly slamming it into endgrain on a shooting board (and even then this has not happened to me). Sometimes even Veritas may produce an underspec blade. However, before you return it, grind it back a bit and hone it afresh. Somtimes the good metal is very close by.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Yes to Derek's post. I would add that if their as shipped blade angle is low enough, I have "dinted" every maker's A2 plane irons. But only on very tough wood. I would grind it back a tad, add a little steeper bevel angle. Not much maybe a mm or two.

You should have seen the low angle blade after I planed some not so hard hardwood which was recycled wood. The dirt and grit embedded in it made the plane blade look like someone with a tiny little ballpein hammer took at the edge.

Take care, Mike

Thanks guys,

Derek, you mention slamming it into endgrain. That it what I have been doing. Maybe 20 passes with the plane to get it that way. Maybe I have the blade extended too far. Would that make a difference? For it to be advertised to be well suited for endgrain...? Maybe I am expecting too much.:confused:

I will try it on face grain after re-honing tonight to see if it dints again on the same piece of timber?

What angle do you recomend if I do regrind?

Mike, good point about the recycled timber bit. I will look tonight when I get home to investigate. It is old timber but I do not think it was recycled. I will cut a fresh face and try again. Good point though, one which I had not thought of.

Thanks for your comments.

Regards

Growl

The only thing I can add is that it should slice and not bite. If the plane is biting or grabbing either the blade is extended to far or perhaps getting a bit blunt. Cutting end grain on old red gum it tends to skid off rather then grab in my experience when blunt. RG for me comes off in fine shavings no larger than fingernail size and takes the edge off the blade in no time compared to something like meranti or ash.

John.

Remember in Austraila we understand the meaning of the word " hardwood" in some other countries they don't full grasp the concept.

cheers

John,

That sounds like it. Maybe I should back it off a little and try again. The timber was blue gum not red gum. I think the red gum is a lot harder from memory. Good advise on the catching rather than slicing. I will pay more attention to what you have described.

The tool is lovely but it still has to perform (or rather for me to make it perform - read "user error to blame" probably).

I am learning, which is great and the help here is greatly appreciated.

Regards

Greg

I think soundy is close. These Northern hemisphere girlies may have what is technically hardwood. But we call a shovel a bloody shovel and hardwood cos its farking hard.

Shooting end grain on a good hardwood will dull ya edge quicker than a schooner of rum ona empty stomach.

Outback, you have a turn of phrase that is True Blue. I laughed so

Growl, for end grain you best use as low angle as you can get away with. I tend to get away with a 25 degree bevel on a 12 degree BU plane such as the LV LA Jack. You may need to go higher if the wood is very hard. Note that one can even go as high as 60 degrees, which is the cutting angle on the HNT Gordon Try Plane.

I think that the answer is in how you use it. As John noted, the aim is to take fine slices.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Northern Hemisphere Girlie Man here

Growl, you may find after a few honings and less projection the iron begins to last longer before it needs it again. But if not, LV will take it back and send you a new one.

Outback--that was funny! Good thing it's 2 am here and I wasn't drinking more coffee else I would have spit it on the keyboard...

Take care, Mike

Originally Posted by growl

I think the red gum is a lot harder from memory.

Greg - it's t'other way round, in this neck of the woods. Any River Red Gum (E. camaldulensis) I've tackled has been relatively workable compared with our Bluegum, or Forest Redgum (E. tereticornis). It's hobs-of-hell stuff when dry - I'd rate it at least 4x the toughness of Jarrah.

I'm very happy with the way all my LV A2 blades hold up on anything I would consider 'normal' woods, (Like Derek, I go for about 25 deg grind angle and a secondary bevel taking it to around 30). But old dry hardwoods will test anything short of diamond. What Mike said about grit is sort of pertinent, too - most Eucalypts are full of silica (= glass!) so it's little wonder things stop happening the way you'd like after a half dozen passes.

I recently used an old chunk of nondescript hardwood to make a couple of bench legs (I think it's Ironbark). They came off the 'lectric noisemaker a bit off-square, due mostly to blade-dulling, so I thought I'd tidy them up with a few swipes of the trusty #7. Hah! about 4 swipes and it just skidded over the surface. The hardest blade I have, an Academy, lost the urge to cut after about a dozen strokes.

So I wouldn't rush to condemn the blade after such a severe test, but if it curls up on mountain ash or something relatively soft, then you do have a lemon.

FWIW,

I like the comments here. But before regrinding etc - do what Ian suggests, trim the bad bit off by honing a secondary bevel at 30 deg and try again.

What we need here is some sort of relative hardness index for wood

I wonder how some of our woods would go aginst standard metal hardness indexes?

cheers

Originally Posted by soundman

I wonder how some of our woods would go aginst standard metal hardness indexes?

Soundy - no problem at all - the scale isn't only for metal - it starts pretty low down, so wood fits in ok. I've seen measurements for wood quoted occasionally - can't remember what the bits rated at, but since it's a logarithmic scale, it's not very intuitive, so the numbers don't do much.

Cheers,

Here is a link to a comparison list:

http://www.worldwideflood.com/ark/wood/timber_list.htm

Regards from Perth

Derek