Veritas Scraper Plane

[chook]

I have just got a Veritas scraper plane and having set it up I have taken a few shavings with it. Firstly I must say that I have zero previous experience with scraper planes. I have a few card scrapers which I have not enjoyed using at all. They cut okay but extended use is just hard work. They get hot and make my thumbs sore.

Also I am sure I do not need one and that there are 10 different ways of doing things without a scraper plane but the thing looks nice, beautiful my daughter said, and I thought it might be fun to set one up and learn to use it. I have a lot of camphor laurel which Is prone to tear out and so perhaps this might be a solution.

Anyway out of the box it is wonderfully made;the sole is dead flat and wide. The blade only just fits into a Veritas honing guide. The blade took more time to set up than other offerings from Veritas. The back of the blade had prominent machine marks and some time on the stones was required to get a reasonable polish on the edges. The blade is sharpened at 45 degrees. It is then burnished and the final angle on the burnisher is 15 degrees from horizontal. This places a wee little hook on the blade. This took a few goes to get right but it is easily done and I used a bevel guage set at the required angle to help me get it right. The blade leans forward at an initial angle of 5 degrees off the vertical but this can be increased or decreased. Also a small and hard to access little screw can put a bit of a bow in the blade. If you are considering getting one watch the Veritas video. I found that everything they said was perfectly true.

Anyway after a bit of a fiddle here are some nice little shavings. The first is some camphor and the second some silky oak. You can see that I am getting nice curly and thin shavings, not dust. The surface on the camphor is silky smooth with no sign of the tear out.

The sole of the plane is very wide which should give nice flat surfaces.

Considering my absolute inexperience with this type of plane I am quite happy with the result.

I like like fiddling with planes and this will satisfy the fiddler in me for some time to come. I am making a some camphor box at present and I might put some pictures up when done.

[chook]

Here is a board I planed with it. The pictures does not make it clear but the board is flat and glassy smooth. Not a trace of tear out and no sanding required. Quick and easy.image.jpg

[veloaficionado]

I've got a Lie Neilsen scraper plane– thought it was a bit of an extravagance at the time I bought it, but with a bit of fettling of the blade (Ron Hock has some very good points on sharpening them) it works very well on difficult grain. Glad I bought it now. I'm with you on the thumb strain of card scrapers on big boards.