Thread: Any thoughts on the Veritas Jointer Fence

I have one of these and once properly set up will work very well.

The important thing to understand is that these things just keep your cut square, you realy need a longer than average plane to use as a jointer, I use my 5 1/2 but only on reasonably short boards.

Thanks for that Termite. I have a nice old Carter jointer plane that I picked up second hand last year that I was thinking of using with the fence. I need to check the number then think about if it really is long enough or not. Do you ever use shooting boards to do longer boards?

I only use shooting boards for end grain. I have a 6" jointer for the long stuff.

Or you could get one of these and get a free jointer fence :eek:

Bugger, I've already bought the jointer fence from them, I wonder if they'll send me a free jointer to go with it?

Originally Posted by Termite

Bugger, I've already bought the jointer fence from them, I wonder if they'll send me a free jointer to go with it?

I suppose we could.... but shipping would have to be about $260 USD.....

Cheers -

Rob

I've had a Veritas jointer fence for a few years. When I first got it, it was a teeny bit disappointed because the fence, when attached to a LN plane (i.e. with a square body, which I checked with a (good) square), ended up not quite square to the plane sole. I had to fiddle with the lateral adjuster on the plane to end up with the plane blade perpendicular to the jointer fence. Once this is done, it works very well.

Over the years, I've found that by using a "finger under the plane" grip and frequently checking with a square, I can get a good jointed edge by hand.

And I use a shooting board for small or short stock.

I have not used the LV jointer fence, but I think that I must get one - if only to evaluate it when I review the LV BU Jointer plane.

I do have something similar, the Stanley #386 jointer fence. Here is is being used on a Stanley #5 1/2 Jack:

<div><img src="http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/ecb93203.jpg" border="0" alt="" /> <br />

This type of fence works well for large boards like the one in the picture. However it is not only cumbersome for small boards, but just plain too large. In such cases I might use a fenced rabbet plane, such as my Record #778 below:

<div><img src="http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/image016.jpg" border="0" alt="" /> <br />

Ideally, just develop the skills to do this without a jig, but these can and do work well.

Regards from Perth

Derek

I'm new here. Stumbled across this forum while googling for the LV jointer plane. I wanted to get other users' impressions of it as I've been told I'll have to wait (and wait) until late November until I can get mine. I still have time to cancel the order if there are bad reviews out there, but I haven't found any yet.

One thing I would like to point out:

The fence with the LV jointer is not the same as the "LV Jointer Fence." Two different animals. The one for the jointer plane (No. 8) appears to be a custom fit for only the LV jointer plane and no other. The "LV Jointer Fence" as a separate item for other planes is completely different.

I have the latter. It attaches mostly well to any longer plane using some pretty powerful magnets. I've been using it on a No 6. As already observed, it may not be absolutely true (mine wasn't). I tried the cutter adjustment trick and wasn't happy with the quality of cut. I took a piece of celophane tape and laid it over the bottom half of both magnets, and viola! A perfect 90 degrees with no compensation needed in the cutter.

The only other complaint I had about it was it would tend to pop off the plane near the end of the day. Not that the end of the day affected the fence, but it affected me; I got tired and a little sloppy with that heavy No 6. It was a handling issue, only. After a night's rest and regaining hand and forearm strength, I had better control and the magnets held it in place just fine. They're actually pretty strong and it takes a good deal of lateral force to pop them loose.

I don't know anything about the new fence that is made for the LV jointer plane. I suppose it must be the same type of setup but it's upper area (that rests against the plane cheeks) is much shorter than the generic fence for other planes. At least that's my impression from looking at the photos on the LV web site. When (if) I ever get mine, I'll let you know. It too will probably have some small outage from perfectly true. I hope there's a way to tune that out without having to fiddle with cutter alignment!

Cheers!

Originally Posted by jshaw

...Over the past year or so I've been getting acquainted with shooting boards, mostly for cross grain but also for short long grain jointing. I'm wondering if it'd be best to make myself up some longer shooting boards for jointing longer edges or if there is another option in one of these jobs. Does anybody out there have any experience of these jointer fences?...

Here's a little trick that is useful. Sometimes.

Place two boards together that are intended to be jointed on their edges, such as a panel glue-up application. Place them either front-to-front, or back-to-back. Line up the intended-to-be-jointed edges as best you can then sock them down in the vise, to-be-jointed edges up. Clamp them here and there along the length (the longer the length, the more clamps you'll need). Run your jointer plane down both edges together as if it were only one board.

Keep planing until you get a smooth cut down the entire length. Then, pop them out of the vise and flip the one board over to have its edge mate with the other. They'll fit! They may not be 90 degree edges, but those two board will match each other perfectly.

Of course, this just won't do when you really need an edge that's a perfect 90 to both sides. The fence you mentioned is probably a very, very good idea for those times.

But for panel glue-ups and such, I don't bother. I use the shortcut described above. If one board is off by 3 degrees, the other will be, too. Only in reverse, so when you flip one board over so that both fronts are next to each other, the 3 degrees that was off on one board matches perfectly with the reverse 3 degrees that the other board will be off.

Just make sure you put them in the vise front-to-front or back-to-back. If you put them in front-to-back you'll have two incompatible edges when you finish.

If you need to glue-up 3 or more boards, just break it down into multiple steps of jointing 2 boards at a time. Mark all edges before you begin. Board one gets 0 and 1 on its edges. Board two gets 1 and 2. Board three gets 2 and 3. And so on.

Joint edges 1 and 1 together, set aside board 1, then joint edges 2 and 2 together from boards two and three. Etc. None of your edges may be true, but they will mate perfectly with the neighbouring boards in the resulting glue-up.

Or maybe you already know this trick. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I'm just exactly a greenhorn here, as of today. Sorry if I'm telling you something you already know...

Cheers!

As usual, Rob is dangling the candy by putting a router plane as his avatar. Has anyone used one of these, got any comments?

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...09&cat=1,41182

Hi John,

I have an L.V. LA Jack and BU Jointer in my collection of toys (er, tools) - and I use the rare-earth magnet attached fence on the former - the latter came with a screw-on fence of broadly the same type. Both help keep a nice square edge - but still check frequently with a square all along the board edge that I'm planing. In both cases, the fences are a "helper" not a solution...

Cheers!

G'day Groggy,

I've recently received a new LV router plane (minus the 1/4" cutter with which LV are, apparently having some issues).

I've only used it a bit so far, and I think I'll need some more practice with it, especially for stopped cuts, but it does seem to work a treat. As with most tools, creep up on the depth required. I got the optional fence as well - although it would be pretty straightforward to make one up - an essential in my view.

Like most LV tools, it's very well made, comes with good instructions (not Chinglish translated via Attic Greek, then Hebrew through to Yanklish:eek: )

Cheers!

Stumbled across this forum while googling for the LV jointer plane. I wanted to get other users' impressions of it as I've been told I'll have to wait (and wait) until late November until I can get mine. I still have time to cancel the order if there are bad reviews out there, but I haven't found any yet.

P-J

Don't cancell your order. The LV Bevel Up Jointer is excellent. I should have a full review up for all in a week (at most). The article will also review the dedicated LV Jointer Fence (for the BUJ) plus my mods/additions (already!).

I have not used the original jointer fence (that connects via magnets). The BUJ version screws on, plus it has a setscrew for adjustment (so you get a perfect 90 degrees). Perhaps you could add a setscrew to square yours up?

As usual, Rob is dangling the candy by putting a router plane as his avatar. Has anyone used one of these, got any comments?

Groogy

I have one to review for Dean. All I will say at this time is that it is fantastic, more of a precision instrument compared to the Stanley #71. I will do a full comparison with that router plane (and perhaps a few others). Should be ready in about 4 weeks (perhaps less - depends on the reports I have stacking up at work ).


Regards from Perth

Derek