Thread: Son of Stan - a review of two LA Jack planes

Had a quick skim through it and it looks very thorough and well-written as one would expect. I look forward to reading it properly. Nice one Derek.

Have you thought of submitting it to some of the mags? Would look good in AWR and FWW

Glad to see you finally got it up Derek . I have printed the article out and stuck it on the bedside table. As with most things I'll have to read it three times before some of it starts to sink into my thick skull.

An thorough effort, well done and thanks.

Cheers

Derek,

Congratulations on the review. Excellent reading that demonstrates not only your passion for the subject but your technical insight.

WIth the information from people like Derek and other Gurus on this forum, its openend my eyes to a whole new respect to hand tools. Even to the point where i find myself buying wet and dry, a sheet of glass and some spray adheisive. Whats that all about?

Keep up the good work Derek, I hope you have got the bug and will keep adding to your website. I hope others like me will warm to the idea that hand tools are as important to the workshop as power tools and static machinery.

I would hope that maybe in the future, a section on tuning and blade settings may pop up. I know its done elsewhere, But you have a great passion for this subject and it appears in your writting.

G

Two gold stars and an elephamt stamp! I will print this and digest it with pleasure. Thanks again for sharing your passion and logic with us. Publish OR be damned!

Den

Logical, good pace, and more importantly I learnt stuff that could be classified as esoteric technical information from an expert unavailiable anywhere else.
Also passes the "KISS" test for me, thats Keep It Simple Stupid(me being the stupid), so simple persons like myself can easily disgest and put to use.

Nice one Derek, look forward to further installments

Derek, I'm impressed with your insight and your ability to express your work in such an understandable way. An excellent review - 10/10.
Graeme

Derek
Just read the article.
Love ya work.
Most of it goes over my head, but if those planes are better on gnarly wood than an HNT Gordon high angle they must be (u)beaut to use.

G'day Derek,

I've only had a chance to lightly skim your article. I'm waiting till I get back to work so I can read it at liesure .

I must say that first impressions are that it looks v. comprehensive.

I hope I won't regret taking your advice to ask for a LN LA smoother for my birthday. :eek: .

Just kidding. I got my hands on the said toy today and have only had the briefest of brief plays so far, but it was fun. What a piece of work!

Craig

Derek

I endorse all of the above. It's an excellent review. Darren's right - you should submit it to FWW and/or AWR - there's enough interesting material in the article to be valuable to the wider woodworking community.

Here's a thought. Based on your findings on the performance of bevel-up and bevel-down blades on gnarly grain, at what point do you put away the planes and reach for a scraper?

Col

I have one question Derek

If both planes have adjustable mouths, was the opening equivalent for the two LA? If it was not then the effect that you see on the figured timber could be related to mouth differences rather than the performance of the plane.

Very impressive. You have challenged what I and perhaps others have thought about this subject, and yet you have presented your argument in a most professional manner and in such a way everyone can understand it.

As you know I have watched your progress with the #62, and like others was aware of the work you were doing with LV and their range of planes.

Finally thanks a bloody lot, now I gotta seek a release of funds to buy one.

Originally Posted by outback

Finally thanks a bloody lot, now I gotta seek a release of funds to buy one.

Yeh, me too.

If both planes have adjustable mouths, was the opening equivalent for the two LA? If it was not then the effect that you see on the figured timber could be related to mouth differences rather than the performance of the plane.

One of the plane makers whom I occasionally chat with, Steve Knight (see: http://www.knight-toolworks.com/), who I might add is the HNT Gordon of USA, and who has been very instrumental in developing high angle planes, says that the need for a tight mouth diminishes as you go above 60 degrees.

Now this makes sense to me (although I am not - yet - in a position to test it out). For example, if we keep moving the cutting angle higher and higher we end up with a scraping action. If this blade were hand held (i.e. without the benefit of a plane mouth) then it would be the same as a card scraper. (This partly answers Col's question, above).

Why is a plane mouth needed? Simple answer - to limit the size of the shaving that may be cut.

It may be extrapolated (from Steve's argument) that the lower the blade angle, the greater the need for a tight/small mouth. This is because the blade is acting in the opposite way to a scraper, that is, it is slicing the wood. And when you slice timber this way you run the risk of the blade lifting the wood, which is what tearout is. So to control the risk of tearout you only permit a small segment to be cut, which is why you have a small mouth.

That should be as clear as mud.

Keep in mind that the review with the LA planes - let's rather call them "bevel up" planes - was really about their potential with high angle blades cutting gnarly Aussie timber.

Regards from Perth

Derek