Julie Mo

Hi Julie - Just had a look at the Lee Valley site and downloaded their catalogue - some very nice goodies there - thanks for the mention. cheers Pete

Looks good too thanks for the heads up on that for the future - I bought the StewMac specifically to be a poor mans mini Router Table for frames and that sort of work that won't take up a lot of bench space and I don't see me having to alter the depth during use so think it should do the job for a while - Cheers Pete

Ok, I wouldn't call block and smoothing plane similar-sized, standard block, smooth, jack, and jointer are all distinct sizes that perform specific functions relative to each other. I mean I'm not sure I'd recommend buying the small smoothing plane but the large one I have is an altogether different animal from your block plane.
 
But your mileage may vary and it's up to you what you get. My concern is that the jack is too big, but certainly block is much too small to flatten boards that long/wide so no I wouldn't recommend getting the handle for your block plane at all. That would make you use that plane in that mode a bit better but it doesn't change the fundamental size and you need more size.
 
The reason I'm also against jack is that board is about the smallest that's appropriate for a jack plane, so you pay lots of money for something that applies to only one process.If you know you're going to be doing bigger work more often maybe it works out.

Well, I am not only using it on a model scale, it is mostly intended for something between real woodworking and model scale.
This photo should give an idea, block plane for scale. 

 
There are two choices because I already have a block plane, and buying something similarly sized is not reasonable. So jack plane that can also be good for jointing the boards along the grain (cross grain low angle block plane is good and big enough). On the other end, I have no troubles jointing it with block plane and a straight edge.

Why are those the only two options? There are three sizes of smoothing plane between your block and the jack that make great jointer planes for model stock. Look at my build log, you see me using my bevel up smoothing plane to thickness cocobolo easily.
 
Ah heck here is the photo. This is my highly technical setup - a piece of 1/8 scrap (I can use 1/16", did last night) as a stop, two cam clamps, and my BU smoothing plane. It works great if you can plane parallel to your surface, and I have no issues controlling size down to .001".
 

 
As for which blade, you're right that the important thing is what is the final cutting edge angle of incidence to the wood (bed angle plus bevel angle for BU planes), and working with model hardwoods that should be close to the proverbial York pitch of 50 degrees. Higher for figured woods.
 
The reason I like the new BU planes is one smaller/lower profile that makes them handier, and two I just think it makes more sense to have most of the mass and blade axis with the highest strength aligned close to the cut. These planes sharpened never chatter on anything.

Ok, now I feel it is a right place to ask
I have a Veritas low angle block plane, and looking for something to flatten small boards.
There are two options:
1) buy an optional tote and a knob for the block plane (such thing exists! See http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=41715&cat=1,41182,48942 )
2) Buy a veritas low angle jack plane and an additional 38 degree blade (for smoothing). Keep in mind it is a bevel up blade, so angles sum up.
 
Second option is quite expensive though..

Block plane path is cheaper, but it only has 25deg blade. I can do scraping for smoothing, though.
Ok the other hand, my boards are typically as long as the jack plane, or even shorter - so the jack could be be too large for my purposes. But could be used for jointing due to its length... So far using a block plane and a shooting board for jointing.

Would appreciate some thoughts from a more experienced craftsman here!

Julie I am not sure where the idea to use glass came from. At the time I was completely enraptured by a chap called James Krenov, I love the line in his book Called "A Cabinetmaker's Notebook"
 
"My way of working is just a long series of personal discoveries. I can't give anyone secrets, something that I promise
will work, because, finally, it depends upon one's skill and intuition, and other things. But I can give hints, the benefit
of some experience in the things that have happened to me. I don't get kiln-dried wood because I think that kiln-dried
wood has been killed. This is not a pun, but a fact. The process of saturating wood with steam and getting it all wet, cooking
it, you might say, is a chemical process that changes and dulls the color of the wood, and the fibers are affected so that wood
which has been kiln-dried feels different to me. It's got a different ring, a different texture; it isn't clear and fine. It's like
a poorly developed photograph-one that was taken well but just didn't come out. Besides, kiln-dried wood is brittle."
 
The bit about personal discoveries is so true, in any field of endevour we come across gems that are true for us, these things just happen at the right time, the key is realizing it.
 
This working with wood gig is just such a fantastic journey, I use wood to heat my shop and as I split the wood every now and then a piece of birch (air dried) or spruce or pine just splits in such a way that I have to put it to one side to use for something other than warming my body, more for using it to warm my soul.
 
Michael
 

My first ship build was the single mast, "Armed Virginia Sloop"; my second was the two mast American Privateer, “Fair American”.  Now I feel I’m ready to move up to a three mast ship and I chose the Model Shipways, “Rattlesnake”.  It should offer me new challenges and keep me busy for a long while.
 
I plan to use the plans from the ME kit, as well as plans from the Mamoli kit.  I also acquired the plans from Howard Hann, which will be my ‘go to’ source whenever there are ‘disagreements’.  I don’t intend to use the Robert Hunt’s kitbashed version.
 
One challenge with the Rattlesnake is that it is a smaller scale than the two previous models.  I’ll have to get used to smaller blocks, lines and many other items found on a Revolutionary era ship.  To help in the transaction, I decided to make the ship’s boat first.  I purchased the Model Shipways 4.75 inch boat, which seemed to be about the right size based on the kit’s plans.   Rather than do a whole build log on the boat, I attach some photos of the boat’s build in progress and the finished product.  I have to thank the build log by JSGerson.  I followed his log and didn’t really have any problems.
 







 

Michael, tell that young man I am very impressed.  Now did he get mad at the gnarly wood, throw it through a window then the light bulb turned on and behold!  The glass scraper!   

Michael,
 
I feel your pain with the birdseye maple.  I have sharpened plane irons to the point that if they even come close to a hair, the hair runs in fear.  I have skewed the plane, to little avail.  I have wetted the surface before planing, and that helps somewhat.  I have read to freeze the board, but haven't gone that far yet.  In the end I typically resort to either a scraper plane or drum sander.  But if you really want to experience frustration, try Hawaiian koa.  The tearout is unbelievable.
 
Vossiewulf,
 
Your experience with the PM-V11 iron has been strongly supported by Fine Woodworking in a review they did several months ago.  They gave Veritas a huge thumbs up on their new iron saying almost the exact same things you said here. 

I have the Stew Mac Dremel base.  I bought it for routing out inlays in guitar necks.  I used it for a while but in the end it found its way to the dust shelf.  I didn't like the depth adjustment feature.  And the dust blower didn't work too well either.  I ended up buying the Micro Fence plunge base.  Expensive but a world of difference from the Stew Mac base.
 
 
With the LED lights and dust extraction, I was able to clearly see where I was routing to some very fine points.

 
A few months ago I got a flyer from Lee Valley.  They now have a plunge base that looks very similar to Micro Fence and a lot cheaper.
 

 
The base alone is $85.  Had their base and attachments been available a couple of years ago, I would have gladly gone that route.     

Michael, tell that young man I am very impressed.  Now did he get mad at the gnarly wood, throw it through a window then the light bulb turned on and behold!  The glass scraper!   

Michael,
 
I feel your pain with the birdseye maple.  I have sharpened plane irons to the point that if they even come close to a hair, the hair runs in fear.  I have skewed the plane, to little avail.  I have wetted the surface before planing, and that helps somewhat.  I have read to freeze the board, but haven't gone that far yet.  In the end I typically resort to either a scraper plane or drum sander.  But if you really want to experience frustration, try Hawaiian koa.  The tearout is unbelievable.
 
Vossiewulf,
 
Your experience with the PM-V11 iron has been strongly supported by Fine Woodworking in a review they did several months ago.  They gave Veritas a huge thumbs up on their new iron saying almost the exact same things you said here. 

I found the most success when I started putting a tertiary bevel on edge tools.  I have the MKII but usually do the sharpening freehand.  Once the honing guide has you dialed in, you can get a new edge freehand pretty easily.
 
I saw this Rob Cosman video and gave it a try.  It's pretty quick and does the job.

Bill,
 
Sharpening the convex plane iron is tricky.  I have Norton water stones in 220, 1000, 4000 and 8000 grit.  Anything coming from L-N is ready to be used out of the box but it always helps to put a secondary bevel on them.  With the convex iron, I slide it, side-to-side, across the stone by hand and rotate my wrist in the process, trying to follow the curvature accurately.  It works but accuracy is limited.
 
I have the DMT Wave Sharpener but you have to take such short strokes (the radius changes as you run the length) that I find it frustrating to use.  But here's a video if you're interested:

I have the L-N convex sole block plane

It acts in the same way as the Veritas palm planes but is a bit larger.  I haven't yet found a use for it in model making but I have used it for carving out the hip relief on solid body guitars. 

No one has asked me for my Christmas List yet.  The mini tools are the only thing on it.  I was taught it's inappropriate to "accidentally" drop your Christmas List.   
 
The big day is closing in and my diabolical mind has run out of list dropping ideas. 

Thank you!  The reviews are better than expected.  Now maybe I can make up a Christmas list and someone will see it. 

When I purchased L-N modeling and violin planes I thought that was as small as I was going to get in good quality hand tools.  I recently received a Lee Valley Christmas catalog and in it I saw they have miniature hand tools.  The mini chisels use their high quality PM-V11 steel.

 
Has anyone tried any of these mini tools?  If so, what do you think?

I have the Stew Mac Dremel base.  I bought it for routing out inlays in guitar necks.  I used it for a while but in the end it found its way to the dust shelf.  I didn't like the depth adjustment feature.  And the dust blower didn't work too well either.  I ended up buying the Micro Fence plunge base.  Expensive but a world of difference from the Stew Mac base.
 
 
With the LED lights and dust extraction, I was able to clearly see where I was routing to some very fine points.

 
A few months ago I got a flyer from Lee Valley.  They now have a plunge base that looks very similar to Micro Fence and a lot cheaper.
 

 
The base alone is $85.  Had their base and attachments been available a couple of years ago, I would have gladly gone that route.     

I have the Stew Mac Dremel base.  I bought it for routing out inlays in guitar necks.  I used it for a while but in the end it found its way to the dust shelf.  I didn't like the depth adjustment feature.  And the dust blower didn't work too well either.  I ended up buying the Micro Fence plunge base.  Expensive but a world of difference from the Stew Mac base.
 
 
With the LED lights and dust extraction, I was able to clearly see where I was routing to some very fine points.

 
A few months ago I got a flyer from Lee Valley.  They now have a plunge base that looks very similar to Micro Fence and a lot cheaper.
 

 
The base alone is $85.  Had their base and attachments been available a couple of years ago, I would have gladly gone that route.     

I have the Stew Mac Dremel base.  I bought it for routing out inlays in guitar necks.  I used it for a while but in the end it found its way to the dust shelf.  I didn't like the depth adjustment feature.  And the dust blower didn't work too well either.  I ended up buying the Micro Fence plunge base.  Expensive but a world of difference from the Stew Mac base.
 
 
With the LED lights and dust extraction, I was able to clearly see where I was routing to some very fine points.

 
A few months ago I got a flyer from Lee Valley.  They now have a plunge base that looks very similar to Micro Fence and a lot cheaper.
 

 
The base alone is $85.  Had their base and attachments been available a couple of years ago, I would have gladly gone that route.     

Michael, tell that young man I am very impressed.  Now did he get mad at the gnarly wood, throw it through a window then the light bulb turned on and behold!  The glass scraper!   

Michael,
 
I feel your pain with the birdseye maple.  I have sharpened plane irons to the point that if they even come close to a hair, the hair runs in fear.  I have skewed the plane, to little avail.  I have wetted the surface before planing, and that helps somewhat.  I have read to freeze the board, but haven't gone that far yet.  In the end I typically resort to either a scraper plane or drum sander.  But if you really want to experience frustration, try Hawaiian koa.  The tearout is unbelievable.
 
Vossiewulf,
 
Your experience with the PM-V11 iron has been strongly supported by Fine Woodworking in a review they did several months ago.  They gave Veritas a huge thumbs up on their new iron saying almost the exact same things you said here. 

Michael, tell that young man I am very impressed.  Now did he get mad at the gnarly wood, throw it through a window then the light bulb turned on and behold!  The glass scraper!