New jointer plane - Veritas Bevel Up Jointer

My Stanley clone type number 7 jointer plane broke during a crucial jointing operation. The build of the display cabinet for a customer is currently on hold while the postman delivers my new jointer plane.

My electric jointer is good but the surface finish is not good enough to joint furniture boards together hence the hand plane. I looked on the various tool websites and couldn't decide between a Lie Nielson #7 jointer or a Lee Valley Veritas Bevel-Up Jointer Plane.

Veritas Bevel-up Jointer plane

The Veritas won as it was a bit cheaper and more importantly in stock for next day delivery.

Jointer Fence

It also has a fence that can be used to hold the plane square to the face. As the boards are waiting to be jointed, biscuited (no Domino's here!) and glued up it was a no brainer.

Jointer fence attached to the plane

For those who don't know:

• The Veritas Bevel Up Jointer plane is 22" long and holds a blade 2-1/4" wide 3/16" thick. 
• The blade is an A2  tool steel version ground at 25 degrees. 
• The bed is set at 12 degrees making a total included angle of 37 degrees. This is lower than the Stanley standard 45 degrees and apparently is great for end grain work.
• There are also other blades available a 38 degree giving the York 50 and a 50 degree giving 62 degrees. The higher angle will give less tearout on difficult woods.

Veritas Bevel-up angles
From Veritas website article

The overall length of the plane is the same as the Stanley #7 but its mouth is in a similar position relative to the toe of a Stanley #8. What this means is that the plane has the registration of a #8 (from the front of the plane) but the distance from the rear of the sole is the same as the #7.

The plane is similar in construction to an existing Veritas plane I already own, the Small Bevel Up Smoother.

Bevel Up Jointer on top
Stanley #7 on bottom
(Image from Derek Cohen's Woodcentral review) 

There is no cap iron and the blade is held in position using a clamp plate. There is a Norris adjuster that controls the projection and lateral adjustment of the blade. There are also some grub screws that hold the location of the iron in its lateral position once you have set it. This enables you to remove the iron for honing and replace it exactly in place.

The tote and front handle are made from rosewood. The front handle doubles up as a toe locking knob on the smaller smoother, but on the jointer there is a separate knurled brass knob controlling the locking of the sliding toe section. Open it wide for hard aggressive cuts, close it for smoother wispy cuts.

Toe Locking detail

The body is made from ductile iron capable (so Veritas say) of being dropped on a concrete floor without cracking or breaking. I will not be trying that deliberately anytime soon!

All I've got to wait for to get back to work is the postman ....

I shall review the plane in future posts.