New Gets

I was in Lee Valley last week, and I bought their new Miniature Shoulder Plane.

It comes in a fitted case, and includes a corrosion inhibiting foam pad.









It worked very well straight out of the box, and even better after a honing.



Did I say miniature?



I like this plane. It's very fingertip controllable. It's well dressed, the stainless steel body well polished. The sole shows faint machine marks, but I haven't removed them and probably won't. The controls are minute to the point of difficult to use, but that's the point. I would have like to have seen the trademark knurled brass fittings or the Veritas logo somewhere, but the $31.50 tag cancels all complaining. A Canadian made plane at that price is remarkable at any size.

Lee Valley has reported no layoffs during the recent economic downturn. That coupled with the somewhat bizzare nature of this plane makes me wonder if this was a make work project. Stanley did it in the 30's when people were kept on to paint plane frogs orange.


There is one problem with a tool that looks like a toy.