Initial report on Vertias Scraper Plane

[modernist]

I am rebuilding my house with American cherry joinery and soon found the wild grain variation a challenge even for a finely honed LN 4.5. Consequently I bought a Veritas Scraper plane and am very impressed with the initial results.

The grain figure below is quite typical and often there are 3 or 4 grain changes in a 2m board.

As you can see from the pic the finish is not as smooth as a well tuned plane but there is absolutely no tearout which is astonishing, bearing in mind the timber. I am planing skewed about 30 deg which seems about the best angle.

I am sure I can get an even better finish when I have mastered fine tuning of the plane to get finer shavings but so far so good!

[paulchapman]

That's interesting, modernist. I've used the Veritas #80 scraper and have been very pleased with the results and was thinking of getting the plane for larger surfaces. As you say, it's incredible how they deal with wild grain. It seems to me that the Veritas offers an excellent range of adjustments with the ability to alter the angle and the bow of the blade.

Cheers

Paul

[engineerone]

nice to know someone else has some problems with cherry,
gives me the incentive to use my veritas on that too.

paul

[modernist]

It seems to me, fan of LN though I am, that the ability to bow the blade is a huge advantage and much more flexible than honing a curve on a solid blade. In any case a solid blade is available for the Veritas. Even so I did have some problems avoiding the bade edges in the first attempt although this may have been due to the waterstone not being truly flat. I followed the guidance and ground/honed at 45deg followed by the ticketer at 30 and then 15 deg.

I am truly amazed by the planing ability of the tool and the life of the edge. I am sure that if I can calm it down, maybe with different angles to produce a really thin shaving, then we can tackle some previously insurmountable opportunities.

Can't be every house that has hand scraped skirtings!!

[paulchapman]

modernist said:

Can't be every house that has hand scraped skirtings!!

Now that really is oneupmanship ;D

Cheers

Paul

[dandrew]

Although resorting to a scraper is fairly routine for finishing woods with difficult grain I recently tried David Charleworth's trick of honing a back bevel on a standard blade with (for me) remarkable results. I was cleaning up a piece of macassar ebony and getting miserable tear out where the grain changed direction. DC had previously published an article in F & C about changing the effective pitch if a bench plane blade by honing a back bevel on the normally flat side. He says that by fooling the wood into thinking you are using a high planing angle one can get a good finish on difficult grain without the need for scraping. So I took a Marples cast steel blade in a wooden jack plane and after honing the bevel to a standard 30 degrees, I honed a small (< 0.5mm) 25 degree bevel on the normally flat side. This converted a standard 45 degree bench plane into a 70 degree one (45 + 25). In use the plane sounded much like a scraper, but left a finish like glass. The only drawback was that you need very thin shavings or you get chatter marks.

Seems a much cheaper way than buying a scraper plane, and I guess the edge might last longer than a scraper.

David

PS I have no affiliations to the aforesaid Mr Charlesworth

[davidc]

David,

Thank you. Delighted to hear that it worked well for you. This is a great "old" trick, which nearly got lost during the last century......

Scraper planes (with a hook) work in a different manner, being a cutting edge, at steep EP, with the equivalent of an incredibly close set, very steep angled chipbreaker.

Personally I prefer the L-N or Stanley 112, Veritas always seem to overdesign and add features which may or may not be necessary.

Now there's a controversial statement, if ever there was one ..........

Some may have noticed that I reviewed the Veritas recently, and it was really quite good, though some of the adjustments are rather cramped. Despite these minor niggles (handle shape) I thought it was a good tool.
Best wishes,
David

[engineerone]

handle shape is an interesting point.
when colin tested my planes last week, he found he preferred the LN handle, or the clifton one, to that on my LV's

i think part is to do with what you learnt on, and colin did his training on older record and stanley with the curly handles.

for me of course there is the other problem with where to put the little finger of my right hand, ( letters on a postcard please ;D)

as for the veritas scraper, whilst i agree with dc that it is quite complex, i think certainly for an amateur, these variations make it easier to use rather than more difficult.

paul

[modernist]

I agree with DavidC that some of the controls are rather cramped however it is still an "easy" tool to use. Consequently when the objective is to tame some difficult timber quickly and effectively it is excellent.

I intend to experiment with back bevels and this has the advantage that it only needs a spare blade.

In the meantime I have over 1m3 of 1" and 1 1/2 " cherry to finish and am struggling to keep ahead of the joiner who is installing it.

What makes it worthwhile is that it is such a beautiful timber. I hope it doesn't darken to much in daylight to see the figure. I am finishing with Sikkens water based clear.