AArDvarK wrote:
**** that is fair enough! I'm only "Mr. Wannaknow" you know... highland
has such a hype on them probably just for sales. But they may have pushed
the issue and these days Anant may be doing it right, who knows, I may try
just one. I think the LN's are too much money so what is your feeling about
Veritas planes? I noticed the LN scraper 112 is $210.00 but the Veritas is
$129.xx...

Sorry if that seemed defensive, planes take on an almst religious
signifigance here. Get one tuned just right and you'll see why.
Highland has a good reputation and it's been quite a while since I
tried the Anants, so it's possible that they cleaned up their
act. Once upon a time, "Made in Japan" was a curse. I've never
heard anything bad about the Veritas planes, indeed they seem to
be the most inovative planes around. Come to think of it, I heard
that there was a knuckle space issue on one if you had huge hands,
but that's just hearsay, and Robin may have addressed that issue,
if it was a real problem. Since he's undoubltedly listening in
I'd expect to hear from him shortly on this. If you aren't built
on Economy of Scale, it may be moot anyway. LNs are gorgeous, but
the Veritas planes are spiffy too. Both seem to run right out of
the box. The old Stanleys are frequently in a "hone and go"
condition due to the previous owner. Many will need cleaning,
check under "electrolysis" in the archives. It's really a
question of taste and economics. If you don't own ANY planes, go
to the local flea market or antiques shop after reading
www.supertool.com thoroughly and buy a god looking #5. Learn
about planes on it, should cost about $20. You'll learn about
sharpening, maybe fettling - check Jeff Gorman's site. It's a
cheap, instructive lesson, and you'll end up with a good user. A
peice of birch ply will make you a shooting board and there's your
jointer right there.
I hope this helps some, if you have further questions, after doing
the reading, feel free to write off-line. As I said, this has
been talked to death, several times and that might be nicer than
boring everybody to tears, again.

Dave in Fairfax
--
Dave Leader
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daveldr at att dot net
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