Tattooed and Dusty wrote:

So I am planning my next hand plane purchase and was hoping to get some
advice from the wreck.

I find that I am most missing a small shoulder plane for trimming up
mortice and tenon joinery. I have a lie-nelson shoulder block plane,
but have found it unwieldy on the shoulder or the tenon. So far I have
been drawn primarily to either a japanese style, probably from Steve
Knight, wooden shoulder plane, or the Clifton shoulder plane. I am
reluctant though to drop up to a couple hundred dollars on something in
case I later find it's not what I really want.

I must admit the depth adjustment knobs on western style planes is
appealing, but I have found my japanese smoothing plane is reached for
much more often than my number 5.

I guess I am wondering what peoples thoughts are on these two types of
shoulder planes, though realize that the fit in the hand and some other
number of intangible things contribute to the ideal handtool.

snip

Andrew

I have - and actually have used- both the small Veritas
and Clifton shoulder plane. I found it tricky to get good
gripping positions on the Clifton, solved nicely by the
Veritas - finger hole under the iron, handle that fits
nicely between thumb and forefinger and is adjustable.

Neither is the ideal for working on long tenons - that
gets taken care of with the LN rabbet/block plane.

Tip - if you put a small chamfer on the edges of the
mortise any "high spots" at the base of the tenon
won't prevent the joint from closing completely.
Also helps get the tenon started easier, especilally
if you also chamfer its end as well. This should
explain it better. Works for hole snd pegs too.

http://home.comcast.net/~charliebcz/MT/CBbench19.html

(go to the previous page and read how this little tip
could've saved me a lot of grief)

charlie b