Can anyone contribute a compare and contrast on Lee Valley's new Bevel-up
smoother and their #4?

It seems that their LA smoother is end grain and cooperative grain. Is the
#4 in the middle abd the BA for difficult stuff?

Robin, I'd love to hear the engineering mindset between this product
offering. I'd also love to hear any reviews, but that is probably premature.

Thanks

Steve

"C & S" wrote in message
...
Can anyone contribute a compare and contrast on Lee Valley's new Bevel-up
smoother and their #4?

It seems that their LA smoother is end grain and cooperative grain. Is the
#4 in the middle abd the BA for difficult stuff?

Robin, I'd love to hear the engineering mindset between this product
offering. I'd also love to hear any reviews, but that is probably
premature.

Thanks

Steve



Hi Steve -

I could give you a review of it... .... but will stick with highlighting
some of thedifferences...

The new Bevel up smoother is heavier, wider (2 1/4" cut) and has a very low
centre of gravity. It's been designed as a single purpose plane - a pure
smoother.

We feel that a low bed angle puts the plane blade more in-line with forces
exerted by the wood being cut - and that a low bed angle inherently resists
chatter better - especially when used with higher bevel angles. In
addition - with a bevel-up plane, you can easily match your effective cut
angle to suit the wood being cut. Inducing a type II wood failure yields the
best finish (wood failure right at the cutting edge) - and the angle
required to do that varies by species, and with figure.

Nohing wrong with a standard bench plane though - you can easily change the
effective cut angle by adding a back bevel....it's just that not many people
are willing to do it....

Cheers -

Rob