The blade

Let’s focus on the blade for a moment, as it needs a bit of love before it is ready for use.

I ordered the PMV-11 blade, as I have very good experience with the alloy from my Skewed Block Plane. The little plastic container is sealed with a “CAUTION: SHARP” tape. True, the blade is sharp. -Ish. This is the blade straight out of the box:

After a bit of cleaning it up and a light buffing on the strop:

I noticed that the edges of the cutouts were pretty sharp, so I took a file and eased the edges. No need to cut my fingers while handling the blade.

The “issues” with this blade did not stop there. The back was pretty flat, but not nearly dead flat. This is after a few strokes on my extra fine DMT plate (1200 mesh):

As you can clearly see, the upper right hand corner was lower than the rest of the back side. We won’t get sharp blades that way, so I lapped the back side dead flat. It did not take too much effort, and I must say PMV-11 is a joy to work.

I have read about using David Charlesworth’s “ruler trick” on bevel up planes, in order to remove the “wear bevel”. Time will tell if that is necessary, but it certainly is a neat trick to have up the sleeve.

The bevel was not too decent either. I put the blade in my Veritas honing jig MKII and spritzed some window cleaner on my diamond plate.

After a few passes, the truth was revealed: a dip in the middle and one corner lower than the rest. I had to use my fine DMT plate (600 mesh) to grind this down, before I honed the bevel on the super fine.

I followed up with a 3000 mesh diamond plate, and my strop, loaded with chromium oxide. This produced a razor sharp blade – and a nice, mirror polished bevel.

NOW the blade can be truly called sharp!

This is exactly what the blade on my skewed block plane was like. Clearly, Veritas makes really good blades that come in a decent finish – but they do need some work before they are actually ready for use. This process took me about 10 minutes, if that.

Here is a diagram of the bevel angle:

The reason I mention this is that I’ve read countless comments from woodworkers who adore their bevel-up planes and prefer them across the board to bevel-down designs. Fair enough—use what works for you. But in practical terms, a bevel-down plane can accomplish nearly everything a bevel-up plane can.

The reverse is not always true.

When a bevel-up plane runs into serious tear-out, there comes a point where geometry alone doesn’t save the day. A well-tuned bevel-down plane, however, gives you more tools to fight back. Set the cap iron extremely close to the edge, stuff a wad of shavings down the throat (of the plane) and apply pressure, advance the frog if necessary, and you can tame wood that would otherwise shred under the iron.
That cap iron, properly dialed in, is not decorative—it is decisive.

And when even that proves insufficient, the cabinet scraper steps in without ceremony. If all else fails, there is always sandpaper.

Or perhaps the scrap bin. Choose your battles wisely.

In most cases, however, a bevel-down smoother with a properly set cap iron will carry you further than many are willing to admit.

Further details

The black thing is the lever cap – notice the wide “foot”. It can pivot freely, ensuring full contact with the blad when you tighten the thumb screw down. This design works just perfect. I have been on the fence about this type of lever caps over the Stanley ones, but I’m sold on the Veritas design. It works great!

A closeup of the shooting horn:

The screw won’t fall out as it is secured in the hole. A very nice touch, as loosing the screw would be really frustrating. This really encourages using the plane without the horn, as I can remove the horn without worrying about keeping the screw — I can just toss the horn in a tool box and get on with it.

By the way – notice how the threads are cut in that screw! The relief cut at the top of the threads and the chamfered edge reveals a carefully machined part. Nicely done, Veritas!

I fastened the horn onto the plane and took some test shavings. The horn fits beautifully into my hand, and the fingers naturally find a good resting spot. I get a very good grip on the plane; no chance of dropping it by accident!

Another small, yet significant detail: the horn is angled slightly toward the sole of the plane—at least when you align it with the edge of the machined surface. That subtle geometry is not accidental. It directs the force of your grip both downward and inward, pressing the plane firmly against the workpiece rather than merely forward.

It is one of those quiet design decisions that reveals careful thought. The tool guides your hand, and your hand, in turn, guides the cut.

Form und Funktion, Herr.

Using the plane on some white oak, I immediately realized that the days of an aching hand after a shooting session are over. Driving a plane into hard oak end grain is no gentle exercise, and it takes a toll—especially on fingers that are beginning to hint at arthritis. I mentioned the trapeziometacarpal joint before – it has been the usual casualty.

No more!

As I mentioned, the horn is angled slightly. This plane is not really suited for a “race track” shooting board, but this design element seems to eliminate the need for such a shooting board design.

Let’s go into details on the plane body, on the next page.