Veritas Bevel-up Smoothing Plane

A nice complement to a Low Angle jack plane, the Veritas Bevel-Up Smoothing is the tool to use for the final finish on surfaces, especially woods with difficult grain patterns.

Dubbed the 164 1/2H, it combines the generous width and weight (4 lb 14 oz) of a dedicated smoother with the versatile inner workings of a Low Angle bevel-up plane. The coffin-shaped body, with a 10″ x 3-1/8″ sole, is made of fully stress-relieved ductile cast iron and has an exceptionally low center of gravity for smooth, stable cutting action. Accurately machined, the sole is flat and square to the sides.

The 12° bed angle, coupled with the 38° blade bevel, yields an effective cutting angle of 50°, often called (a/the) York pitch. This is an ideal starting angle for minimizing tear-out on difficult wood. For the most difficult grains, even higher cutting angles can be achieved, by honing the blade with a higher micro-bevel.

The adjustable mouth can be closed to a narrow slit for fine shavings with minimal tear-out or opened for heavier cuts. A stop-screw in the throat adjusts to whatever mouth opening you find ideal for chip breaking and chip clearance. This lets you open the mouth fully for blade removal (sharpening or honing) and replacement, yet quickly restores your exact mouth setting. The large hardwood front knob and rear handle provide both comfort and excellent control. The adjustment mechanism, with its combined feed and lateral adjustment knob, makes blade setting easy and accurate. Set screws prevent the blade from shifting, but allow full lateral adjustment.

Includes a lapped 38° blade, 2-1/4″ wide by 3/16″ (0.187″) thick, in PM-V11 tool steel.

Made in Canada.

Specifications

• Stress-relieved, ductile Cast Iron Body
• 10″ long x 3-1/8″ wide
• Norris-type adjuster mechanism
• Adjustable mouth
• Hardwood tote and knob
• 12° bed angle
• 2-1/4″ wide x 3/16″ thick blade with 38° bevel
• PM-V11 blade
• 5 lbs

PM-V11 Steel

All of the Veritas bench, block and shoulder planes that we stock have PM-V11 steel blades. Veritas conducted extensive testing and determined that PM-V11 offers the best balance of hardness, edge retention and ease of sharpening in tool steels. It hones to a very fine edge and can easily be sharpened with commonly available sharpening abrasives.

From Veritas

PM-V11 is a powdered metal (PM) alloy. To form a PM alloy, constituent metals are melted and mixed together, then atomized, creating very small particles that cool and harden, forming a powder. This powder is screened to ensure consistent particle size, and then heated under pressure to form a billet. The billet is then rolled to the required thickness, ready to process as a conventionally smelted steel would be. The PM process yields a steel with a very fine grain structure that is uniform throughout.