As I mentioned in my last post regarding the Lie-Nielsen Tool Event, I was thinking about a dedicated hand plane for the shooting board.
I’m currently using my Lie-Nielsen Jointer Plane which is set up for medium planing work (versus rough/aggressive or smooth/fine work). This works though I’ve found that the plane should be set up a little bit more fine for cleaner “shoots”. I’ve found that plane is reasonable comfortable and has a reasonably high side for decent stability when shooting. My thoughts on having a dedicated shooting plane is that I could have it set up and not have to change it for different work (i.e. non jointing work).
One option is the Lie-Nielsen Iron Miter Plane pictured below:
Lie-Nielsen Iron Miter Plane
I think the benefit of this plane is that it has large sides to the hand plane giving it a greater stability than non-dedicated shooting board planes. One miter benefit is that it may be slightly more comfortable than a standard plane. This plane is probably the most expensive option for this job.
Alternatives include low-angle bench planes like the Lie-Nielsen Low Angle Jointer Plane or the Lee Valley/Veritas Bevel Up Jack Plane (which has a reasonably hide side versus the Lee Valley/Veritas Bevel Up Jointer Plane which has essentially no sides). Here is a picture of the Lee Valley/Veritas planes (B or the middle plane is the Jack I mentioned above):
Lee Valley/Veritas Bevel Up Bench Planes
The Lie-Nielsen low angle planes have lower sides. The Lee Valley/Veritas bevel up planes look to have similar sides to standard bench planes so may have increased stability. Also the Lee Valley/Veritas bevel up planes appear to be less expensive so that makes this option attractive.
Based on this analysis, I’m leaning mostly toward the Lee Valley/Veritas Bevel up Jack Plane due to both functionality and cost. If any readers have opinions on this, I’d love to hear agreements, disagreements, or maybe alternatives via the comments.
