Stanley 45 or Veritas Combination Plane?

[Carl Grover]

Get them both!

The obvious answer.

carl

[barryvabeach]

My 2 cents,  get the Stanley if you can get a good price. I have a 55 , and that can be very finicky to set up, the 45 is fairly easy, IMO.  I don't have the LV version, but i doubt it is worth twice the price .  In contrast, I think the LV shoulder plane is easily worth twice the price of a Stanley 92.

[GeorgeV]

Thoughts? Opinions?

I have both a Stanley 45 and 55 and have been happy with them. Good news is that Lee Valley cutters fit both.

[rwe2156]

Veritas claims that the Stanley 45 is finicky, is difficult to adjust, and its fence and depth stops often slip during use. I'm wondering whether owners of the 45 agree with this.

I haven't had issues with stops slipping but I think they are a PITA to use.  Its one of those tools that can be mastered by frequent use, but how frequently do you use one?

As compared to picking up a tool like the Veritas and there is no learning curve it just works.

The only thing I use it for is beading on stock I don't want to/can't run on the router table.

That said, I have to admit when its working its a satisfying tool to use.  Guess that's because there's a certain cache to it.

[Handplanesandmore]

I haven't had issues with stops slipping but I think they are a PITA to use.  Its one of those tools that can be mastered by frequent use, but how frequently do you use one?

Many 45s I came across were not in top condition, and that partly explained why they were inferior than a new Veritas. Here is the deal: do you want a plane that you can use out-of-the-box, or do you want to play around with the plane to make it work? Neither is wrong; it is a preference.

Simon

[jstraw]

I have a Record 43, Record 44, Record 50, Stanley 45, and Stanley 55.  No Veritas.

I reach for the simplest design that gets the task done and is the most reliable.  I find the Record 44 to be the one I use the most, with the 43 second.  I prefer the Record planes over the Stanley, mainly because they tend to be in better shape when found used.  Less work to get them performing. I also find the Record planes do not fall out of adjustment during use as quickly as the Stanley planes.  Can't justify a new Veritas with all the other options I have.

[adamcherubini]

Thoughts? Opinions?

What do you want to use them for?

[David Katz]

What do you want to use them for?

Primarily tongue-and-grooves with beads. I'd also like to do some fluting on moldings and picture frames.

[adamcherubini]

Skip it and get planes designed for those tasks. Wooden match planes are the bomb. You can waste a lot of time adjusting a multi tool for tongue and groove.

I do a lot of beaded T&G. Not sure about others, but I don’t cut all the tongues, then cut all the grooves. I go back and forth a lot. With dedicated planes you have no adjustment ever. Better quality, more consistency, easier, faster.

Beads like soles. Combination planes don’t have soles they have skates. Wooden beads are cheap and plentiful. Just get one.

If you said, l need to make a variety of different random grooves, all different sizes and distances from edges and I never need more than 6’, I’d say a combination plane would make sense.

I’ve had at one time or another every plow and combination plane made. And I’ve cut probably miles of grooves. 99.999% have been 1/4” and been within an inch of the edge. Anymore, I use my drawer bottom fillester for all my plowing needs. My plows just take up space and look impressive.

Every plow I’ve ever bought has had a 1/4” iron in it. Every pristine set of plow irons I’ve ever bought was either missing the 1/4”, or the 1/4” was all ground down. That should tell you something.

I think you should skip the combination plane. I think there are metal match planes. Maybe somebody else knows about them?

[barryvabeach]

Sorry,  I changed my vote based on you response - I am now with Adam.  I have the 45 and 55 and some wooden molding planes and had a Stanley 48. 

 The 45 does a nice job on dados - since you can adjust the width and location very easily.  It also does rabbits pretty well. If those were your primary needs, it would be the plane to buy. 

Since you are going to be doing tongue and grooves, there are metal and wood planes that will do a great job, and the combos, like the Stanley 48, let you switch back and forth easily.  I had a stanley 48 tongue and groove plane, it was easy to adjust the cutters to get the exact size of the tongue so that you could get the exact fit with the groove that you wanted, tight or loose. I  didn't use the 48 enough to justify it, and sold it.  I don't think you have that option on the 45 to adjust the fit, the size of the tongue and groove are both fixed, unless you narrow the plow blade. As to changes, with the 45 ,  you will have to remove the blade, and adjust the sliding skate and the fence each time you switch between tongue and groove.  A more more involved process.

For beads, nothing will work as well as a wooden plane, since it has a mouth along the entire edge.  If you plan to do just one size, pick up a used beading plane,  you will probably need to tune it up, but once that is done, you should be fine. If you look at a 45, you will see that there is no mouth on the part of the bead in between the two skates, so you can get a lot of tearout if the grain is not cooperative.  The positive for the  45 is it does many sized beads, and so if you need a number of sizes, and don't plan to do great lengths of beading, it may work for your needs. 

The 45 won't do flutes. ( sorry I stand corrected, with the standard blades it won't do flutes, as David K points out, there were special fluting blades available, though I doubt they would work well without very cooperative grain, again , no mouth to limit tearout )   The 55 will, but you need to adjust another skate in the middle of the two, and that one has to be adjusted vertically as well as horizontally, one of the reasons the 55 has a reputation for being fidgetty.  Again, a wooden fluting plane, or even a round plane will likely work better.