Stanley 45 or Veritas Combination Plane?

[David Katz]

Thoughts? Opinions?

[DonSlaughter]

Thoughts? Opinions?

I've had a Stanley 55 for many years and it served me well...then about 6 years ago I got the Veritas small plow and it is such a joy to use...I look for ways to employ it on every project...love this tool.   The Stanley is a workhorse and would probably meet most of my needs today but the small plow goes beyond, in IMHO, and brings an excitement with it's ease of use. I've never had a 45...it may be different, in use, than my 55.  Good luck...if I had found the Veritas & had the $400 to get it years ago when I needed & bought the Stanley (for $125) I might have gotten it instead.

Don

[Handplanesandmore]

The decision seems simple to me. Those who have time and enjoy hunting and fixing old tools, or are a little tight in their tool budgets should find a Stanley 45. The rest have no reason not to get a new, easy to use Veritas if they want or need a combination plane. More or less like buying old Stanley #4, etc. vs acquiring new ones from Lie Nielsen or Veritas.

Simon

[Strokes77]

The decision seems simple to me. Those who have time and enjoy hunting and fixing old tools, or are a little tight in their tool budgets should find a Stanley 45. The rest have no reason not to get a new, easy to use Veritas if they want or need a combination plane. More or less like buying old Stanley #4, etc. vs acquiring new ones from Lie Nielsen or Veritas.

Simon

The cost of a nice Stanley #45 relative to the cost of a Veritas small plough answers the question for you imo. The argument that the "stanley" is cheaper doesn't apply here I don't believe.

I love old tools, have dozens of them.

LN and Veritas joinery planes are superior in nearly every way.

[David Katz]

The cost of a nice Stanley #45 relative to the cost of a Veritas small plough answers the question for you imo. The argument that the "stanley" is cheaper doesn't apply here I don't believe.

I love old tools, have dozens of them.

LN and Veritas joinery planes are superior in nearly every way.

Well, You get can get a complete Stanley 45 with all its 23 cutters and numerous attachments, in its original box in like-new condition,  for about $275 (give or take) on Ebay. They come up regularly. A Veritas combination plane with a similar set of cutters will set you back over $500. 

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.

[hbmcc]

This sounds like: "use one, or the other; but don't use both or you will regret at least one advantage."

[Strokes77]

Well, You get can get a complete Stanley 45 with all its 23 cutters and numerous attachments, in its original box in like-new condition,  for about $275 (give or take) on Ebay. They come up regularly. A Veritas combination plane with a similar set of cutters will set you back over $500. 

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'm talking about the "small plough".  Not the combination plane.


The old 45 can be finicky for some jobs. Not to mention reshaping the cutting edge on old profiled irons is not super easy.  Doable, but not easy.

For grooves/rabbets, go with the small plough.  Not sure why they call it small... does everything I've ever needed.

[Bill_Houghton]

I don't find the Stanley 45 to be finicky, or at least no more so than the LV plane.  I have to put a wee bit of pressure on the LV fence when tightening the second collet to keep it aligned; and, when I use the fine adjuster on the 45, I need to put a wee bit of pressure on the fence before tightening down the lock to keep it aligned.  That sort of thing.

I have an LV plow, and I do like it; and it's faster to set up than it is to get the 45 out of its box and assemble it - although, if I had the shop space to keep the 45 assembled, I'm not sure the setup time would differ much.

The 45 has some specialty cutters that the LV plane lacks; and, even within the cutter patterns common to the two planes, the Stanley plane offers more sizes in some patterns - more fluting blades, in particular.

I think the big issue is that it's easy to get a 45 that's been worn down/beaten up.  My first one, for instance, had a sliding section (the part that slides up next to the main body and supports wider blades) that had been broken and welded badly, so that the skate was out of straight in two dimensions and thus useless.  I would not buy a 45 over the internet unless I trusted the seller or had confirmation that it had never been out of its original box.

[bandit571]

No complaints with the 45 I use....just go read any of my "Build Threads" to see mine at work.....Type 20.

[Admiral]

 A Veritas combination plane with a similar set of cutters will set you back over $500. 

More than likely over $600, as there are a lot of iron options; not saying it ain't worth it, but I'll stick with my 45 for now (and I've got another 45 body that I leave set up for beading), even though my Stanley irons are supposed to fit in the LV, so I've been tempted.  Given my druthers, I'd sooner look for a set of hollows and rounds, complete with bottoms, for the 45; I still kick myself for not picking up the complete set I saw about 6 years ago . . . . . . . .