I’ll agree and slightly disagree with Steve. The LN tote is thinner in the hand, and, as Steve describes, has an inviting indent (due to the shape) near the top, which catches your index finger and holds it there quite comfortably. Steve discusses that that lip is completely missing on the Veritas handle. The Veritas tote is straighter and thicker overall, especially at the lip of the tote, that doesn’t fit the hand quite as nicely. The Veritas plane wants to, as Steve describes, roll out of your hand.

Those three differences, the thickness of handles, their shape, and lack of lip on the Veritas tote make significant difference in the feel of the planes with the different handles.

I am the guy on ebay that sells the custom rear totes for Veritas BU/LAS planes. Any chance you want to try one of them out to compare to Bills’. Here is the link the the ebay listing so you can check them out.

The primary difference between mine is that it is a little thicker to accommodate both mounting bolts.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Veritas-Bevel-Up-Plane-Tote-Bubinga-Custom-/110656904965?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19c3aa5f05

Thanks,

Mike

I think that’s an awfully iffy assumption. The shapes of the front and rear totes on a metal-bodied plane encourage downward force on the front tote and forward force on the rear tote. While the shape of the rear tote affects the configuration of the wrist (and therefore comfort), the bulk of the force is going to be largely dependent on the upper arm and forearm geometry, which doesn’t change significantly (as long as the tilt is within reason).

Try it without a plane: Put a smooth board down on your bench top, clench your hand in a loose fist (as if you were holding the rear tote), and slide your hand along the board. Tilting your wrist back and forth has negligible effect on how much downward force and friction you create.

-Steve

“I don’t see the need for any maths, if everything is held constant (including the tote and hand angle) then there should be no difference.

Forward angled totes will naturally lead to the operator applying more downward force increasing the friction between the bottom of the plane and the wood leaving less forward force.

I just measured my Lee Valley BU totes – tricky because they are curved but I get for the;
BU Smoother : 71º
BU Jointer i: 74º

The good old stanley #4 is 61º

Assuming the operator applies a force F to the tote at right angles to the tote.
Relative to F, the “forward force” to “downward force” ratio for a 60º tote is 1.73
For a 70º tote its 2.75
ie a ~60% difference

Of course The operator does not alway apply force to the tote at right angles to the tote especially as the operators arm moves thru some sort of arc and angle during the planing action”.

What this means is that the effort to push a plane increases as you decrease the angle of the tote – the more forward it is angled, the more effort to push. So be aware that altering the angle of a LV BU plane tote will have consequences. Then again everything is a compromise, so you decide where yours will lie.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Jonathan
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If there were a lip, and you relaxed your grip, it would essentially hang from your index finger.

-Steve