Lee Valley's new small bevel up smoother

Lee Valley has recently introduced a new #3-sized version of their bevel up smoothing plane. When I use a metal smoothing plane I reach for a #3 Stanley or my eBay special $60 infill smoother but having a new option is always appreciated. For you hand-tool beginners, premium smoothing planes are a great way to get started with hand work and this one looks like a relatively low-cost way to get one.


All the standard bevel up features are on this little guy: 12 degree bed angle with a 25 degree bevel on the iron, accessory blades with alternate bed angles, adjustable mouth.  The square sides make it ideal for use on a shooting board, althought its smaller size and lighter weight might make it more suitable for shooting smaller pieces.

I'm always on the lookout for a new smoothing plane option and, being a big fan of the #3 size plane, I'll be placing my order for this plane very soon. At $179, how can you go wrong?

Buy the bevel up smoother from Lee Valley here.
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 29, 2011 at 12:46 PM

    I recall several years ago Lee Valley saying they had thought about coming up with a smaller bevel-up smoother, but then realized it ended up being almost the same size as their low-angle block plane. So that's why they came up with the knob and tote option for the block plane and didn't offer a small smoother.

    I guess the marketing team won out in the end? ("Hehe... We'll first offer the knob and tote, then a few years later we'll offer the small bevel-up smoother!") I have the low-angle block plane and, honestly, I have the knob and tote (Christmas present a few years ago), but I've not yet had the need to use a smaller smoothing plane, hence no experience with the set-up.

    Has anyone tried using the knob and tote on the block plane? If so, how does it work?

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