Santa brought me a few goodies for the hand tool rack, including this 3/4 Veritas shoulder plane, that have been patiently waiting in the shop. I was very impressed with the machining quality of the Veritas router plane I got last year, so was expecting more of the same. Not only was the sole not square with the shoulders (kind of fundamental for a shoulder plane), but the shoulders weren't even close to flat. Get it together guys. I'm all for checking and fine-tuning your new tool, but there's no excuse for not being within tight acceptable tolerances.
I know this should have been returned to Lee Valley, but like most woodworkers I've become accustomed to tuning up tools out of the box, and couldn't justify the time and money to return it. I'm sure this is why tool companies continue to do sloppy QC, unacceptable levels of workmanship are not brought to their attention. So I don't think I've done anything to help the cause. Anyway, to address the problems I clamped a jointed piece of wood to my bench with some sticky back sandpaper underneath, and very carefully lapped the sides and sole using the wood to keep things square. The sides seemed to stay parallel and everything squared up nicely, but this could have taken a lot longer than the hour or two had things gone sideways. No doubt this will be another useful tool that certainly comes to hand very nicely.
I hope you at least sent them an email. Someone must be asleep at the switch.
ReplyDeleteKen