In early July, ( about 10 weeks ago ) I was invited to the head office of Lee Valley & Veritas Tools in Ottawa, Ontario.

I was told it was to be a kind of “secret meeting“.



But why all the secrecy?

Why was I going back to Ottawa, Ontario- mere weeks after arriving on Cape Breton Island, to begin our summer vacation?

And for only a two day trip?

What could possibly be so important?

What were they planning to show me?

All of my questions were answered when I was greeted by staff members and Robin Lee himself.

( I felt like you will today, September 13th, 2014 at 12:00 pm ET )

A new tool coming out ?

You bet.

An entire line of new tools !

I’m happy to have played a small part in this unveiling, and let me tell you-

it was hard to keep my mouth shut about it for the past two months!

Personally, I was blown away when Robin lifted the shroud off of that boardroom table back in July-

for what they introduced, was a new way of experiencing hand tools.

Without further delay,

let me introduce you to the brand new line of Veritas Custom Bench Planes.

Designed for the wood worker who wants full control over all of the pertinent details on his/her hand planes,

Veritas has yet again, pushed the limits of design, form and function.

Have you always wanted a 5 1/2 Jack plane but wished you could get it with a 50˚ frog?

Well now you can.

In fact, you can get a custom frog made to any angle you want !

You heard me right, ANY ANGLE, between 40° and 65° in 1/2° increments.

If you’d rather not choose a custom frog, or are undecided on which one would work for you,

no worries- you can select one of the three standard bed angles: 40°, 45° and 55°.

Different cutting angles are suitable for different grain;

low angles cut end grain cleanly while higher angles are used to plane face grain.

The higher the blade angle, the harder the plane is to push, but the less likely it is to cause tear-out in difficult grain.

What about the size and/or style of the knob and tote?

Again you have choices-

The knobs come in Veritas standard, along with a new taller and a wider version.

They’re all made using domestic torrefied maple –

a heating process that changes the structure of the wood at the cellular level,

stabilizing it against the swelling and shrinkage caused by humidity changes.

For the tote, you’ll have a choice of no less than six –

choose from the standard Veritas tote in small, medium or large;

or go for a newly-styled traditional shape, again in the choice of small, medium or large.

The standard Veritas tote is the one currently used on their line of bevel-up planes.

It is a relatively vertical handle, designed to allow a comfortable grip that keeps your forearm closer to parallel with the plane’s sole.

The traditional tote is based on historical plane handles.

It has a more pronounced forward lean and is more curved than the Veritas tote.

This allows you to apply more downward force to the plane and makes the plane more comfortable to use on low surfaces.

And finally, you’ll be able to choose between O1 or PM-V11 tool steel for your irons.

While O1 sharpens more easily than PM-V11, it also dulls more readily.

The PM-V11 tool steel (Rc61-63) has a fine, consistent grain structure that provides significantly greater resistance to damage

from both impact and wear than O1 steel,

yet the edge can be quickly restored using water stones or other common sharpening methods.

This new line of custom bench planes are available in 5 sizes-

#4 Smooth plane

# 4 1/2 Smooth plane

#5 Jack plane

#5 1/2 Jack plane

#7 Jointer plane

Each is manufactured to the high quality standards we’ve all learned to expect from Veritas.

Every part of the plane is machined for accuracy and fit,

ensuring that the plane functions as a unified whole no matter which parts you choose.

All the plane bodies are fully stress-relieved ductile cast iron.

The soles are machined flat and square to the sides and have extra-large side wings for stable shooting.

The planes have a Norris-style combined feed and lateral adjustment mechanism for easy and accurate blade setting.

All of these planes will accept the Veritas Plane Fence which allows you to plane accurate and consistent square or beveled edges.

This is the same fence that comes on the Veritas jack rabbet and skew rabbet planes, it can also be used with their shooting plane.

Veritas is offering a new concept in plane design, customized to fit the work you do and the way you do it.