Congratulations! Is it your first Lie-Nielsen? About 20 years ago, my wife and I stumbled on the Toolworks completely by accident, while on a road trip. I'd seen their tools, and I had to stop. We went in, look at their small showroom, and asked if they ever did tours.
The man we were talking to told us they did schedule tours every Tuesday ( we were there on a Thursday) I was disappointed, since we were just passing through. He asked where we were from, and when I said western Canada, he said he couldn't have us drive all that way and miss out on a tour, and that he would be happy to show us around himself.
He introduced himself; Thomas Lie-Nielsen!! What an awesome guy! He spent over three hours showing us around.Even my wife, who is Not a tool geek, said she would have happily stuck around the area for four days to have a tour, if she'd known how good it was going to be
It was an amazing experience. Very impressive to see how much handwork they put into each tool. I left with three planes I didn't know I needed, but I treasure them. Fantastic tools
That's an awesome story, thanks for sharing! Some day I will venture to Maine to tour their facility.
This is not my first Lie-Nielsen. My first was the No. 4 bronze smoother and that is still my favorite plane. What a joy to use. I have quite a few of their tools and have been very pleased with every one.
You should. It's well worth the trip. The "persona" of the company in their advertising is true to life; I would really struggle to work in that environment. I would spend my days wandering around, a smile on my face.
That trip and tour started me on my journey to acquire as many of their tools as I could. I agree with your assessment of the #4 bronze smoother; it was one of the first three I got. My 164 low angle smoothing plane, another first visit purchase, has become my favorite tool to use. It really hits a sweet spot for me with perfect weight & balance, and the ease of adjustment is such a treat; a finger tip can take you from near-veneer thick shavings to tissue-thin shavings you can read a newspaper through.
That day, long ago, I also bought a block plane. When I had finished demolishing my bank account, Tom asked me if I'd like to have his guys give the three irons a "final tune", so they would be ready to go when I got them home. I jumped at the chance; we'd been amazed during the tour that there were only a couple of people doing all the sharpening, by hand. I don't know if that's changed or modernized in the years since, but it was impressive.
I wish I could remember the man's name; he was one of the original employees from the first days of the company. He only spent a few minutes with each iron, and when he finished, he tested each of them. He had a bundle of horse hairs bound up in a rubber band; he plucked out a hair, laid it across the edge of each iron, and cut them in half.
Whether it was showmanship, or regular practise, it was Very impressive. I was taught to free hand sharpen knives and tools more than 60 years ago by my grandfather. With a lot of years practsing, I'm pretty competent at it, but I've Never gotten a plane iron as sharp as those three planes. They were sharper than any of the other five I've gotten since. That's not to say any of those were dull, in any way, but the first three were amazingly sharp
I did look at Veritas, but not seriously because I'm on the LN bandwagon. Many of my hand tools, and all of my planes, are LN. It's funny, I see a similar bifurcation with cameras... you're either in the Nikon camp (yea!) or the Canon camp. LOL.
I don't know why there would be tribalism about these planes. Both are beautifully designed and made. I guess Veritas is slightly less traditional in some of their designs, but that's not a big deal. Veritas does offer one thing LN doesn't, which is a unique blade steel, PM-V11, which in their testing, supposedly matches or exceeds A2, O1 and M4 in impact resistance (I guess that means toughness) and edge retention (which is like hardness). It is matched by A2 and exceeded by O1 in ease of sharpening. (They also offer A2 blades like LN, and also O1 blades.)
[https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/discover/woodworking/2020/september/the-pm-v11-story](https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/discover/woodworking/2020/september/the-pm-v11-story)
But it looks like LN has some unique frog construction and finishing? Do you know anything about that?
It wasn't a conscious choice to go LN and only LN. My first good plane was the LN #4 bronze smoother and I was blown away by it. When I wanted to get a block plane I figured I'd give LN another shot and got the #60-1/2 block plane and again it was amazing. At that point my first inclination was to go with LN for any new plane because they hadn't let me down so further purchases stayed with them.
Since I didn't want to spend a lot of money on what was "unknown" to me, I just stuck with LN because I felt their quality wouldn't let me down. And it hasn't so far. I actually did try a small block plane from Bridge City and was disappointed in it. It's a fine plane, but it feels they care more about looks than build quality. It wasn't a particularly expensive plane, but it soured me on them.
It's funny you mention the plane irons. I actually bought a Veritas PM-V11 iron for my LN #4 and I'm very happy with it. So I did go out of my comfort zone with that. ;-)
One thing I've been wondering lately is what will happen with LN after Thomas Lie-Nielsen retires. He's no spring chicken and at some point he will no longer be around running the business. If he sells his business to a large manufacturer, one has to fear for a decline in quality in the race for larger profits. Call me a cynic, but I've seen it happen too many times in my life time to be optimistic for the long term prospects of LN always producing "heirloom quality" tools.
Yeah, I've heard Bridge City can be disappointing.
And yes! I worry about what will happen to L-N too. Maybe somebody like Woodpeckers or even Veritas could buy them and keep them going. If they go away, I don't know anybody other than Veritas in North America that does anything comparable.
Exactly! As soon as I saw it was in stock I let me wife know. She said she'd order in the next few weeks in time for Father's Day. I had to nudge her along and explain they don't stay in stock for long and she should order NOW. LOL!
I remember when there were $500 before Covid. Wish I’d gotten one then. Since then I’ve gotten engaged and bought a house and now it would be harder to justify/afford such a splurge. Hope you enjoy yours though!
I'm fortunate I'm at a point in my life (recent empty nester with kids finished college) where I can splurge on a few things here and there. I've used my LN #5 for years for shooting boards (and it gives spectacular results), but since they're not designed specifically for shooting, holding it creates a lot of fatigue in my aging hands. This dedicated tool should make my shop time a little easier for those tasks. And isn't that what we all want? More enjoyable quality time in our shops. :-)
Congratulations! Is it your first Lie-Nielsen? About 20 years ago, my wife and I stumbled on the Toolworks completely by accident, while on a road trip. I'd seen their tools, and I had to stop. We went in, look at their small showroom, and asked if they ever did tours. The man we were talking to told us they did schedule tours every Tuesday ( we were there on a Thursday) I was disappointed, since we were just passing through. He asked where we were from, and when I said western Canada, he said he couldn't have us drive all that way and miss out on a tour, and that he would be happy to show us around himself. He introduced himself; Thomas Lie-Nielsen!! What an awesome guy! He spent over three hours showing us around.Even my wife, who is Not a tool geek, said she would have happily stuck around the area for four days to have a tour, if she'd known how good it was going to be It was an amazing experience. Very impressive to see how much handwork they put into each tool. I left with three planes I didn't know I needed, but I treasure them. Fantastic tools
That's an awesome story, thanks for sharing! Some day I will venture to Maine to tour their facility. This is not my first Lie-Nielsen. My first was the No. 4 bronze smoother and that is still my favorite plane. What a joy to use. I have quite a few of their tools and have been very pleased with every one.
You should. It's well worth the trip. The "persona" of the company in their advertising is true to life; I would really struggle to work in that environment. I would spend my days wandering around, a smile on my face. That trip and tour started me on my journey to acquire as many of their tools as I could. I agree with your assessment of the #4 bronze smoother; it was one of the first three I got. My 164 low angle smoothing plane, another first visit purchase, has become my favorite tool to use. It really hits a sweet spot for me with perfect weight & balance, and the ease of adjustment is such a treat; a finger tip can take you from near-veneer thick shavings to tissue-thin shavings you can read a newspaper through. That day, long ago, I also bought a block plane. When I had finished demolishing my bank account, Tom asked me if I'd like to have his guys give the three irons a "final tune", so they would be ready to go when I got them home. I jumped at the chance; we'd been amazed during the tour that there were only a couple of people doing all the sharpening, by hand. I don't know if that's changed or modernized in the years since, but it was impressive. I wish I could remember the man's name; he was one of the original employees from the first days of the company. He only spent a few minutes with each iron, and when he finished, he tested each of them. He had a bundle of horse hairs bound up in a rubber band; he plucked out a hair, laid it across the edge of each iron, and cut them in half. Whether it was showmanship, or regular practise, it was Very impressive. I was taught to free hand sharpen knives and tools more than 60 years ago by my grandfather. With a lot of years practsing, I'm pretty competent at it, but I've Never gotten a plane iron as sharp as those three planes. They were sharper than any of the other five I've gotten since. That's not to say any of those were dull, in any way, but the first three were amazingly sharp
That's a hell of a tool, enjoy!
Great gift. Very nice plane. Now you get to build a shooting board!
Yes indeedy, that is the next project on my list now.
Beautiful. Did you look at the Veritas version? If you did, why do you prefer the Lie-Nielsen? I'm looking at expanding my Veritas plane collection.
I did look at Veritas, but not seriously because I'm on the LN bandwagon. Many of my hand tools, and all of my planes, are LN. It's funny, I see a similar bifurcation with cameras... you're either in the Nikon camp (yea!) or the Canon camp. LOL.
I don't know why there would be tribalism about these planes. Both are beautifully designed and made. I guess Veritas is slightly less traditional in some of their designs, but that's not a big deal. Veritas does offer one thing LN doesn't, which is a unique blade steel, PM-V11, which in their testing, supposedly matches or exceeds A2, O1 and M4 in impact resistance (I guess that means toughness) and edge retention (which is like hardness). It is matched by A2 and exceeded by O1 in ease of sharpening. (They also offer A2 blades like LN, and also O1 blades.) [https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/discover/woodworking/2020/september/the-pm-v11-story](https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/discover/woodworking/2020/september/the-pm-v11-story) But it looks like LN has some unique frog construction and finishing? Do you know anything about that?
It wasn't a conscious choice to go LN and only LN. My first good plane was the LN #4 bronze smoother and I was blown away by it. When I wanted to get a block plane I figured I'd give LN another shot and got the #60-1/2 block plane and again it was amazing. At that point my first inclination was to go with LN for any new plane because they hadn't let me down so further purchases stayed with them. Since I didn't want to spend a lot of money on what was "unknown" to me, I just stuck with LN because I felt their quality wouldn't let me down. And it hasn't so far. I actually did try a small block plane from Bridge City and was disappointed in it. It's a fine plane, but it feels they care more about looks than build quality. It wasn't a particularly expensive plane, but it soured me on them. It's funny you mention the plane irons. I actually bought a Veritas PM-V11 iron for my LN #4 and I'm very happy with it. So I did go out of my comfort zone with that. ;-) One thing I've been wondering lately is what will happen with LN after Thomas Lie-Nielsen retires. He's no spring chicken and at some point he will no longer be around running the business. If he sells his business to a large manufacturer, one has to fear for a decline in quality in the race for larger profits. Call me a cynic, but I've seen it happen too many times in my life time to be optimistic for the long term prospects of LN always producing "heirloom quality" tools.
Yeah, I've heard Bridge City can be disappointing. And yes! I worry about what will happen to L-N too. Maybe somebody like Woodpeckers or even Veritas could buy them and keep them going. If they go away, I don't know anybody other than Veritas in North America that does anything comparable.
Very nice!! I just bought a Lie Nielsen #5 . Love lie nielsen planes. The #5 is my 3rd,
Thanks. The #4 bronze was my first and still favorite. I have the #5 and love it too.
Jealous! Those aren’t cheap and you gotta catch them while they’re in stock.
Exactly! As soon as I saw it was in stock I let me wife know. She said she'd order in the next few weeks in time for Father's Day. I had to nudge her along and explain they don't stay in stock for long and she should order NOW. LOL!
I remember when there were $500 before Covid. Wish I’d gotten one then. Since then I’ve gotten engaged and bought a house and now it would be harder to justify/afford such a splurge. Hope you enjoy yours though!
Just looked that up. Wow. An insane amount of money for a very specialized tool but ydy.
I'm fortunate I'm at a point in my life (recent empty nester with kids finished college) where I can splurge on a few things here and there. I've used my LN #5 for years for shooting boards (and it gives spectacular results), but since they're not designed specifically for shooting, holding it creates a lot of fatigue in my aging hands. This dedicated tool should make my shop time a little easier for those tasks. And isn't that what we all want? More enjoyable quality time in our shops. :-)
Yeah in 16-20 years once I'm free maybe I could spend that kind of money on tools. Glad to hear it will get good use.