Square Joints with a Hand Plane

I’ve had trouble getting perfectly square leg tapers and joints with my hand planes so decide to try out the Veritas Jointer Fence sold by Lee Valley. I was a little leery of it since it is attached to the side of a hand plane by magnets …can magnets really hold or will the fence pop off with every swipe?

It comes with a stop that screw that fits into pre-drilled threaded holes in the fence (NO holes or screws into the plane). There are two sets of stop positions in front and back of the fence. This allows for placing the fence on the right or left side of the plane. One of the stop position is for no. 4 or 5 planes the other stop position is for no. 6, 7, or 8 planes. My zoomed in picture shows the back side of the fence with the stop screw in the no. 4/5 position.

I attached the fence to my no. 5 1/4 Veritas bench plane using the no 4/5 stop position. My first impression was this is solid, but will it hold. I went to work on my current project which is using tapered legs. After a few swipes with the plane my concerns are over, this thing really works! I’m able to get perfectly square tapers and joints. And does it hold?, well… I had to tap the fence lightly with a bass hammer to move it slightly forward to remove it. I think what happens during use is the fence stop will slide up against the plane and really holds on. The stop screw in combination with the powerful magnets keeps a really tight grip.

There is also a coupe of pre-drilled counter sunk holes for attaching a beveled strip of wood to the fence. This allows you to plane at angles other than 90 degrees. The strip of wood can be attached using #10 flat head screws. I haven’t tried this feature out yet but expect it will work also.

-- Mike the CreekWoodworker