Several months ago I purchased a few used planes at a good price, including a pair of Veritas skew block planes. I finally got around to "needing" them today. They were never honed, so I set about doing that.
2 PM-V11 blades, a Norton 4000/8000 water stone, and well less than 10 minutes --> ready to shave.
This means that the blades were dead flat out of the box and the back took a mirror polish in a few dozen strokes. I only honed a tiny microbevel on the bevel.
Sure, you may get lucky with any plane blade, but the LV and LN let you get to work in a hurry. Of course, there is a price involved.
BTW, I really like the Norton stones. I think that they are a very good value. Cut fast so I can easily hone by hand and they aren't outrageously priced.
2 PM-V11 blades, a Norton 4000/8000 water stone, and well less than 10 minutes --> ready to shave.
This means that the blades were dead flat out of the box and the back took a mirror polish in a few dozen strokes. I only honed a tiny microbevel on the bevel.
Sure, you may get lucky with any plane blade, but the LV and LN let you get to work in a hurry. Of course, there is a price involved.
BTW, I really like the Norton stones. I think that they are a very good value. Cut fast so I can easily hone by hand and they aren't outrageously priced.
