Veritas No. 5 1/4 Bench Planes

The No. 5 1/4 was often referred to as a junior jack. At 305mm long, it fell between the No. 4 Smooth Plane at 254mm long and the No. 5 Jack at 355mm long. The Veritas version varies from the traditional No. 5 1/4; the two most significant dimensional differences are the Veritas No. 5 1/4 has a 50mm wide blade (rather than 45mm and the mouth is 110mm back of the nose compared with 89mm for the original. This extra length of sole in front of the blade makes it much easier to cut accurately because the extra long nose makes it easier to maintain the sole flush to the material at the start of a cut. In fact, the combination of the mouth location and the very sensitive feed adjustment lets this plane serve as a jointer for most cabinet work. The No. 5 1/4 is an ideal complement to the No. 4 1/2 for bench work. It is made from ductile cast iron and has the same adjustable frog with a combined feed and lateral adjust mechanism that is sturdy, yet sensitive and accurate. The easily adjusted frog is machined to fit snugly in the plane body and, combined with the 3.2mm thick blade, eliminates virtually all blade chatter. As the frog extends right through to the sole, adjusting the frog to narrow the mouth does not reduce blade support as it does in standard planes of this style. Weighs just under 2.26kg. PM-V11 alloy steel with a primary bevel of 25°. The lapped blades have a flatness tolerance of ±0.005mm or better over the working surface, and with an average roughness surface finish of 0.000127mm or better.