What does everyone think about the low angle Veritas plane that has a 12 degree bed angle? Would this plane work as a semi finish or finish plane with out major problems? I received one for Christmas and not entirely sure if I should use it, return it, or exchange it. (Brad Love)

You lucky fellow, definitely keep that plane. I but a .004 groove in the sole of mine and sharpen the blade to a 35 degree angle- it planes beautifully and never tears or chips nodes. And I think you’ll agree they are very nice planes indeed! (Ned Guyette)

I just reread this section in Wayne's book, as I have some old smoothing planes I was thinking of using just to knock pieces of dam off the inside of strips prior to straightening.

His comment was that those that had been successful had raised the angle of the bed so that the plane blade sat at approximately 40 degree.

So the short answer is you may want to mod the plane somewhat to get the appropriate blade angle. (Chris Spurrell)