In our last issue (AW #114, May 2005), we published a workshop tip titled “Right-Angle Guide for Jointing.” In this tip, a reader suggested a way to steady a hand plane by attaching a wooden fence to its side, with the fence being held to the plane by rare earth magnets. It turns out that Lee Valley Tools makes a hand plane fence with rare earth magnets for attachment, and the idea is patented. We can’t recommend that readers make their own version of a patented tool, as it may be a violation of the patent.
Out of curiosity, we gave Lee Valley’s Veritas Jointer Fence a test in our shop. The idea is simple enough: The fence makes it easier to plane a board’s edge square to its face, which is particularly important when you’re trying to joint edges for gluing. The magnets hold the fence firmly against the plane’s body, and—a nice little feature that was absent on the shop-made version—an alignment pin hooks over the side of the plane and keeps the fence from sliding out of position during use. The Veritas fence works great and, unlike traditional fences that had to be clamped or screwed on, it snaps on and off in a flash.