Hollows and Rounds

[JQuacker]

Sent!

[John Walkowiak]

Hello Dave,

First, let me say I much admire your work! It is stunning. My experience with H&R planes is that for hard woods and especially figured woods such as you use you will need them to be pictched at at least 55 degrees, 60 doesn't hurt. Less than that tearout is almost certain.  And, as much as I like American wooden planes, I doubt that you will find an American plane pitched at other than 45 degrees. I would suggest contacting Jim Bode. He seems to always have English H&R's on hand, and he will tell you what pitch they are. Most English H&R's also have a slight skew. This is also an advantage with figured woods. In my experience the English planes are always in better condition than their American counterparts. They were kept in tool chests and oiled regularly.  I have Gabriel planes that are 200+ years old and most just need a honing. I find it amazing to put one back to work. Good luck and report back!

[Danny in Houston]

I bought the Lee Valley set years ago "to hold me over" it was a waste of money.  They are two small to be useful, only about 6 inches long or so if I remember.  You need a substantial mass and the ability to get both hands on the plane.  As you already know, one hand pushes, the other guides.  Since then I've become somewhat addicted to buying old planes, heck I mean paying $40 for a useful tool that's over 200 years old?   



Edit - Heck I almost bought more old planes after reading this, I don't need any LOL.

[Dave Diaman]

John, thanks for the tip. I didn't realize I could pick up European planes with a higher bending angle. I have found that if I keep my planes really sharp and work at a skew I can get away with a standard bending angle on most figured woods but a York pitch works much better. I have a bevel up smoother that has a 55 degree cutting angle and a cabinet scraper that are my last resort planes. Right now I get my molding close with a shaper and scrape them to the finial profile I need. It is slow going sometimes but does make a nice smooth molding.

[barryvabeach]

John,  i just checked Jim Bode's website, and he had a number of harlequin sets for about $325.  A number of the sets seemed to have some skews and some straight irons.   I know that some prefer skews, and some like straight irons, but I would think since he has so many sets, you could ask that the entire made up set be either skew or straight.

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

Well if you want to make really good mouldings, you need a good set of H&Rs. A harlequin set would work if the planes are well matched as pairs. Here is the 1/2 set (with a few extras) that I use. They are all from Atkin & Sons and appear to be made as a set. The irons are slightly skewed and they are 55 degree pitch for hardwoods. 




I used the #4 today to make a roundover moulding for a secretary desk. It did not take too long and I love the wispy shavings.



Most of the currently made Asian planes are not very useful because H&R planes need to rotate along the arc. Depending on the detail, sometimes the plane needs to be horizontal to the project and it needs a near zero clearance at the bottom. English style H&R planes are exactly what they should be--a bladeholder and nothing else.