Hollows and rounds

[Mike77]

I'm slowing going acoustic. I'm wanting to start accumulating some moulding planes. I see them on E-bay but being unfamiliar with them, I don't know what to look for or what is a good price. Any advice?

Mike

[barryvabeach]

Mike,  I use ebay for a lot of purchases, but not ideal for H & R,  most sellers don't know anything about condition, and to avoid frustration, you want something in good condition.   I would search established dealers,  there are quite a few with good pricing.  

   I got a great deal on some snipe bill planes from Sanford Moss -  http://www.sydnassloot.com/tools.htm#WOOD   I suggest you email him and ask what he has available in H & R's  




It is unlikely you will need a half set - which is 18 planes,  so I would start by getting some of the smaller to medium sized ones .   Numbering varies among manufacturers, but the ones I use the most are between # 2 and # 8.    I almost never use the larger ones, though of course, it depends on what you want to make.

[Rick Barton]

Ah, a timely post. Personally I'm going to make my own. The required woodwork is well within my grasp, I do need to figure out the whole heat treating business as its something I've not done.

Thus far I've acquired the Larry Williams dvd from LN, its very good IMO. Plus I've bought the books by John Whelan and the book by Matt Bickford. I still have a few minor info things to round up and I need plane floats, but I'm close to launch!

[barryvabeach]

Rick,  I assume you will be using o-1 steel,   heat treating will be pretty easy.  Make sure you get a metal container with a lid for quenching, getting 4 or 5 firebricks will speed up the process ( you can dry stack them to get a bit of an oven ) but not totally necessary.  I attached a magnet to a length of 12 gauge wire, that made the process pretty fool proof.  BTW,  I made a pair using the Todd Herrli video, and they came out well.  Haven't seen the Larry Williams DVD, but have heard positive things about it.

[JQuacker]

Hey Mike - what's your budget? The best deal I've seen on H&R sets are Jim Bode's harlequin (non-same maker) sets. 18 matched planes for ~$300. Scroll down a bit at the link. If you want same-maker sets, he's got good prices on those as well.

https://www.jimbodetools.com/pages/searc...s=In+stock

[Hank Knight]

Hey Mike - what's your budget? The best deal I've seen on H&R sets are Jim Bode's harlequin (non-same maker) sets. 18 matched planes for ~$300. Scroll down a bit at the link. If you want same-maker sets, he's got good prices on those as well.

https://www.jimbodetools.com/pages/searc...s=In+stock

A second for Jim Bodie. His prices are not cheap, but he sells everything and his descriptions of the quality of his tools are accurate. He often has hollows and rounds - individual planes, matched sets (often skewed sets) and harlequin sets (I.E., matching numbered hollows and rounds by different makers). I bought a harlequin set from Bodie and have been pleased with them.

If you're just starting down the molding plane path, you might want to consider two or three side bead planes in small sizes -1/8, 3/16 and 1/4. I find them very useful for adding a little decorative touch without going the whole nine yards of producing a piece of complex molding.

[Rick Barton]

Rick,  I assume you will be using o-1 steel,   heat treating will be pretty easy.  Make sure you get a metal container with a lid for quenching, getting 4 or 5 firebricks will speed up the process ( you can dry stack them to get a bit of an oven ) but not totally necessary.  I attached a magnet to a length of 12 gauge wire, that made the process pretty fool proof.  BTW,  I made a pair using the Todd Herrli video, and they came out well.  Haven't seen the Larry Williams DVD, but have heard positive things about it.

Yep, I'm going to use the tapered 0-1 blanks that Lie-Nielson offers. Barry what do you use for a torch? All I have at present is the standard BurnzOmatic MAPP torch for sweating copper.

The LN Larry Williams dvd covers a lot of ground, its 3-hours long.


I noticed that Lee Valley has the Tod Herrli video at a reasonable price, if you thinks its worth a watch I'll order a copy. I appreciate any input on this you can share.

[Carl Grover]

I see molding planes of all flavors at flea markets. You can usually pick them up for $8 - $20 ea. I would pick up a few on the cheap and play around with them. The Matthew Bickford book is excellent for learning how to use them. You'll also likely want a skew rabbet plane. I've yet to go to any decent sized flea market and not find one. I'd also keep it simple to just hollows and rounds and not those fancy jobs.

carl

[Rick Barton]

I see molding planes of all flavors at flea markets. You can usually pick them up for $8 - $20 ea. I would pick up a few on the cheap and play around with them. The Matthew Bickford book is excellent for learning how to use them. You'll also likely want a skew rabbet plane. I've yet to go to any decent sized flea market and not find one. I'd also keep it simple to just hollows and rounds and not those fancy jobs.

carl

Carl, yep, I was going to start with a group of 3 rabbet planes. I probably won't be doing the skew business right off as that does add to the complexity. I like the way Matt does his rabbet planes (if you request it) and adds the boxing on the side you angle to start a rabbet on a scribe line.

Also on the subject of skewed rabbet planes, Matt posted this on his blog on the subject: http://musingsfrombigpink.blogspot.com/2...weeds.html

Obviously as we know nickers and skews are for cross grain work and not relevant to doing moldings with the grain.

I have a Stanley 289 rabbet plane that up until this point is the only thing I've used for rabbets by hand. I'd say the skew action does help on cross grain work, but without the nicker it would still be troublesome. That's probably why the nicker is on there.

[Rob Young]

Yep, I'm going to use the tapered 0-1 blanks that Lie-Nielson offers. Barry what do you use for a torch? All I have at present is the standard BurnzOmatic MAPP torch for sweating copper.

The LN Larry Williams dvd covers a lot of ground, its 3-hours long.


I noticed that Lee Valley has the Tod Herrli video at a reasonable price, if you thinks its worth a watch I'll order a copy. I appreciate any input on this you can share.

The Herrli video is worth a watch.  Tod is a bit more pragmatic about material choices than Larry.  And they have different methods for fabricating the body.  

Herrli has two videos, the older one is on H&R planes, the newer one is building a complex moulder.