Hollow and rounds
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I’m looking to add some hollow and rounds to my quiver of hand planes. What size hollows and rounds would you thing are the most commonly used for making moldings? I do have a pair of smaller hollow and rounds, but they seem to be to small.. I believe they are 5/16″…
thank you,
I found these Chinese round and hollow planes on Ebay, that I may just buy. I have a Mujingfang rabbet plane, that I like. This set will be a good way to get my feet, per se, in sticking moldings. Only downfall is that they ship from China!!
3 June 2015 at 3:42 pm #127489I have some of the same hollow and rounds which I bought from Lee Valley. They are good quality and you can do quite a few things with them. The body of the plane is a different shape than the western style so it does restrict you a bit. The irons are made of decent steel and the planes are well made. It’s good value for the price.
When I get some time, I want to attempt to use the irons and make western style planes. Here’s the link to the ones from Lee Valley.
http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=64009&cat=1,41182
3 June 2015 at 11:19 pm #127498I’ve been wondering about those hollows and rounds, too. Would appreciate hearing your take, dborn. I’ve seen good comments now from Pete and I think it was Greg Merritt has one too. I don’t trust buying an old set of Western hollows and rounds off Ebay, and a new set from Philly or one of the other great new makers are $300+ a pop.
The Philly planes are absolutely beautiful! But way out of my hobby budget. (in fact I think I spend to much on this hobby! And that’s not my wife talking!! lol) I have picked up a pair and a half of used rounds and hollows from Ebay and they are of decent quality and were fairly reasonably priced. I have seen some where I think the seller priced them so high that I think they are delusional! I will continue to build a set, when I can find planes at the right price.
I have been talking with the Ebay seller and in fact these hollows and rounds are Mujingfang planes, so they should be decent quality. They are a different design than the western style, but should do fine for me, at least to start out with. I will keep you posted on how they work out after I receive them.
6 June 2015 at 1:41 am #127541I’ve had a lot of frustration trying to find decent user H&R planes. I bought one pair that is a little odd – the irons are about 7/16″ wide, but the shape of the iron and plane bottom have more than the typical 60° of arc.
@pjgeorge – Peter, I’ve been hoping to see more of your comments on the Chinese planes. Thanks for the info.Anyway, I’ve done a lot of research on how these planes were made so I decided to try making my own. I’ll be posting the project shortly in “Tools and Tool Maintenance”. I cheated a bit on the construction method. I also cheated by not using quartersawn beech, too. But hey – this is just an experiment.
6 June 2015 at 2:34 am #127547@dborn – Dan, I don’t think anybody (including me) answered your original question about what sizes to get. It really depends on what you intend to do. If you will be making large crown moulding or large outdoor stuff, then you might need some large planes (1″ radius or so?). But if you will be putting mouldings on 3/4″ thick stock, then I’ve heard that pairs of 6’s (3/8″ radius) and 10’s (5/8″ radius) are a good started set.
@mattmcgraneI plan on making picture frames and moldings for cabinets and clocks. I did order a set from China so it should cover most of what I need. I figure as I work with them I can decide what style of moldings I like to make and build a collection from there.
I have ordered and received the 12 plane set of Asian hollows and rounds from Ebay that were linked in dborn’s post above, so thought I’d share my impression of them.
The planes were delivered from China to Wisconsin, USA in less than 2 weeks, very quick. Note that the plane bodies are smaller than the vintage moulding planes we’re used to seeing. They appear to be very well made, and I see no reason that they won’t work well for the picture frames I hope to make with them.
The blades have the radius shape and bevel ground to a point that they just need to be honed/polished to be made ready to use. Now I just need to practice my honing technique to get them ready.
I just got my set of planes on Saturday. They were stuck in customs for almost two weeks and had to be inspected by customs and border protection. I emailed the seller and was worried, because I had been on vacation when the post office tried to deliver, that the package was returned to the seller. So, they sent me another package.. I think there was some miscommunication because of the loss in translation. Overall, I’m really pleased with the planes. There is not a thick layer of varnish as with the Mufinjang rebate and plow plane. These are decent planes, especially for the price.. No doubt well taken care of vintage planes are probably better.. But these are very capable planes..
2 July 2015 at 5:56 pm #128178When you are talking about making moldings for furniture scale projects, start with a #6 pair and a #8 pair. A rabbet plane is also very nice to have (some say a must have). That should do most everything you would want to do.For most of us, buying a full set of molding planes is like buying a full set of chisels, all but 4 of them rust in the corner of the shop 🙂
6 July 2015 at 9:30 pm #128272Ed, you are right that there are different numbering systems. My guess is that the sizes are in 16ths. So a #6 pair cuts a 6/16 = 3/8″ radius and #8 cuts 1/2″ radius.
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