Wooden moulding planes – construction guide?
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- This topic has 13 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 2 months ago by markh.
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7 November 2017 at 4:23 am #358078
I’d like to have a few moulding planes, but it seems that the antique dealers have got their grubby mitts on all the ones I see around here (Christchurch NZ) and sell them for stupid money to people who will most likely arrange them artfully next to a vase of flowers and never use tham at all.
Presumably they can be made, since they were made in quite large numbers at one time, and I’d quite like to have a go. Is there a handy guide to creating these tools anywhere?
On a related note, most of the wooden planes I see appear to be made of English beech. That’s difficult to come by here in New Zealand. What other timbers would be suitable for plane making?
7 November 2017 at 8:28 am #358172The project shouldn’t be too difficult. Beech was traditionally used because it was dense and tough, and readily available. Any stable hardwood should perform well. Traditional planes were expected to be lifetime tools. Beech is not necessary for a well performing tool.
There is a lot of info on building traditional planes available. The modifications for molding planes should not be extensive.
Molding profiles are a combination of rebates, rounds, coves, and ovolos. These profiles are precisely detailed in numerous publications. Create your cutter profile from steel stock. Create a mirror image steel cutter to use as a “scratch stock” to refine the profile you create on the plane body and create a perfect match with the cutter you built.
The match between the cutter and the body is far more critical than an exact match to existing profiles. All early traditional molding planes were unique custom creations, and never matched exactly until the mid 1800’s and mass production.Hardening and tempering the cutters is easier than you might think. Clickspring on Youtube demonstrates a simple process anyone can do with no special equipment. Enjoy the rest of his work. Quite the craftsman!
See if you can find Tod Herrli’s video on making hollows and rounds. If you get it used, make sure the printed sheet is included because it has dimensions and plans. The video covers making the plane as well as making and firing the iron. It also describes how to make a set of floats, which you will need.
There are many woods that you can use. Grain orientation is important. Ideally, you want quarter sawn, although riff is fine. I know Tod “glues up quarter sawn,” which means finding riff or riff-ish cut wood, sawing and jointing pieces so that the grain is running perpendicular to a face, and then laminating the pieces together to get the blank that is needed. The end result is an approximation to quarter sawn without the high cost.
Larry Williams has a similar video, which many like, but I’ve never seen it.
You need to have a way to get the profile, though. One way, if you have access to a lathe or a friend with a lathe is to turn a dowel of the appropriate size, rough out the hollow with gouge, grooving plane, etc., and then use the dowel and sand paper to finish the hollow profile. You then use the hollow as a mother plane to make the corresponding round. You can buy dowels if you do not have a lathe, but the available dowel size will then dictate the dimensions of the plane. Plan B is to cough up the price of a hollow or round online or at an antique store, restore it, then use it as a mother plane for the other half, which you build.
You also need to buy O1 tool steel. Add up your costs, including the video(s), and compare with buying, of course.
7 November 2017 at 2:53 pm #358402Found that video and will watch it later. This is interesting to me also.
https://vimeo.com/58164515
I am finding I don’t really need a full set of 13 for $450 or so. Making some sounds like the more reasonable approach to someone on a budget.+1 for the Todd Herrli video. I found it an excellent resource, and it’s amazing that it’s free. Also, beech is entirely unnecessary and might even be a sub-optimal choice given it’s natural movement — I’ve found far more stable hardwoods are easily sourced, although perhaps that’s not true in New Zealand.
Maybe start making one or more of the most common sizes (4-8 probably), and then see if you ever have a need for another size, at which point you can make that particular hollow/round matching set. Dowels are readily available online to help you get started, not recommending this place but it’s an example and might be a good resource: https://www.bairdbrothers.com/Hard-Maple-C98.aspx
Be careful about catching the molding plane bug…I made a few matched sets of hollows & rounds, then a few more, then had to learn to make complex molding planes, and there’s no end in sight!
7 November 2017 at 9:42 pm #358724I think making your own is great idea. I just want to give you another option. Did you check Lee Valley hollow and round molding planes? They seem reasonably priced and you can choose what you think you will need. I have not tried them but the quality of other tools is good. Maybe someone on this sight has used them.
8 November 2017 at 1:16 am #358871instead of Beech try any fruitwood ( Apple, cherry, plumb,pear, etc)
The main thing is that he wood be stable and a relatively easy to work hardwood.
There are some spectacular molding panes being made with Kauri wood, though I suspect that might be expensive.
The one issue starting out is that you really need traditional pane maker’s floats, and the 2-4 necessary cost about $50 USD a pop, so it’s a bit of an investment to get in.
You might want to look into Caleb James’ article in fine Woodworking magazine from the April 2016 issue, still available online. Check out this intro to the planes here:
http://kapeldesigns.blogspot.com/2016/02/roubo-hollows-and-rounds-popular.html
They work very well and don’t require the floats, and they are easier to make. A fine chisel is about all you need, and maybe a gouge for the escapement, which you may already have. I used a file from a Leatherman in lieu of the small chisel
For your first try, don’t fret woods. As Paul showed with his rabbet plane build, you can make planes out of anything and get results.
Here’s a pair of number 10 planes I made out of Eastern White Pine with Cherry boxing and blades made from old lunchbox planer blades. Withit is is a moulding in mahogany made with the planes.I do have some beech blanks curing that is about ready for an bigger set of my own.
- This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by Larry Geib.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.8 November 2017 at 1:46 am #358892I should mention that contributor Salko said has the third issue of Handwork Magazine, which he publishes for free here:
Issue 3 has a very comprehensive article on building moulding planes that involves a two piece construction that also avoids a pile of floats.
I’m still working my way through the article to make sure I understand it all befor I tackle one of his.
3 December 2017 at 6:53 pm #392593Peter, I have an interest also in making wooden hand planes that was originally inspired by Todd Hurrli’s video “Making Hollows and Rounds”. I wanted to make side escapement planes without the tedius floats. I found that by using simple laminations, I could achieve this. I make most of my cuts using a table saw.
I found there are two additional items needed. A taper jig and a hand router. The taper jig is basically two scrap pieces of mdf stick together with hot glue welded to the ends. I made mine to cut a 10 degree wedge using a digital angle gage. I first lay one piece of mdf on the other and weld one end with a hot glue gun, then verify the angle before welding the other end. I find this works quite well because the glue has a bit of flexibility to it and it allows me to get the angle perfect. After that a couple of clamps, and you are ready to cut the wedge.
The other item needed is a router plane with a narrow blade that fits between the wedge bed angles, to clean out the waste to the right depth (which is the width of the iron).
I would recommend making a rabbit plane as your first plane in order to get the idea of how to make them. You can even make it from pine (although it will wear quickly). I have made about 15 to 20 planes using this method, and have made coffin smoother planes using this method. Again I would recommend starting with a simpler plane before hollows and rounds before getting into molding planes because many molding planes must be used at an angle to you wood and they are more complex because they are required to be made this way to keep the mouth of the plane as closed as possible.
Photos are of my Wedge Taper Jig with various samples, My Hand router with narrow blade, And a sample of a small hand plane that uses a bi-metal Sawzall blade that is one of my favorites.
- This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by Gary Mercer.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.9 February 2018 at 4:22 pm #466546[attachment file=466547]
Here is my 53 page document, step by step on how I made Hollow and round hand planes. This was my first attempt, and they came out so well…it encouraged me to make about 20 more. This guide allows you to make them without using float files. I hope it will encourage anyone to make their first wood plane.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.Thanks, @gmercer_48083, I’m looking forward to reading it!
10 February 2018 at 1:56 pm #468296I found that after assembling the basic plane, the sole could be shaped with an electric router to create a profile…then after that, make the profile on the iron. That is how I shaped the sole of my “snipes bill plane”. I used the snipes bill plane to shape a hot dog in a bun, for my grandson’s cub scouts pinewood derby.
Peter, Have a look at Terry Gordon’s site too for hollows and rounds in the Australia/New Zealand region. He makes his out of an Australian desert hardwood Gidgee and puts a slight skew on his plane to improve the performance of the plane ejecting the chips. His irons are also bedded at a much higher angle that the older planes so as to better cope with hardwoods (as most of the antique ones really only work well with softwoods for housing door trims and the like because that was the industry that most of the planes were made for). The most important thing to learn about these planes is that you can do a vast amount of profile work with a very small number of planes, so try a couple of sizes only and play around with them. Don’t think that you have to have a full set to do reasonable work. For small scale work a half inch pair and quarter inch pair will get you going and a small rebate plane will help delineate transitions from hollow to round, but you may have one of these already for standard rebates. Try Terry’s website and videos or visit one of the shows that he attends and get him to demonstrate them to you.
Cheers
Mark H -
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