Christmas in March: Molding Planes

[Jim Neeley]

Christmas came a little early (late?) this week when a shipment of molding planes arrived from Patrick Leach. There's a half-set of H&R's by Routledge (Brimingham, England), a set of beads by Griffiths (Norwich, England) and a set of rabbets by Sandusky (US).

Let the mold grow!

I've attached a couple of pictures.

Jim

[David Weaver]

Wow..that's a jump start for mouldings and details, huh?

[Jim Neeley]

Wow..that's a jump start for mouldings and details, huh?

Just one more attempt to reduce my electron usage, David. While my fairly high-tech router table (Incra fence, etc.) will do it over-and-over, very fast and perfectly repeatable, there isn't any personal satisfaction in it.

The the swoosh of a plane blade is almost a spiritual experience and I think that a few small imperfections showing it was hand-made is a real value-add; my own form of artistic expression.

That's why I don't really care how long it takes me to make something; I just want to feel it is "right" when I'm done.

What's your take on molding planes, David?

Jim in Alaska

[David Weaver]

What's your take on molding planes, David?

Jim in Alaska

Well, so far the only thing I've used hollows and rounds for is cutting a couple of simple coves, and cutting the cove on....other hollows and rounds

Beads don't count, i guess. But a beading plane is fast and satisfying to use.

So, definitely not the person to ask about using them for complex mouldings, the closest I've come to them is grand delusions.

[Jim Neeley]

Well, so far the only thing I've used hollows and rounds for is cutting a couple of simple coves, and cutting the cove on....other hollows and rounds

Beads don't count, i guess. But a beading plane is fast and satisfying to use.

So, definitely not the person to ask about using them for complex mouldings, the closest I've come to them is grand delusions.

Beading planes were what led me down the slope of wooden planes in the first place.. then I got to thinking of using them for roundovers... then...

You get the picture, eh?

[Brent VanFossen]

Looks like you had better block out some time for sharpening. Nice haul.

[Brian Cameron]

Nice haul...what a way to expand the collection!

[Jim Neeley]

Looks like you had better block out some time for sharpening. Nice haul.

It'll be my entry into the world of sharpening profiled hand tools, which it why I had Patrick throw in a couple of unmatched planes for practice, so if I goober up my first attempt I haven't goobered up a plane in a 75-150 year old set. To help me along though I've also been watching Larry William's DVD on "Sharpening Profiled Hand Tools" and have some conical and slipstones on the way.

Jim

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I just started watching that Larry Williams DVD today. It's a good one.

[Jack Curtis]

How is this a gloat? IIRC, Leach charges pretty fat prices. Or maybe he sells fairy dust enchantment these days?

[Rob Lee]

How is this a gloat? IIRC, Leach charges pretty fat prices. Or maybe he sells fairy dust enchantment these days?

Hi Jack -

Price isn't everything.

I buy from Pat Leach regularly, knowing that I'm paying for his expertise and vetting of a tool's authenticity and condition. I place a high value on being able to buy with confidence. If you find the prices acceptable - then it's a good buy for you.

Sure looks like a crisp clean set of H&R planes to me...

Cheers -

Rob

[David Weaver]

I haven't seen too many H&R sets of that quality, matching, cheaply anyway. You can basically pay the piper or make them yourself.

I fell into the trap of buying a huge pile of H&Rs thinking I could match them up to each other. Total waste of time. I still have them, they were on the bottom of one of my racks, and a bottle of dykem burst above them on the racks and subsquently fell to the floor, splashing all over them. what a waste that was!

Now I'm slowly working my way through building a set, and if I didn't like building tools so much, an older set of english planes like these are probably what I would look for. It's nice to not pay dealer price if you can find them in person somewhere, but if you can't, and you aren't buying them from someone who uses the planes, then you never know what you're going to get buying on the cheap.

[Jack Curtis]

I was simply saying "Where's the gloat?" Seems to me that gloating requires something more than buying a set of tools for a lot of dollars. Or maybe having those bucks qualifies as a general gloat? Oh, well, ...

[David Weaver]

I haven't seen anyone else use the word gloat.

[Jack Curtis]

I haven't seen anyone else use the word gloat.

1984 speak is what we're into now, is it? This thread was initially titled with the "gloat" word, and was changed after I noted that I didn't see any gloat reasons.