2023 Hollow and Round school please.

[Scott Winners]

Climate control in the new place is good enough for me to be looking at hollows and rounds. I am not looking for George Washington's #12 hollower or King George III's #3 round.

I am looking for user pairs that are or can be sharpened. If I drop them on my shop floor I don't want some conservator at the Smithsonian having heartburn or cardiac chest pain.

I am confident I don't have enough $ in the hobby account to pick up a harlequin half set. I prefer a higher pitch and skewed so I can use them cross grain in hardwoods rather than own duplicates.

#1, how much do I need to budget right now to spend on say two pairs (#4 and #8 maybe) that have good match on the edge profiles and are in good working order and irons without pits? Before they get shipped to me outside the lower 48?


#2 Can anyone tell me what a "halving plane" is used for? I have an idea that it could take away about half the waste on whatever ending profile, but be easy to sharpen since the edge is 90 degrees to the side of the iron. Looks like a rabbet plane, but with a fixed skate and no depth stop. There is a pic of a very similar plane on wikipedia, with no explanation. I do have Matt Bickford's book on order, but it isn't here yet.

Halving plane pics. I lost my $20 on this one, the back of the iron is too pitted to ever sharpen.

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I don't see that adding the Veritas combination plane to my shop is going to help me with moldings. I have a pair of right hand small plow planes with a full set of imperial irons, and a shop made fence so one plow plane can be set up left handed. I have the Veritas skew rabbet plane, and the Veritas router plane with a comprehensive set of irons. I have a bunch of saws and plenty of chisels. I can make dado and groove until Jesus comes to take me home. But I got nothing for moldings beyond the foregoing, I can make some beads here and there.

On the one hand I am OK with investing in wood bodied H&R planes this year because they are 'relatively' cheap and I am finally at a season of life I have good enough climate control to maintain wood bodied hollows and rounds in my shop. On the other hand I wonder how far into the future it is before Veritas comes out with an adjustable width plane body or bodies that can accommodate irons to make a full set of H&R with one or two bodies and a tool roll up (in green please) for all the irons. I would even settle for for one tool roll-up with all the even irons and a second roll-up with the odd numbered irons. Torrefied maple and ductile iron please, the usual suspects. Don't overlook the Grecian profiles please Rob. Pizza is fabulous, but some days I want leg of lamb roasted on lump charcoal and smoked with rosemary sprigs. And some feta on the side.

[Warren Mickley]

A rabbet plane with a fence is called a fillister plane. A moving fillister has a fence that can be adjusted for different width rabbets; a common fillister has a fixed fence.

A halving plane is another name for a common fillister. It is so called because it can be used to take half the thickness from each of two boards to make a lap joint as for the back of a cabinet. This plane can also be used to start a rabbet: you lay out the rabbet with a marking gauge make a smaller starter rabbet with the common fillister, then complete by using a rabbet plane to both lines. Much easier than using a snipe bill.

I usually buy moulding planes in person in the $10-40 range and expect to spend up to four hours getting one working nicely. If you want one to come to you in top shape, I recommend buying from Matt Bickford.

[Tom M King]

I looked on ebay and it looks like a decent selection on there right now. Almost all of my molding planes came from the UK. I have a few from here, but not many. It seems like they are always kept in a barn here. I'm not sure where they kept them in the UK, but I suspect peoples houses. Most come from "boot sales" there by a few ebay merchants.

I never had time to spend much on one to get it working, and tried to avoid buying one that looked like it had much use. My set of Hollows and Rounds are mismatched by manufacturer, but that sort of thing doesn't bother me at all. I think out of a few hundred I bought over the years when shipping a small packet was a few dollars, I only ended up with 4 or 5 that would require much fiddling to put to work. Most even still had the irons sharp and showed no use.

[Jim Koepke]

#1, how much do I need to budget right now to spend on say two pairs (#4 and #8 maybe) that have good match on the edge profiles and are in good working order and irons without pits? Before they get shipped to me outside the lower 48?

…

I do have Matt Bickford's book on order, but it isn't here yet.

The price depends on where you buy them. Patrick Leach sends out a list each month and often has pairs of hollows & rounds listed for less than $100.

If you don't mind taking a chance, ebay might be a good source.

Here is an old post about rehabilitating molding planes > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?242156

One of the individual posts shows using one plane to make an odd pair match.

Matt Bickford's book is a good resource for making molding.

On the other hand I wonder how far into the future it is before Veritas comes out with an adjustable width plane body or bodies that can accommodate irons to make a full set of H&R with one or two bodies and a tool roll up (in green please) for all the irons.

Stanley did it years ago with different size soles to use on a #45 to work like hollows & rounds. The #55 was also suplied with blades to match H&R sizes but didn't make the soles to fit a #55. The adjustable skate was meant to take care of that.

[Chuck Hill]

This guy on Etsy makes good looking planes. He is in France IIRC

[Mark Gibney]

Chuck, did you mean to give us the name of the French plane maker?

[Chuck Hill]

My Paste-fu skills are weak.
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1443488206/made-to-order-half-set-of-hollows-rounds

[Robert LaPlaca]

Wow the price for the half set of H&R’s on Etsy seem too good to be true.. A new half set will normally set one back about $3500 from Bickford, Olde Street, Philly, etc..

I bought a antique half set from a dealer that were about the same price as the Etsy set, my antique set need much fettling for them to operate properly..

[Tom M King]

I don't think I paid over $25 for any pair of my Hollows and Rounds, but it's been a while since I bought them. I think they all came off ebay from the UK. Not one needed anything more than sharpening the iron. Those etsy planes look good to me, but I'm glad I don't need any.

[Chuck Hill]

I think the Esty guy in France just does it as a hobby.

[Jim Koepke]

Wow the price for the half set of H&R’s on Etsy seem too good to be true.

If they are coming from France, the shocker will be the cost of shipping.

From what Scott said in his first post, this might be what he is looking to buy > https://www.etsy.com/listing/1457694...-pairs-hollows

The sizes would depend on the size of stock he normally uses. My recollection is the Bickford book suggests what sizes to get if one is going to start out with two pairs of hollows & rounds.

jtk

[Scott Winners]

Appreciate the ongoing discussion. I have shipping confirmation/ tracking number on Matt's book, but it isn't here yet. I think I have 3 trips to the lower 48 coming up in 2024, I will plan to do some vintage tool hunting while I am down there.

[Thomas Crawford]

If you email Patrick Leach directly he can get you what you need quickly if you don't need all your planes from the same maker. I bought the equivalent of a half-set from him for something like $450.

[Jim Koepke]

If you email Patrick Leach directly he can get you what you need quickly if you don't need all your planes from the same maker. I bought the equivalent of a half-set from him for something like $450.

To me that seems like a fair price. If you can hunt for a few years you might find various planes for as little as $10 each. More likely you would be paying more and it could take years of hunting.

Patrick Leach also often sells individual pairs. It might be more frugal to buy only a pair or two.

jtk

[Mike Allen1010]

I use a combination of vintage and shop made H&R’s. Modern irons do hold a better edge. I spend a lot of time with vintage planes shaping /sharpening irons to match the sole profile which is usually more grinder/stone time than I like, but worth the effort. If iron and sole profiles don’t match perfectly it’s tough to get good workability/uniform shavings. Either FinenWoodworking or PopularnWoodworking had article about how to make moulding planes/irons that was pretty easy to follow if you don’t mind heating/tempering process.