I would love to see some user made molding planes!

[David Weaver]

Here are some woodies I made a few years back. The profiles are taken from Smiths Key and are bedded at 55 degrees for use in hardwoods such as Tiger Maple. Attachment 269213Attachment 269214

Nice Charles! I think yours are the first profiled planes I can remember seeing. The rest of us are making hollows and such. I attempted to start a beader last year, and have a bunch of persimmon, but got stalled trying to figure out how I'd cut the details in the bottom crisply and straight without power tools.

[Tony Shea]

Thanks for the kind words on the planes. Yes it is QS cherry, it's a piece I had kicking around the shop for a while and figured I'd use this before I invested in some QS beech. I must have posted my pictures and post the same time or a little after you David. I like your planes a lot.

And Cliff, those are great. Very different seeing some in walnut and your vera boxing is awesome. Very clean work and love the shape of the snipe bills planes.

Charles, full on profiled molders!!! That is certainly beyond my skill level, I struggled enough getting one shape out of my sole and iron. To make complex molders like those is truly exceptional. I would love to find a tutorial on it.

Everything I've learned was from Larry's incredible DVD on Making Traditional Side Escapement Planes. He really does a thorough job in the video, even a slow learner such as myself could follow along. It is probably one of the most thorough videos I've ever watched on any woodworking method. Larry should hold classes on how to make educational videos without skipping over all the important details that is so common with most video's I've bought on woodworking.

Anyways, great work so far and keep them coming.

[Jim Koepke]

I have a half set of hollows and rounds under construction in quarter sawn beech but do not know how to add pictures?

David Turner
Plymouth, MI.

Here is one method that works:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?167711

jtk

[Charles Murray Ohio]

Thanks for the nice comments, however I cannot take full credit for these planes. Without Larry Williams DVD's I would still be in the planning stages. I did however have a secret weapon, that is being friends with Don McConnell. So before starting, I asked Don a lot of Questions (Don is a living encyclopedia on hand tools). Don cleared up what I didn't fully understand. I believe what's best about making your own tools is in the process you end up understanding them better. Once you understand them they are much easier to use and give you better results.

[Cliff Ober]

Tony (and everyone!), thanks for the comments on the snipe's bills... I too was using Larry Williams' DVD for guidance, and I agree it's a wonderful resource. I'm in awe of Charles' complex planes - I thought I was pushing the envelope a bit by starting with the snipe's bills, but he has produced some superb planes. Wow.

I hope others will weigh in with their efforts too; there's lots to learn from those who have taken the plunge!

Cliff

[David Turner]

DSCN0332.jpg

Hopefully there are pictures of my h & R's included in this reply.

David Turner
Plymouth, MI.

[David Weaver]

Wow...doing those all at one time is a serious undertaking!

[Tony Shea]

That is very impressive David T. I sure wish I had the time to take on a set like that. I'd love to see some close up shots of one or two of them.

I was afraid this thread was dead already, it's hard to believe that a forum full of neander's are not taking the time to rehab or make their own molding planes. I'd even like to see some made by the modern plane makers if anyone around here has bought some (Old Street Tool, M.S. Bickford, Philly, etc.). They are a fairly specialized tool, in this generation anyway, but I find them very interesting.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

It's on my someday list . . . I just messed up some saw handles (again) the other day, so maybe I'll tackle messing up something new! I've been working 60 hour weeks lately, and haven't had the heart to actually build anything. I've been setting aside some money for a float or two - if everything goes well, maybe I'll resurrect this thread in 6 months with some picutres. Given the way things have been working, it'll probably be 2015.

[Steve Voigt]

It's on my someday list . . . if everything goes well, maybe I'll resurrect this thread in 6 months with some pictures. Given the way things have been working, it'll probably be 2015.

Same here. I even bought some nice vintage moulding plane irons, before realizing that i should be building left-handed planes, and so these irons won't work…but it's on the back burner. My focus is on building/acquiring joinery planes at the moment.
I think it's really cool though, how many people are making their own moulding planes. 10 years ago, practically no one was doing this, and now it's a thing…the hand tool universe continues to grow and rediscover the past.

[Adam Maxwell]

I made a few hollow and round pairs this year (2, 4, 10, 12) (and live-tweeted a couple of the builds). With the vintage 6, 8, and 14 pairs that I had, this gave me an even half-set 2-14. It seemed like the 4 and 10 pairs, in particular, were usually the just-right size for what I was building. Now I'll probably find out that it was really the 3 and 5 that I was missing!

Like most of you, I followed Larry Williams' DVD, but first made an outline of it on paper that I could use in the shop. One area where I deviated from his instructions was in making my own irons by dovetailing and silver soldering a mild steel tang to an O1 bit. I also made my own floats, again using mild steel from the hardware store; even unhardened, it's harder than beech.

IMG_0759.jpg

This is one of the small pairs, where the grip is wider than the body. The dimension sheet on my DVD didn't cover all of the details for these, but you can figure it out without too much trouble.

IMG_0840.jpg

Here's my maker's mark in the end of one; I made the stamp from mild steel with a Dremel. Not the best, but it's legible if you squint.

IMG_1102.jpg

This is most of my wooden molding and joinery planes; mainly vintage, of course. Most of these were purchased for specific projects, except the H&Rs I made, so they're in good working shape. A few were just curiosities or spares.

IMG_1010.jpg

I've got more photos of the process scattered around the internet, but as I understand it, I can't link to them here. It's pretty basic stuff, anyway.

[Tony Shea]

Very nice Adam. That's my goal after I finally finish my first pair is to tackle the smaller pairs in the 2 and 4 range.

[Chris Griggs]

Wow. Its cool how many of you have made such nice moulding planes. As if Dave constantly trying to convince me to build some wasn't enough this thread is going to push me over the edge. Looks like I'll need to start budgeting for some more floats, some 01 steel, some QS beech or cherry, and a propane torch. Blast you all! Great thread guys, beautiful examples of user made planes!

[Kees Heiden]

I can only offer a picture of a very early 19th century hollow, made by Higgs, compared to an 18th century Dutch molding plane. Haven't even sharpened the blades yet, but it is somewhere on my list of things to do this winter. The Higgs planes will need new irons because the old ones are hopelessly pitted.

[Adam Maxwell]

Looks like I'll need to start budgeting for some more floats, some 01 steel, some QS beech or cherry, and a propane torch.

Here's a few tips for doing this on the cheap.

I figure my floats cost about $5 in material (1/8" steel from the auto parts store) and $10 in files (a 3-square bastard and a taper saw file). Mark the teeth with layout dye, then hacksaw to depth. Use the bastard file to remove most of the waste, using the saw kerf as a guide.

The torch Larry Williams uses is really expensive. Wes Groot on the oldtools list convinced me to use a MAPP torch, which I think was $50 from the orange Borg (the bigger Bernzomatic with the adjustable flame). That was cheaper than a roofing torch and propane tank for me. YMMV.

The O1 is pretty hard to avoid. I screwed up on dimensions of the piece of plate that I ordered from McMaster, so couldn't cut an entire iron from it. My workaround of dovetailing in a mild steel tang was labor-intensive, but really didn't take that long:

http://storify.com/elements/4e7412fde59d791389ede63b

Since I don't have a tailed sander, I didn't end up with much of a taper, but it's not a big problem in actual use (so far). Filing a taper was more trouble than it's worth, at least for me. What's left is the QS stock, and that's the hardest part to get here in WA. Air-dried American beech was super to work, though! My practice plane was in ash, since it's what I had on hand.