[pics] Mujingfang Mini Ebony Plane

[J_SAMa]

Bought it on my trip to China. Cost me RMB 55, which is around GBP 5.5 (not gonna get any cheaper than that). It's actually my first wooden plane. Opened the box but haven't tried it yet.
The wedge looks like ebony but the lighter-colored body certainly doesn't. It looks somewhat closer to rosewood. Workshop Heaven has a line of Mujingfang "Ebony" planes all made of African jackallberry. Those look quite close to mine, despite that mine says the wood is imported from Southeast Asia. Maybe Matthew knows what's exactly up here?

The blade is made of HSS, but according to the seller most Chinese woodworker still freehand them on waterstones and get perfect results. Well I guess there's only one way to find out.

UPDATE: I got a problem... When I tap the wedge in, one side of it will be too tight before the other side even engages at all. Should I leave if for a few days and see how it turns out or should I take a chisel to it (I just came back from China so maybe it's the environment change)? If I go with the latter should I pare the grooves that the wedge fits in?

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I'd been sick hence the delay in uploading the pictures.
Finally got around to playing with it (with the blade retracted), just to see if it felt good in my hands. Well, for what it is, yes. It's so small I could just take the handle off and grab the plane by its sides with 2 fingers and a thumb.

Just a little over 100 mm. 60 degree bedding angle. Should work nicely on gnarly-grained woods.

Taken apart. Simplicity to the max, only 3 essential parts plus a somewhat useless handle (on this mini plane the handle is too low and there's not enough clearance between it and the workpiece for an adult's finger to stick in)
FYI here's how one uses a Chinese plane's handle:http://www.hntgordon.com.au/handgripsmooth.htm (The page shows the grip for end grain shooting too. I'd avoid doing that with a 60 degree plane...)

The shape is quite nice, seems ergonomic. Only if it were bigger (or my hands smaller).

I tried taking a close-up of the problematic wedge. But my iPad's camera refused to focus :evil: .

ANOTHER PROBLEM: The brass mouth is not quite properly inlaid into the sole. It is slightly proud, effectively making the sole convexi (the rest of the sole is flat, dead flat). I suppose it'll have to be some rubbing on sandpaper. Now what's a sandpaper suitable for both wood and brass?

Sam

 

[MIGNAL]

I recently bought one of the small Taiwanese wooden Planes. Mine suffered from the same problem: ill fitting wedge. Not only did one side engage before the other side but it was also at completely the wrong angle. In the end I just made a new wedge, there simply wasn't enough material on the original to get it to fit. The planes are very good once you sort out the odd problem or two. They do take some work to get them to function properly though. Try using chalk to fit the wedge. It should soon tell you where to remove material. Humidity change won't affect it that much unless it's a huge swing. It will affect the flatness of the sole a bit though.
They are good value for the money. Not quite as good as the old English smoothing Plane that I've just bought off Ebay: 99p. It's in extremely good condition and probably worthy of another thread.

 

[J_SAMa]

I recently bought one of the small Taiwanese wooden Planes. Mine suffered from the same problem: ill fitting wedge. Not only did one side engage before the other side but it was also at completely the wrong angle. In the end I just made a new wedge, there simply wasn't enough material on the original to get it to fit. The planes are very good once you sort out the odd problem or two. They do take some work to get them to function properly though. Try using chalk to fit the wedge. It should soon tell you where to remove material. Humidity change won't affect it that much unless it's a huge swing. It will affect the flatness of the sole a bit though.
They are good value for the money. Not quite as good as the old English smoothing Plane that I've just bought off Ebay: 99p. It's in extremely good condition and probably worthy of another thread.

Actually, after close inspection, I think even if I managed to pare enough wood off the thicker side, the wedge would still not be thick enough to make a tight fit. It might be okay now but what it'll do in winter is anyone's guess. Anyhow I'll try to fix the problem by paring some material off of the thicker side first.

Sam

 

[matthewwh]

Hi Sam,

There are lots of different species of ebony (diospyros spp). Plain black ebony tends to be what most people think of, but they range from swirling shades of brown, (Jackalberry for example), through bold black and brown stripes (e.g. macassar), black with straw coloured streaks (ceylon) and so on. Mujingfang offer a range of timbers, mostly rosewoods and ebonies. Jackalberry is widespread throughout Africa so as well as being drop dead gorgeous, non-endangered and very stable there is excellent continuity of supply.

It's hard to tell without a photo, but before you cut any wood I would give the plane a couple of weeks to acclimate to local humidity.

 

[J_SAMa]

Pics are finally up

 

[David C]

I would suggest 240 grit wet and dry for flattening the sole with the protruding brass.

It is a quick and simple job which may have to be repeated from time to time.

David

 

[Graham Orm]

Makes a change for something to actually come with the batteries! :mrgreen:

 

[matthewwh]

Ah, that's better!

OK, so the wedge has a chamfered V to guide the shavings, which means it can only go one way up. All of the planes we have in stock either have metal cap irons or brass lever caps but I do have a few wooden wedged Mujis in the workshop, all of which have tight correctly fitting wedges.

It would be worth checking that the numbers on the body and the wedge match (the components should all have matching numbers - as with Clifton 3110's). Even if they do match it would still be worth giving the retailer a call to see if they can swap it for an inspected replacement.

If you do decide to sort it out yourself and get to the point where the wedge is too thin to bite at all, a piece of paper glued to the bed will raise the blade and narrow the wedge gap.

 

[Woodchips2]

Makes a change for something to actually come with the batteries! :mrgreen:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[MIGNAL]

That appears to be near identical to the one I have, including the size. They can be a bit rough around the edges but they do work very well if you sort out the minor teething problems. The wood must have a pretty high Janka rating. It's not easy to cut. The blade seems to be very good.

 

[J_SAMa]

Ah, that's better!

OK, so the wedge has a chamfered V to guide the shavings, which means it can only go one way up. All of the planes we have in stock either have metal cap irons or brass lever caps but I do have a few wooden wedged Mujis in the workshop, all of which have tight correctly fitting wedges.

It would be worth checking that the numbers on the body and the wedge match (the components should all have matching numbers - as with Clifton 3110's). Even if they do match it would still be worth giving the retailer a call to see if they can swap it for an inspected replacement.

If you do decide to sort it out yourself and get to the point where the wedge is too thin to bite at all, a piece of paper glued to the bed will raise the blade and narrow the wedge gap.

Yes, all the wooden parts on are numbered "125" (see the handle in the third picture, that black number. Seemingly made with a permanent marker).
And as I said I bought this on my trip to China and I don't even know how to contact the retailer, so replacement would be impossible.

Sam

 

[J_SAMa]

UPDATE: I took a chisel to it today and finally got the wedge to fit. Shaved quite a bit off of the overly-tight side. Now the (minor) problem is that the wedge goes very deep into the body when engaged. This makes the plane choke as there's not enough space for the shavings to curl away properly.
Sharpening went okay despite the blade being HSS. Holding the blade was kind of difficult since it was tiny.
Still not able to take fine shavings with this plane as I'm not used to the adjustment yet. Resulting surfaces are acceptable. Probably going to be a lot better when I'm more familiar with it.

Sam

 

[MIGNAL]

You could always make a new wedge, using the old one as a guide. Easy enough to do. Another tip is to put a gentle camber on the blade. Full width shavings on these small planes can easily clog the chute. I've found the blades on these planes to be very good.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

I've been using one of the Mujingfang mini smoothers for about 10 years, and rave about it every now-and-then. I also have the HNT Gordon small smoother on (extended) loan, and while the Gordon is better finished, the two planes are essentially identical. For several times less, the Muji is an absolute steal!! That does not deminish the worth of the HNT Gordon at all - it just say what a bargain the Muji is.

Mujungfang at top and HNT Gordon below. Identical size and same 60 degree bed. The Gordon's blade is O1 and the Muji is HSS.

The Mujingfang blades are available from Lee Valley ("Hong Kong" style planes: http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/page.a ... 1182,46334 )

The blades are really cheap, and these are the ones I use when I build small block planes, such as this low angle (40 degree bed, bevel down, 5" in length)

Regards from Perth

Derek