New hand planes?

[n0legs]

Well ... N0legs seems to have killed this thread ... :lol: :lol:

Ha! Left them speechless Phil 8) :lol:

It was a mercy killing

:lol:
I've always fancied being a hangman.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Gallows humour?

 

[n0legs]

Gallows humour?

I'll stay off the Substance D and see what I can come up with :lol:

 

[sploo]

Well, I've found another way to test plane iron sharpness - be clumsy turning one over in your hand whilst cleaning it and slice an 8mm long / 5mm deep wedge into one of your fingers #-o

I guess it's sharp.

 

[Steve1066]

I know a lot of people tend to lean towards buying old planes and fixing them up rather than buying new but are there any new planes worth buying?

I have a woodie for general flattening and an old Stanley 4 1/2 (that I bought second hand but did minimal work on as it had apparently been bought new over half a century ago and sat in a cupboard since) for smoothing and they get me through 90% of what I need to do. The woodie is a bit temperamental however and I wouldn't mind getting something new that works more or less out of the box to speed up planing the ridiculous amount of sapele taking up the front room.

I can't exactly justify spending money on a Lie Nielsen or Veritas that isn't on sale so I've been eyeing up an Axminster Rider. Are there any others worth considering?

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

£3.29 that's how much


And it works straight out the box

 

[Bedrock]

Steve - What is that timber - elm? Looks seriously hard work.
BearTricks - the trouble with sapele, as you have no doubt found, is the frequent grain reversal, often within a couple of inches across the width. I was given a fair amount a year or so ago, and mainly have used it for framing. The side table I made for MOL was however finished off the plane, I think with an old no.3 with a very sharp Clifton blade, and with a self-made infill BU with a home made O1 blade, which has a fine mouth. Neither are likely to fall within your budget constraints.
If Steve's £3.29 offering can cope with putting a fine finish on that piece of timber, then I can't see you doing any better.

 

[Steve1066]

Steve - What is that timber - elm? Looks seriously hard work.
BearTricks - the trouble with sapele, as you have no doubt found, is the frequent grain reversal, often within a couple of inches across the width. I was given a fair amount a year or so ago, and mainly have used it for framing. The side table I made for MOL was however finished off the plane, I think with an old no.3 with a very sharp Clifton blade, and with a self-made infill BU with a home made O1 blade, which has a fine mouth. Neither are likely to fall within your budget constraints.
If Steve's £3.29 offering can cope with putting a fine finish on that piece of timber, then I can't see you doing any better.

Yes it's Elm.
And I am shocked at the performance and value of this little plane I took the spare blade and gave it a quick rub on my sharpening stones and tried it on some oak end grain, it performed so well,if it holds it's edge it will become my go to block plane.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

That little Mujingfang mini smoother has been reported by myself, and others, over the course of at least a decade. My version does not use a cross bar but had a properly bedded wedge. The bed is 60 degrees, and the blade is 1 1/2" wide. HNT Gordon make a near-identical version that sells for many times more (is better finished but does not perform any differently). It is a superb mini smoother, but the high cutting angle will restrict its use on end grain. Flip the blade around and use it as a scraper plane.

Regards from Cornwall

Derek

 

[Steve1066]

That little Mujingfang mini smoother has been reported by myself, and others, over the course of at least a decade. My version does not use a cross bar but had a properly bedded wedge. The bed is 60 degrees, and the blade is 1 1/2" wide. HNT Gordon make a near-identical version that sells for many times more (is better finished but does not perform any differently). It is a superb mini smoother, but the high cutting angle will restrict its use on end grain. Flip the blade around and use it as a scraper plane.

Regards from Cornwall

Derek

Hi Derek., I had no idea, if I had known I would have got one ages ago. The performance out of the box was unbelievable.
Have you tried any other plans made by Mujijgfang.
As for end grain I had no problems with some well seasoned quarter sawn English oak, but then again I am not a fan of low angle plane even though I have 2
Thanks Steve

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Hi Steve

Mujingfang planes really received a boost with the publication of a comparison of high end planes, where it featured so strongly: http://www.woodcentral.com/bparticles/haspc.shtml

It needs to be noted that this article was written by Lynn Mangiameli in 2002, a decade before chipbreakers made a re-appearance. It was then vogue to use a high cutting angle to cope with interlocked wood. Consequently, planes that had double irons but were common angled just did not get a look in. High angled planes, such as the Mujingfang featured in the comparison, scored very highly.

I have a couple, and they are superb value for money. The blades today are often tipped in HSS, take a good edge, and hold it forever. I have one in a Stanley #3.

They are available from Lee Valley, where they are called "Hong Kong Planes". At the other end of the price range, HNT Gordon planes (in Australia) are very similar, but far better made and offered with exotic woods. I have a couple and they are high performance and very reliable.

Regards from Cornwall

Derek

 

[ED65]

And I am shocked at the performance and value of this little plane I took the spare blade and gave it a quick rub on my sharpening stones and tried it on some oak end grain, it performed so well,if it holds it's edge it will become my go to block plane.

Thanks for posting with that plane, I've had my eye on similar ones for a couple of years now and I might finally order this one! Could you list the seller name please?

Can I just check, did your one come with a spare blade?

 

[Steve1066]

And I am shocked at the performance and value of this little plane I took the spare blade and gave it a quick rub on my sharpening stones and tried it on some oak end grain, it performed so well,if it holds it's edge it will become my go to block plane.

Thanks for posting with that plane, I've had my eye on similar ones for a couple of years now and I might finally order this one! Could you list the seller name please?

Can I just check, did your one come with a spare blade?

eBay item no 321955645520
Yes it came with 2 blade but not advertised with 2

 

[ED65]

That little Mujingfang mini smoother has been reported by myself, and others, over the course of at least a decade. My version does not use a cross bar but had a properly bedded wedge.

If you look closely at the pics you'll see this is actually that other very well known brand, Mudingfang :mrgreen:

Big fan of your site BTW Derek, have learned loads from it over the years!

 

[ED65]

Yes it came with 2 blade but not advertised with 2

Lucky!

TVM for the item number, I did a search with the title as in your screenshot and the blasted search didn't come up with it :roll:

 

[Steve1066]

Well spotted ED65

 

[AndyT]

I have a little Mujingfang plane that I bought from Rutlands a few years ago because it was cheap and looked different and I fancied trying a plane from a different tradition to see what it was like. It's excellent.

Rutlands don't sell them any more but Workshop Heaven have quite a choice http://www.workshopheaven.com/tools/Mujingfang_Planes.html.

 

[D_W]

Ditto to what Derek said on the older ones with abutments.

I ended up going a different direction than the high angle, but the large continental smoothers that muji makes are super excellent for the money. I couldn't buy the iron or the wood (either) anywhere else for the price they ask for the plane. Mine have had some little nits here and there (bits that have chipped out on the end of the horn or the corner of the mouth where the iron has struck the sides on the way through), but overall, excellent.

I'm not surprised they make some cross pin planes, but I'd spring for the abutment and wedge planes if they can be had.