Moulding planes starting off?

[thetyreman]

I've been thinking of going down the rabbit hole that is buying sets of old moulding planes, part of me wants to just get a power router and do it that way, but if I were to go down the road of hand tool only moulding planes what would be the best first few to buy? I'm just concerned that it might take me a very long time to aquire and sharpening them is a pain lol could also start making some scratch stocks but there's something nice about having a plane, being a hobbyist ideally it's not something I want to spend a fortune on.

what are your thoughts?

cheers,

Ben.

 

[D_W]

A couple of small beads, hollows and rounds even sizes or odd sizes 1-7 or 2-8 and a moving fillister plane.

When you have a profile to match in something already established, routers are often not going to help you.

when you buy planes, try to find them in relatively good condition, and a little older if you can. Their chance of being straight increases the older they are. Very late model planes often weren't made with wood sawn pith centered or good stock in general and they can do all kinds of horrible things worse than just shrinking (all will shrink over time since drying wood never fully springs back with each drying cycle. Eventually the wood will be stable and stop moving, but even if it was properly dried when made, subsequent cycles will make it shrink (and the plane will shrink in width if the grain orientation is correct).

 

[AndyT]

+1 to all that.
But I wager you'll buy some others too, just because nobody else wanted them and they were only a couple of quid. ( What else can you buy, for the price of a coffee or a sandwich, that can be two or even three hundred years old, still ready to do the job it was made for?)

Also, read Matt Bickford's blog for the best recent online intro. His book is good but his blog explores important topics like how to use the things!

https://musingsfrombigpink.blogspot.com/?m=1