hollow plane pitches

[marcros]

I have some blackwood that want to put a radius on- a number 16 or 18 hollow plane looks idea for the job, but I dont have such a beast.

When looking, how much difference does the pitch angle have on the effectiveness of the tool?

Is it like buying a new car, where it is easy to specify your colour, interior, options and have it just the way you want it, but finding a 10 year old model with those exact options is difficult, or would it be worth seeking out a high pitch angle for this hard timber?

 

[D_W]

I would buy (or make) a 55 degree H&R if I were going to work medium hard and hard woods with such a thing. You can back bevel something lower pitch to make it higher effective pitch, but it's not that pleasant to have to reprofile a H&R iron for one-time jobs.

Anything higher and the finish quality starts to be affected negatively.

depending on the orientation of the blackwood, even 55 might be a bit shallow, but you can scrape after you're done if you have to. You'll find out when you do most of the waste removal with other tools (how bad the wood is to work). if you're lucky, it'll all be downgrain planing and no big deal.

 

[AndyT]

Looking at my own random selection of hollows and rounds, I seem to have more 55 or even 60 degree planes rather than 45 degree. Maybe it's just because the less-used tools survived. So I reckon you stand a good chance of finding what you want, assuming that you can look at the planes in person or find a seller who knows what you are asking about!

That said, a dedicated curved-sole hollow plane is only really essential if the shape is enclosed by other elements, as it might be in a complex moulding. If you just want to round off along an arris, a flat soled plane and a line to work to are all you really need.

 

[D_W]

I think they're 55 degree pitch most of the time because it gives you a good chance of finish off the plane without any other fiddling, or minor scraping at the most.

I've had a few that were common pitch, but they were all big, and I'm assuming they were for soft wood architectural work.

One of the dumbest things I ever did was buy a box of 40 hollows and rounds that were unmatched. I got about 6 good pairs out of them with nothing to do with the rest, and many irons in horrible shape, and ended up just scratch making planes in sizes that I actually wanted to use instead.

 

[marcros]

there is no restriction on the space, it is a piece of inch wide timber, 10-12 inches long.

I had thought of knocking the corners off with another plane, but I hadnt considered doing the whole thing that way- I want to do both sides, so that in cross section it is a vesica piscis in shape. The sharp points will then be softened slightly.

 

[Biliphuster]

In that case, clamp it up between dogs and round away. The small facets should come out in sanding.

Out of interest what are you using a blackwood vesica piscis for? A very hard trout priest perhaps?

 

[D_W]

I haven't got a clear sense of how well this is going to work, but the piece is small enough that you can gnash your way through it no matter what. I'd like to see the finished result to see how closely what I'm imagining the finished piece is compared to what it actually ends up being.

 

[marcros]

it is to be a pendant. Well, a few of them, because I think that I can slice inch long pieces off, sand the cut, polish/buff, add the findings, maybe a dot or two of mother of pearl. There is nothing on google to show you as an example.

My hope, and brief experiment is that the blackwood will polish up, something like jet, and the silver and pearl should provide a nice contrast.