Mujingfang Plane

[Chris Knight]

I needed a couple of hinges for a little cabinet I'm making and dropped in at George Higgins in Sidcup where I finally splashed out £21.95 on one of these Chinese planes - the kind HNT Gordon has copied. I didn't really need it but its low price and a couple of good reviews I had read in the past by Lyn Mangiameli intrigued me sufficiently to try it.

Once home, I simply put the double iron (ie more or less a a conventional Bailey type with cap iron) into the plane, tapped the wedge home and tried it on a piece of hard maple I keep handy for checking the adjustment of my planes. The result astounded me - it was a perfect wispy shaving and it left a nice polished surface.

I tried it again on a piece of softish mahogany with the same pleasing result.

The plane is made from some rather attractive reddish, hard wood. The sole is dead flat and it feels nice in the hands. Overall length of this one is 10 inches. It is 2 1/2 inches wide with a 2 inch blade.

This is one plane you can't really go wrong with.

 

[Woodmagnet]

That sound's like a really good bargain buy w37. :wink:

 

[mr]

Once home, I simply put the double iron (ie more or less a a conventional Bailey type with cap iron) into the plane,

What no fettling? A tool wot works out of the box? Thats my holy *@!#ing grail. Really?????



cheers Mike

 

[Matt1245]

I've been afer one of these planes for ages, but could never find them in the UK. Can't find them on the website, but will give them a ring on tuesday.

Matt.

 

[como]

I bought 2 of these: http://www.rutlands.co.uk/cgi-bin/psProdDet.cgi/DKWK46||@cHand Planes@b|0|user|1,0,0,1|26| chinese woodies in the last rutlands sale, I got the 180mm and the 275mm. Although I've not had chance to use them in anger yet, I found when I tested them out, they worked great.
My only gripe would be, that they can be a little uncomfortable to hold. Maybe it's my technique, does anyone have any references on how to use chinese planes?

Mark

 

[Chris Knight]

Matt,

There are three bits to George Higgins and it's only the power tools part that gets much coverage (and still by no means a full coverage) on their website. The traditional hardware bit is not covered and neither is the hand tool bit which is one of the best around these days. The Mujingfang planes are in the hand-tools shop.

Mike, mine really does work out of the box - can't speak for them all of course but as the blade was in its factory wrapper and I saw no evidence of secondary fettling, I see no reason why other examples shouldn't. Mind you, I look at the first plane and the wooden cross spar did not fit as well as I liked so I took a second example. I could have easily scraped it to fit but hey, I was paying over £20 for this!

Como, see here for hints from HNT Gordon:- http://www.hntgordon.com.au/handgripindex.htm

 

[Philly]

Chris
How did you find the grip?? Or did you remove the cross bar?
I find my knuckles bang the surface of the workpiece if I don't maintain a strict grip (granted on my HNT Gordon)
Cheers
Philly

 

[Chris Knight]

Philly,
When pulling the plane, I tend to use my finger tips on the cross bar rather than wrapping my fingers around it, both on this plane and on my HNT Gordon smoother. I have to say though that I don't like pushing these planes. The Mujingfang might just undergo a bit of surgery to introduce a conventional tote on the back end.

I do like the pulling action for large surfaces though -as HNTG recommends.

 

[Philly]

Chris
Yeah, I keep moving between different grips-push, pull, holding it "Krenov" style. I found I needed the push grip to give the correct pressure on the blade.
Cheers
Philly

 

[como]

Chris, thanks for the HNT Gordon link, I was way off with my technique. Think I will give them another try today.

Mark