Just received some new moulding planes from Matt Bickford

[Keith Mathewson]

I've had a collection of moulding planes for years and have struggled to achieve the level of competence needed to produce moulding like the ones I've seen on old pieces of furniture. A few years ago I ordered a set of hollows & rounds from Clark & Williams and while the planes functioned much better then most of my old restored ones I still didn't have real control over design & execution. That is until I ordered a set of snipe bill's and book from Matt Bickford. The fillet on what I had considered a very good set of snipe bill's that I had were about 3x's wider than Matt's and the difference in use is extraordinary. Through reading the book and working from rabbet layouts I can now, for the first time, have the moulding that I want produced from the first attempt. I highly recommend his book, a set of snipe bill's and one pair of hollows and rounds (#6) to anyone wanting to produce moulding using handtools.

Now if he would make a set of side planes.

[calvert]

Keith, I admire anyone who takes the time to try and effectively use moulding planes.

I was at Colonial Williamsburg late in 2011 and happened to be at the new blacksmith shop they were building when they were running 5" crown in old growth longleaf pine. Of course, all of this has to be done with period appropriate wood body moulding planes. What a task. I was fortunate to get a cutoff from the pieces they had already installed.

A visit to the joinery shop also was interesting in that the craftsmen there were in the process of running sash stock, also in longleaf pine, for the new windows destined for the blacksmith shop. I remember asking how long it takes to make the stock for a single sash and I believe the answer was a day. That is for someone well versed in using those handplanes.

I was fortunate last year to contract the services of someone who previously worked in the Williamsburg cabinet shop to help with the restoration of an early 19th century mantle mirror. Although this involved more use of "compo" material rather than wood, I have been to his shop and seen some phenomenal hand woodwork that he had done. He trained in France and England and graduated from the prestigious "Ecole Boulle" in Paris. He is frequently travelling to Europe to make repairs to ultra high end antique pieces that may have been accidently damaged.

While I have a number of wood bodied planes and have attended some classes on their proper use, I just can't find the time to devote to developing a proficiency at it. I did do some rather complex mouldings in black walnut several years ago to match work in an 1870 mansion but the opportunities for this kind of work are just not that plentiful. Usually I am contracted to make several hundred feet of a historic moulding and I just put the blades in the moulder and hit the switch.

I do thank you for bringing to my attention the book by Matt Bickford and intend on purchasing that.

[calvert]

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...43148975,d.dmQ

[m beezo]

I own about 20 or 25 different wooden body planes that my grandfather had. I have used one or two on some projects in my 25 years of having had them. I go back and forth on if I should keep them or not.

I look at your collection and think here is a guy who actually uses the things. Then I feel like I am really doing a disservice to the tools since they are still sitting in the same big old tool box that came with them and all kinds of other tools. I would guess it has been at least 3 years since I have had the box open and now that I think about it am wondering what kind of shape they are in. I used to take things out every few years and oil them up some to help preserve them but do not remember the last time I did that.

To think that someone is still using them is pretty amazing to me and doing so not just for the fun of it. While never really working with the molding planes that much there is something really nice about seeing long curls of wood coming out of a wood plane that a power plane just does not give the same satisfaction.

[JAlvis]

Thanks for the short cut.....

Why a pair of "snipe bills" and "#6 Hollow and rounds"?

Is this your opinion from use or is that a recommendation in the Book?

I've always admired the Clark and Williams planes but was intimidated by the price for the entire set. Maybe I only need four?

[Keith Mathewson]

Thanks for the comments. I agree with calvert on production runs, I have 3 shapers and a moulder.

For small runs where you have to match a given profile I find the use of moulding planes to be an efficient use of time. Most of the work is in producing the rabbets for the planes to ride on and these can be made with a router or on the tablesaw. The other benefit from making moulding by hand is that you have to really understand mouldings, their component parts and how all the parts fit together. Pair that with the information derived from George Walkers dvd's on moulding proportions it was, for me, a breakthrough. An exercise worth going through even if you never again make mouldings by hand.

As for using snipe bills I learned that from Don McDonald from Old Street Planes. The #6 is arbitrary, it is a middle of the road size recommended in Matt's book. If you want to begin with one matched pair that is a good starting point.

As a side note Old Street Planes has stopped taking orders. They have so many years of orders that they don't know if they can make them all before they retire. I am VERY happy that I was able to get a set and now I believe that Matt Bickford is the only planemaker in the US taking orders.