I needed to make about 8 feet of crown molding in a custom design and out of paduk. I elected to use molding planes to do the shaping of the crown.
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"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
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Stunning!
Thanks,First one I've shaped entirely with molding planes.
Sir,I am indeed impressed.Beautiful work, beautiful collection.
It has been suggested that I write something about how I made this for an article . I'm wondering how much detail with regard to using hand tools would be of interest. The technique I used is based on the approach described by Thomas Sheraton and does not lend itself to the use of routers. From my side, to write an in-depth article with pics would involve making another piece, take pics, etc. From the readers side it would require buying 4 or 5 molding planes and getting them user ready. While this approach appealed to me, does it appeal to others enough to make one for yourself?
There is lots of interest in how it's done, even if the reader never makes molding with hand planes.
Have you opened the other photos beyond the one of his plane collection? Work was stunning as well.
Life is Good
Actually I was referring to the work, but that's an amazing plane collection too. When I was a kid, you could pick them up for a few bucks each.
A wooden moulding plane you can still get for a few bucks, warped, worm eaten, and with rusted blade and missing boxing.But the skill to rehab the planes and use them to do that work...Pricless.Eric
yep! what he said!
Beautiful work. Do you have any pictures of the steps you took? I did something similar years ago(red oak), but I made a big cove on the table saw on a diagonal and finished with hand planes. Wish I had taken pictures.
How many hours in this if you don't mind me asking?
Kimball
Kimball,What I did first was to make a drawing of the profile. Then it was making a series of rabbets to establish the fillets and beads. The whole thing took about 3 1/2 hours to make. It was a learning experience first time around, if I were to do more I now know how it could be done faster, say around 2 1/2 hours.
Really nice work.I hope it is located where it is out of the sun's reach so it will keep the colour.
That is fantastic work that you did, I've made some moldings with hand tools but without the luxury of your great collection of planes. Mine were done with some rabbet planes, a Stanley 45, scrapers, and carving tools. How is the Paduak to work with? I've only gotten to use it once and it was just cutting some S4S flat stock to length. I enjoy working with Walnut and Mahogany when doing moldings by hand.Did you glue-up your pieces as a big rectangular blank or did you eliminate some of the rabbetting work by sizing the glued-up pieces differently?
Really nice work. Thanks for sharing.
Chuck S
Keith,
Very nice! The subtle variation of hand tooled work gives it a warm, antique look.
Cheers,
Brian
Well you obviously don't have enough molding planes.
And I'm jealous.
Real trucks dont have sparkplugs
Thanks for the kind words. I like padouk, it works well with machines and hand tools.
Sweet work.I was gonna ask how you liked Padauk for hand work, I hadn't used it for other than guitar faces, with little hand work involved.you sure got me beat on planes, I have about 2/3rds of that. Got me an odd ball bed mould to copy, outta 8/4 poplar, but the rail of Pop I got, looks like its gonna fight me, convoluted grain , unlike I've ever seen in Pop before. Thats what I get for not really checking the pile for nicer stuff. If it was all router work, it'd be fine, but as far as hand work, well, you know what ya want..Ya learn pretty quik to work from the far end back (G)Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
PROUD MEMBER OF THE " I ROCKED WITH REZ" CLUB
Old world craftsmanship, new world prices.
Looks great
WOW!
I'm impressed AND jealous.
Impressed with that crown, and jealous of all your planes. I have 40-50 moulding planes that belonged to my 2x great grandfather, plus another 30 or so bench planes. I'm pretty sure you've got me beat, tho. I see some Lie-Nielsons in there, too.
Where do you live, and what time is your house empty <G>
Keith,
IMO, It would make a great article for FWW rather than FHB. You just have to find the right audience. Even if you get no takers, it would make a great "how to" blog... then the audience can find you.
The floral corbels I made were too woodworky for FHB and too crude for FWW.
Good stuff,
Brian
""The floral corbels I made were too woodworky for FHB and too crude for FWW. "' UH I don't think so .
They are much more in the vein that FH started out with way back when.
Truly "Custom" stuff being done on true "Custom" houses.
Back before the mag sank to how to build a better Mcmansion as quickly as you can.
Seeing the corbel project or the he mantle being hand worked and seeing the finished project is Fine Homebuilding IMO.
Life is Good
Perhaps. I would like to see more old school work in FHB... Another option would be Old House Journal or their newer magazine:http://www.newoldhousemag.com/Cheers,Brian
http://basswoodcarpentry.com/
I for one would be extremely interested in the article, specifically methods of clamping the work and setting up the planes. I've done some molding with hand planes but I'm an beginner at best. I would buy the planes necessary to duplicate your results, however my success at tuning them I could not assure.
I'm inclined to agree with what has been said about "Fine Homebuilding". The work that I and others, such as Brain have posted is homebuilding and not "woodworking". I've worked in custom guitar and fine furniture shops and IMO there is a sizable difference. I have every issue of Fine Homebuilding up to about 2 years ago when I gave up on the magazine. I don't wish to bash the magazine, I'm sure they are responding to what sells but for me the earlier issues inspired one to try new and more changeling projects. I don't ever wish to read another "best tool" review.The article will be in "This is Carpentry" by Gary Katz, who IMO has put out an online magazine which is more of what "Fine Homebuilding" used to be and more. I would encourage anyone who hasn't seen it to go to http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/DDCarpenter,I tried to sharpen my molding planes myself with miserable results. I then took them to my local machine shop who did the job for $20 per plane and what I got back was a tool that worked like magic, well worth every penny. For those people who have never used a properly tuned molding plane, the plane is self-stopping. Once the radius is obtained the plane stops cutting. Just brilliant.
I got an email today... the corbels will be in a short JLC article (my second for them).I did submit an article to ThisIsCarpentry, but it didn't make the cut. Good product though.All the best,Brian
Brian,
Congratulations on getting another article published. I was approached by them awhile back when I posted about making door jams and mortising for hinges. I wrote an article and sent the pics I took while doing the job. Apparently the pics I took weren't of high enough quality for print so I let it slide. Hope things go better for you.I pulled up the link you had about another site and the article on quality finish carpentry pretty well sums up my feelings on what finish carpentry should be but seldom is. For that person being in the Boston area must be a great help, for me in Seattle trying to get people to understand the difference is an uphill climb.
Will you adopt me? Oh, wait, I'm older than you. But I'll never have so many tools.
Janet
you cold be his adopted older brother....
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
But she'd have to change some parts around.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
PROUD MEMBER OF THE " I ROCKED WITH REZ" CLUB
For beautiful tools, I'd change my name!Jan-- uh, I mean, Joseph.
Not change, just shorten. Like Jan Michael Vincent and Jan Hammer. Both guys.Trust me, molding planes are a sweet thing to have when they co-operate, but can be finicky as can be when they clog or get outta shape. The best way to sharpen them ( mine at least) is leave the bevel alone, and just reflatten the back as needed, and after awhile of that, you will have to tinker with the profile.Many are so worn out, they are best left as decoration on a wall at Cracker Barrel..LOLSpheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
PROUD MEMBER OF THE " I ROCKED WITH REZ" CLUB
Sphere,I do the same as you with non-nicked or newer round plane irons, just flatten the back. I bought a brand new round at Woodcraft(Japanese one for $20.00) and a minute on the waterstone with the back and it was bullnosing window sill stock better than a router.Unfortunately when I see the eBay molding planes the irons usually look pretty rough...I'll have to see if a local machine shop can sharpen them up for me like they did for Keith as fighting with my grinder and the round slipstones is too much work for the relative reward.
Yeah, I have some that are a real nightmare to attempt,never thought of a machine shop. We have a few locally.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
PROUD MEMBER OF THE " I ROCKED WITH REZ" CLUB
When I've bought planes on ebay I try to buy full sets. My experience has been that the quality has been better. Back when I was collecting most of what I now have I got them from England, quality was very good but get ready for some expensive shipping costs.If the body of the plane is good and replacement iron can be had from these guys http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?cat=548.
Now ya tell me!I made an iron from a file, ground it flat and smooth, then set it in and scribed it to the sole. Blue layout die and careful scribe. Then Sharpen.
They MAKE new irons? Sheesh, I'm nuts.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
PROUD MEMBER OF THE " I ROCKED WITH REZ" CLUB
Don't feel bad, they only came out with them a few months ago. You can thank the guys at clark & williams.By & by- the owner Tom Lie Nielsen seems to have gone off the tracks, he just told Woodcraft (his biggest customer) to shove it and is getting a divorce. Who knows how long things will last.
Yeowzaa, that is a derail!Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
PROUD MEMBER OF THE " I ROCKED WITH REZ" CLUB
It would interest me, even if I had to go to considerable lengths to get planes for a similar project. I'd especially like to see the sequence of planes you used to make this. I just made about 36 feet of a much simpler molding using hand planes that I made myself. It was my first attempt to do such a thing and wow, what a learning experience!
Aside from the challenges of making a molding plane that works at all, I found it difficult to get consistent results with the planes I made. There are so many variables, including the "spring" angle (I hope that's the right term) at which the plane is applied to the wood.
Your mantle is beautiful and I really admire the very high level of many skills that it took. An article showing the planes and the whole process would be great.
Bob,The molding looked challenging but when broken down into steps really isn't. The real credit for this rightly belongs to others and I will mention that in the article, without their work it would have been a much bigger undertaking and I doubt it would have turned out as well. There are articles and dvd's on molding planes put out by others with a much greater knowledge on the subject than mine. Don McConnell, Larry Williams and Todd Herrli come to mind. Their work is the basis of what little knowledge I have.
Keith, In spite of your modesty (or maybe partly because of it) I remain really impressed by your craftsmanship. Thanks for the references. I'll check them out and who knows, maybe someday I'll be able to post pictures here of my own moldings. -- Bob