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View Full Version : Anyone used the Mujingfang plow plane?



James Scheffler
06-06-2009, 10:53 PM
It was mentioned in an earlier thread that Mujingfang planes offer exceptional bang for the buck. I did some searching, and there is all kinds of positive buzz about them. I checked them out at Japan Woodworker and I'm intrigued by the plow plane: http://japanwoodworker.com/product.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&pf_id=98.120.4033&dept_id=13602

Has anyone used this one? I mostly use a router to cut grooves, but it would certainly be nice to use a plane. However, most of the plow planes available are out of my league. At $62, this one isn't. :)

Thanks!
Jim

James Owen
06-07-2009, 2:33 PM
It was mentioned in an earlier thread that Mujingfang planes offer exceptional bang for the buck. I did some searching, and there is all kinds of positive buzz about them. I checked them out at Japan Woodworker and I'm intrigued by the plow plane: http://japanwoodworker.com/product.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&pf_id=98.120.4033&dept_id=13602

Has anyone used this one? I mostly use a router to cut grooves, but it would certainly be nice to use a plane. However, most of the plow planes available are out of my league. At $62, this one isn't. :)

Thanks!
Jim

Hi Jim,

I've used the Mujingfang plow plane for 3 or 4 years now. Decent plane: easy to set up; easy to use; works well.

The steel in the irons is pretty decent quality; it gets and holds an edge well.

A couple of things that could be better:

(1) the plane has no depth stop, so you have to pay attention to the depth of the cut and check it manually;

(2) the fence on mine is not interchangeable to either side of the plane, so it is a "one-handed" plane. (YMMV)

Other than those two things (for which there are work-arounds), I really like it, and, of course, the price is right, too.

BTW, if you have a need for hollow and round planes, the Mujingfang H & R set is also pretty nice quality at a good price (around $375 or so for the set of 18). A similar set of modern-made English/American style H & Rs will set you back $2500 +/-.....

Michael Faurot
06-07-2009, 3:09 PM
I had one of these and sold it recently because I didn't really like it for similar reasons to those James Owen mentions, as issues that could be improved. First was the lack of a depth stop. The bigger issue is the way the plane is designed to be used--by pulling it. I'm right handed, so normally I push planes from right-to-left on my bench. The alternative to pulling this plane was to swap hands and then push it left-to-right, and I didn't like that much either.

James Scheffler
06-07-2009, 10:28 PM
(1) the plane has no depth stop, so you have to pay attention to the depth of the cut and check it manually;

(2) the fence on mine is not interchangeable to either side of the plane, so it is a "one-handed" plane. (YMMV)



Thanks for the responses, James and Michael.

It looks like the fence can be turned around and used on the other side, as the posts extend all the way through the body. Has there been a design change? Or is there something about the fence I can't see that prevents it from being used on the other side? (Perhaps the posts on the left are meant to be used only as handles?).

Looking at the picture again, it seems like if there is any slop where the posts pass through the fence, it would be possible for the fence to be nonparallel to the plane body. On the other hand, if it's tight, it would be hard to adjust. Is this a problem in your experience?

Jim

Michael Faurot
06-08-2009, 12:28 AM
It looks like the fence can be turned around and used on the other side, as the posts extend all the way through the body. Has there been a design change? Or is there something about the fence I can't see that prevents it from being used on the other side? (Perhaps the posts on the left are meant to be used only as handles?).


Out of the box, you would not be able to flip the fence around. The holes in the fence are smaller than the posts on the other side. To get the fence flipped around, you'd have to shave/scrap the posts to make it fit. You can't tell it by looking at the picture, but where the posts go through the body--they're smaller. At least that was the case with the one I had.

Also take a close look at the picture of the plane:
120134

Look at the back of the fence and the back of the body. Both fence and body slope down to make it easier to grip. If you flip it around the fence and body won't match. So you might need to modify the shape of the fence if you still want to maintain that slope, but afterward the fence and body won't look quite right, but it should work.



Looking at the picture again, it seems like if there is any slop where the posts pass through the fence, it would be possible for the fence to be nonparallel to the plane body. On the other hand, if it's tight, it would be hard to adjust. Is this a problem in your experience?
Part of the set-up for any plow is to verify the fence is parallel with the skate. Out of the box it's going to have some play in it (when the fence is loose), but that's what those wing nuts are for--so you can adjust it to be parallel and then clamp it there. To put it another way, when those wing nuts are loose, and the fence is able to slide back and forth on the posts--there's enough slop that the fence will not remain parallel to the skate.