Mujingfang Round & Hollow

[Pohgunn Ooi]

G'day mates,

Has anyone used Mujingfang's Round and Hollow planes?

LV are now selling them, http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=64009&cat=1,230,41182. (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=64009&cat=1,230,41182)

I am very happy with Mujingfang's bench planes, but have never used any of their rabbet or special purpose planes.:D

Any experience or feedback shared is highly appreciated.

Cheers

GUNN

[Rob Lee]

Hi Gunn,

Not sure you'll get an answer to this one.... they've only been on the website for a few hours!

Cheers -

Rob

[Pohgunn Ooi]

G'day Rob,

My thoughts were how to "tune" the planes to give them a finer finish. I have about 9 Mujingfangs, some were bought from LV, and all of them are not finished well, I think.

But being bench planes, I just take their sole thru high grit sandpaper to get to as fine a polish I can get them before finish with BLO. Now they all have very slick soles.

But for Rounds & Hollows, that'll be more challenging. Which led me to ask fellow woodworkers for their experience.

Sure hope LV will get them and/or provide some kind of write-up about them soon.

Cheers

GUNN

[Ted Calver]

They are showing as not available until early october...Rob's teasing us :)

[Phillip Pattee]

I've been looking on eBay for awhile, but you never are sure what you'll get. At the price point offered, Rob Lee sure makes it attractive to buy a full set. Keep up the good work Rob, you'll likely get business from me soon.:)

[Casey Gooding]

These have been for sale from Japan Woodworker for some time. Been thinking about getting a few myself. Can't beat the price if they're any good.

[Brian Kent]

I look forward to buying a pair from Japan Woodworker, but have not yet. I had the rabbet plane and it did not work. I finally got rid of it. All other Mujingfangs have been marvelous.

Note the Lee Valley description for the rabbet plane:
"Best suited for use on softwoods (or with the grain on hardwood), as this type of blade is wedged farther from the edge, and is prone to chatter on heavier cuts or in difficult grain."

And for the rounds:
Suitable for hardwoods as well as softwoods, they have tight mouths to minimize tear-out.

The kind of blade mounting is also much more like their bench and block planes than there rabbets. I am willing to try them as soon as I can.

Do you think the set of 12 is 12 planes or 12 pairs? They are sold in pairs.
(I just checked again. There are 6 pairs or 12 individual planes available)

For the finish I have used the Bealls Buffing system and I've used Danish Oil and wax. Both work beautifully on this rosewood.

By the way, notice how small these are. i hope they are easy enough to use.

Brian

[David Gendron]

I do have a few, they came from japan woodworker. Tom Fidgen of www.woodworking.ca (http://www.woodworking.ca) try them and wrote about them a wile ago. I tryed to get the link but didn't work...:confused: so the info to get there quick is: Treasure from far east, march 19TH 2008.
I do like mine but find them a little smal for big work!
Good luck!

[Rob Lee]

They are showing as not available until early october...Rob's teasing us :)

Hi Ted -

Well - only sort of.... we've mailed the US catalog, so have get the product up on the web....

Now if was really going to tease you - I'd tell you about the $30 Veritas plane that's coming in October....it's waaay cool.

Cheers -

Rob

[Richard Magbanua]

That better not be one of them balsa wood glider planes Rob. That would be just plain mean.

[Matt Evans]

Hi Ted -

Well - only sort of.... we've mailed the US catalog, so have get the product up on the web....

Now if was really going to tease you - I'd tell you about the $30 Veritas plane that's coming in October....it's waaay cool.

Cheers -

Rob


Now, Rob, that IS teasing!

[Rob Lee]

That better not be one of them balsa wood glider planes Rob. That would be just plain mean.

Richard -

I can't beleive you wrote that - we actually do have a balsa wood glider plane going into that catalog too....!!! But - that one is $2.50....:D:D

No - I mean a real Veritas plane....trust me... everyone will want want one... and we're gearing up to oblige...:rolleyes:


Cheers -

Rob

[Phillip Pattee]

Rob,

I see you also have a small shoulder plane up on the website. http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=63847&cat=51&ap=1 I haven't seen anyone talk about this either. (Sorry to hijack a thread):o

[Brian Kent]

I do like mine but find them a little smal for big work!
Good luck!

Good Morning David.

Do you mean "big work" like a a piece of furniture or "big work" like trim molding in a room?

Just wondering if you would use these for a dresser or coffee table sized project?

Brian

[Rob Lee]

Rob,

I see you also have a small shoulder plane up on the website. http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=63847&cat=51&ap=1 I haven't seen anyone talk about this either. (Sorry to hijack a thread):o

Hi Phillip -

The small shoulder just started to ship.... we have lots of 'em!

Cheers -

Rob

[David Gendron]

Hi Brian, I think big work like a lot of moulding on a piece of furniture or big molding like the one you see at the top of some large cabinets that would requier a lot of passes with different planes. I think if you use simple molding on a coffee table it would be good!
just my 2 cents!

[David Gendron]

Rob, what about that $30 veritas plane for october???
I'm sure a lot of us would like to hear somthing more!!!
Thank
And it's great to have you on this forum!
David

[Pohgunn Ooi]

Now if was really going to tease you - I'd tell you about the $30 Veritas plane that's coming in October....it's waaay cool.

??? Made in Canada ??? for $30.

What's the catch? No blade included. Blade is $80...:D

Or worse, disposable blades? :(

Just kidding Rob.

Dang, talk about insider information. This is like the boss leaving an urgent message on your phone, "Please come to my office immediately. Something has come up!" :eek:

[Rob Lee]

Rob, what about that $30 veritas plane for october???
I'm sure a lot of us would like to hear somthing more!!!
Thank
And it's great to have you on this forum!
David


Hi David -

You don't want me to blow the Christmas excitement now....;)

Cheers -

Rob

[Justin Cavender]

Hi David -

You don't want me to blow the Christmas excitement now....;)

Cheers -

Rob

Okay now your just toying with us like we do our kids lol

[Rob Lee]

Okay now your just toying with us like we do our kids lol

Yup -

You know it....:D

Cheers -

Rob
(off to complete the cottage washroom reno.... 3 pcs in a 4x8 space! )

[David Gendron]

Since I don't beleive in Santa Clause, you can PM me the info;)

[Chuck Tringo]

Reviving this one, I have considering the Mujingfang set of hollows and rounds, I found a seller on ebay who has a set of 18 for $200 shipped (sorry Rob, but dont worry, I still have a few Veritas Planes on my short list and am hoping you'll be coming out with some larger saws soon :D) but want to see if there is any more experience with them first. As I look to give one of my tailed routers away (I was promised some rough sawn cherry in return) I see that hollows and rounds are a good start at replacing some of the tasks done by a router....the only other reasonable option I see is piecing together an old set from fleebay/auctions/etc....unfortunately Clark and Williams is out of the question, their set is beautiful but may be worth more than my wife's car and I don't think she would appreciate that :rolleyes:

[James Owen]

G'day mates,

Has anyone used Mujingfang's Round and Hollow planes?

LV are now selling them, http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=64009&cat=1,230,41182. (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=64009&cat=1,230,41182)

I am very happy with Mujingfang's bench planes, but have never used any of their rabbet or special purpose planes.:D

Any experience or feedback shared is highly appreciated.

Cheers

GUNN

I have a complete set of 18 (technically, it's a half set....) that I purchased from Japan Woodworker about 4 or 5 years ago. They've been used for everything from the slight rounding over of edges to making moulding; I also have a couple of the Mujingfang 63 degree smoothing and block planes. At first, I found there to be a bit of a curve learning to set the iron depth, but once I got the hang of that, they performed in a very, very satisfactory manner.

The plane bodies are nicely and accurately made from a very attractive rosewood, and have accurately ground and profiled irons: they match the plane body profiles very closely. As far as I can tell from measuring them, they are actual imperial sizes, not metric. The steel in the irons, like that in the Mujingfang 63 degree bench planes, seems to be of high quality and appears to be properly heat treated. I have had no problems sharpening them, and they do have good edge retention. All in all, I think they are very decent quality planes.

If you need a set of H & R planes, don't have $3500 in the tool budget for one of those lovely sets of Clark & Williams H & Rs, and don't want to spend years putting together a set of vintage H & Rs, then the Mujingfang H & Rs are a very reasonably-priced and decent quality alternative. While I would really, REALLY love to have a set of C&Ws, until I can squeeze together the pennies for one, the Mujingfang H & Rs do a very, very satisfactory job.

I hope that this will be of some use to you.