Floats for making hollows & rounds?

[Nick Sandmann]

I received a couple of Lie Nielsen gift certificates for Christmas, and plan to use them to order some plane maker floats and the 1/10" mortising chisel from Lie Nielsen to make some hollows & rounds. The gift certificates should cover the chisel plus about 2 floats, and I am willing to spend a little extra $$ to get an extra float or 2, plus some irons, but I can't justify buying 2 of each type of float(push & pull) right now. For those of you who have made hollows and rounds, which floats(push/pull) would you recommend? I already have a bed float that I use for joinery, so I don't need a bed float. I have Larry Williams DVD on making these planes, however he recommends having each float in push & pull as being "nice" to have, but I'm looking for more specific recommendations on "necessary" floats for making these planes since I can't afford to buy 1 of each right now. Suggestions?

[Jim Matthews]

Have you tried the microplanes?
They're not terribly expensive
and come in a range of profiles.

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/04/s/columns/cupp/21/

[Nick Sandmann]

Have you tried the microplanes?They're not terribly expensiveand come in a range of profiles.http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/04/s/columns/cupp/21/

How many planes have you made using these to bed the irons?

[Tony Joyce]

For the side bead plane I made several years ago I used an edge float(push) that I made. Also used a LN side float(push). I don't remember having any problems with using push floats.


Tony

[Steve Voigt]

For the side bead plane I made several years ago I used an edge float(push) that I made. Also used a LN side float(push). I don't remember having any problems with using push floats.

Like Tony, I have made side and conical escapement planes with only a push edge and a push side float. I made mine too--great minds think alike! Making an edge float is easy, making a side float is tedious and fairly difficult, and making a bed float is something I would not wish on anyone.
If you want to go beyond those two basic floats, here's what Caleb James recommends. He makes a whole lot more side escapement planes than I do.

If you get into a jam and/or reach the limits of your budget, one thing that can work is to find small NOS Vixen files on ebay and grind the edges to the shape you want. I did this before I had any floats.

[Paul Saffold]

Jim, have you used the microplanes in place of floats? I have a few microplanes and they have quite a bit of flex to them.
Paul

Have you tried the microplanes?
They're not terribly expensive
and come in a range of profiles.

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/04/s/columns/cupp/21/

[Ashley Vaughan]

Nick
I make a lot of hollows and rounds and dedicated molders. I also make my own floats. For me the best are edge floats, push and pull side floats and pull cheek floats. I find that I get a better finish on the escapement side with a pull float, probably because of grain direction.

[Casey Gooding]

Iwasaki files work nicely as floats.