http://www.handplane.com Hand planes, Stanley planes, infill planes & planemaking Tue, 07 Sep 2010 04:41:39 +0000 en hourly 1 http://www.handplane.com/mujifang-rabbet-plane http://www.handplane.com/mujifang-rabbet-plane#comments Fri, 03 Mar 2006 01:50:05 +0000 Administrator http://www.handplane.com/archives/103 http://www.handplane.com/mujifang-rabbet-plane/feed 0 This ebony rabbet plane from Mujingfang might be considered by some to be a little rough in places but, coming in under $30, you can forgive a little crudeness here and there. Michael Brereton tries it out. The body of this particular plane measured 6-1/4 inches long and 1 inch wide and looked like a nice “select” piece of jet black ebony, free of defects. The roughly finished blade was bedded at about 46° and was made of HSS. At just under 1/8 of an inch thick it needed a little flattening, sharpening and honing before I felt it was suitable enough to use. Of course this would be expected of most planes, let alone one at such an inexpensive price. Once the fettling had been done it was down to the testing. The plane did a surprisingly good job of planing whatever I threw at it, probably due to the mass of the ebony and the fact that the mouth was nice and narrow at just a little over 1/32 of an inch – excellent for a wooden plane I felt. Like the palm smoothing plane reviewed earlier, this plane also felt nice to use, providing a comfortable grip [...] http://www.handplane.com/mujifang-palm-smoothing-plane http://www.handplane.com/mujifang-palm-smoothing-plane#comments Wed, 01 Mar 2006 15:04:08 +0000 Administrator http://www.handplane.com/archives/102 http://www.handplane.com/mujifang-palm-smoothing-plane/feed 0 At under $20 the Mujingfang palm smoothing plane is certainly an affordable hand tool for most woodworkers, but Michael Brereton asks “Is it any good?” Made of rosewood and measuring in at 5-1/8″ long by 1-9/16″ wide this little plane is handy for smaller trimming jobs rather than any sort of major cabinetry. The 1-3/8″ wide blade is made of HSS and is 1/8″ thick and it needed a little work done to it before the plane was suitable enough testing but, once that was done, it seemed to hold an edge well. Bedded at an angle of 62° it resisted chatter on most of the difficult timber I tested it on, but not all. Still, the results were pretty impressive and more reminiscent of a popular, more expensive brand of Asian style hand planes. The mouth of the smoother was fine and tight – aided by a strip of brass let in to the front edge. The sole did have a twist to it, however, which was quickly rectified by a little lapping (Ah, the beauty of wooden planes – fast lapping). Once this was achieved the plane performed very well on birds-eye and curly maple as well as [...]