At 18:04 13/02/02 -0600, Ralph Brendler wrote:
>Bill Stephens writes:
>
>> I need to make some base board and a mantle to restore the "altered"
>> rooms. I'll be looking for a bunch of planes to reproduce this stuff.
>

>> I've also been considering a #55 since I have a bunch of profiles to
>> create.
>
>There are a few fans of the #55 around here, but not many. It has a
>reputation as being a very finicky plane to use, and the lack of a
>mouth means that it requires *very* straight grain to produce good
>results. Plus, for the typical price one of these goes for you can get
>one of Tony Murland's harlequin H&R sets and still have enough left
>over for a pair of snipe bills...
>

First off, listen to Ralph - he's forgotten more than I'll ever know.

Having said that, I'll state that my #55 planes better in any grain than
any woodie I have. Cuts truer, tears out less, chokes less, cutters are
in *much* better shape and easier to sharpen.

>From this you'll guess that my woodies are in terrible shape, and you'd
>be right. After many hours of probably misdirected effort, I have a
>grand total of two woodies (out of ~60) cutting well - one round, and
>one skew rabbett. My experience is:

1. matching the cutter profile to the sole (nearly all of my cutters are
   nicked or misshapen in some way) is an *very* finicky job. The
   precision required here is well in excess of that required for making
   joints. #55's lack of sole wins here.

2. reconditioning the bed is even trickier. #55's lack of bed wins here.

3. once all of that is done, choking is a major problem for all but the
   lightest cuts (and light cuts aren't even possible unless steps 1 & 2
   are well under control). #55's lack of throat wins here.

I would like nothing more than to have a shelf full of sweetly tuned
woodies, but I'm beginning to think that the only way this will happen
in this lifetime is if I buy them, or at least buy them in a *lot*
better condition than has been my lot so far. In the meantime, the #55
cuts lots of profiles in lots of wood for the overhead of just
sharpening up an iron.

I'll end with a question - how tuned are Tony Murland's sets?

Jaime Metcher