I saw something on eBay lately that I just couldnt resist, so I bought them. They came from grand old England, so maye this was the reason that people didnt bid on them? Anyway, I am elated to finally get these Planes:

And now for some perspective on the size of these planes:

Another thing I wanted to share is that I got the comission for building a Flamenco guitar today. This will be a whole new world for me and should expand my career, so I am really looking forward to it. I have 2 sets of spanish cedar sitting here waiting for the build to begin, and the new owner is trying to decide on which style he wants from a list of blueprints I have available to me.

Of course I will be asking alot of questions along the way and hopefully some of you who build classicals and have built Flamencos will be able to help in my new direction.

Thats all for now!

Ken - Congrats on the commision!  You have hadgreat success this last six months!  May it continue!

Those are tiny planes!

I havent checked the blades yet, but I am sure I can get them to work. I have never used a bull nose plane, so it will all be new to me too. I had no idea that HF sells them, but I got them, and a whole box of other tools for $30, shipped, so I am happy. Some of the other tools may actually be of more use than the planes.

With gas prices being what they are, it would cost me more than $30 to drive to the nearest HF store and back.

The ones I got look similar, and may be made by the same company, but were packaged in retail packaging from  toolzone

I dont know if England has the same laws about denoting the country of origin, but these say nothing about being made in India or any other country for that matter.

Good question Flippo!

He and I have been having conversations about what he wanted for about 4 months (or longer). He is well aware that I have not built any nylon string guitars and this is a gamble on his part AND mine.

He has some extremely unique needs for a guitar and those needs are not comercially available from any source. This is why he came to me. He has heard my steel string guitars and is impressed, so that is what started our conversations.

I have wanted to build a nylon string guitar and I have studied how they are built (in general), so this was an excellent time for me to try my luck. Because of my inexperience, I made him an offer that he couldnt refuse as far as the price is concerned. I will not loose any money and he gets what he wants and needs too. This is a win-win situation for both of us.

The customer is a professional musician and is becoming "locally famous" for his work. His gigs are starting to branch out to other states throughout the southeast, so this is an excellent way for my guitars to have some more exposure to the general public.

As far as being scared, I worked in a chemical plant for over 25 years. The decisions I made affected both my life and the life of others, including the people in the surrounding neighborhood. I dont scare easily and if anything I am self confident to a fault. Education is the key to anything you do, and you can bet that I will educate myself to my best ability before any glue is spread or wood carved. I am thankful that I have the experience of others who have "been there-done that" here on this forum to help me along the way. Building a guitar doesnt have the potential to endanger anyone's life, so it is a piece of cake to make the decision to build for someone else.

I am truely looking forward to the challenge!

Here is an extremely useful little plane that was a gift from one of my fellows at the Romanillos Course in Spain this past summer. It was made by Peter True who is a cabinet/instrument maker from London and really has a thing for old planes. I love using this thing......

As far as a Flamenco plan is concerned, I'd recommend the 1952 Marcelo Barbero plan (ex Sabicas) by Richard Brune' and available through the GAL. As a steel string builder you will have to force yourself to adhere to thickness values which I guarantee will feel quite alien to you. Brune's plan is specific for these where some others are not. This instrument seems to be the archetype of the modern Flamenco guitar so why not start at the top?