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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!

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Reguards,

Ken H

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

Those are tiny planes!

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Steve Walden
Aspiring Builder,
Bartlesville, OK

Those are neat planes. I am assuming that they work as well as they look. (I think that makes sense)

Flamenco guitar is quite a departure from your norm is it not?   Wish I had enough experience to offer advise but such is not the case. I think they do have six strings and that they are not steel, and Oh yeah, they often have friction pegs in place of geared tuners. Hope that helps

John

I have those two and the scraping plane. After some truing and replacing the blades they are my favorite next to my Ibex for brace shaping. The bull nose plane in my books is not really much worthless.

Now I hope I don't ruin your day as I don't know what you gave for them and these may be have better blades than what mine came with, but I got my three (these two and the scraper plane) on sell at HF for $6. They look exactly the same. Down to the knurling on the thumb screws and the machining of the front finger grip. Granted I did have to true the bases and replace the cheap Low carbon steel blades but I think I have about a half hourtotal in the truing and a total of $6 each in blades and the are real snake charmers.

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.

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Reguards,

Ken H

You will love that little finger plane. I was able to get a nice edge on the blades but because of the low carbon make up they just will not hold it long at all. Next time you in HF pick the whole set up. I think they are $10 normal price for all three. The scraper plane is worth that and more. Perfect for after close thinning.

[QUOTE=MichaelP] I have those two and the scraping plane. After some truing and replacing the blades they are my favorite next to my Ibex for brace shaping. The bull nose plane in my books is not really much worthless.

Now I hope I don't ruin your day as I don't know what you gave for them and these may be have better blades than what mine came with, but I got my three (these two and the scraper plane) on sell at HF for $6. They look exactly the same. Down to the knurling on the thumb screws and the machining of the front finger grip. Granted I did have to true the bases and replace the cheap Low carbon steel blades but I think I have about a half hourtotal in the truing and a total of $6 each in blades and the are real snake charmers.[/QUOTE]
I got the same ones at harbor freight also. I havent gotten around to truing them up though. I believe their made in India.

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Guitars, guitars and more guitars.

yep mine had a ink trasfer on them that said Made in India

Which brings up a hi-jack opportunity. Sorry about that

I call one of these planes a bull nose plane for lack of a better name. it has the frog and blade in the leading edge with no chip breaker of any kind.

What is the intended use for this kind of plane? to me without a chip breaker it just want to gouge at the end of a pass.

It is the one on the right in Ken's photo.

Here you go.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Hi carbon my cats tail. These blades are soft as chiffon

And it is called a bull nose. How bout them apples. Still don't know it true use

come to think of it It might make a good appel peeler

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.

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Reguards,

Ken H

Gee I love Google I does just what it looks like it should do material removal up aginst a perpendicular surface...Duha!

Ken,

Congrats on the flamenco commission. That is my primary interest and I am finishing up on no. 9 right now. I am not an expert by any means, tho.

I'll be glad to respond to any questions that arise (for what it's worth).

Regards,
Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

Congrats Ken my friend - I'll second getting in touch with Max if you need any flamenco consultations AND for fun too - Max is a very cool guy!

[QUOTE=MichaelP] Which brings up a hi-jack opportunity. Sorry about that

I call one of these planes a bull nose plane for lack of a better name. it has the frog and blade in the leading edge with no chip breaker of any kind.

What is the intended use for this kind of plane? to me without a chip breaker it just want to gouge at the end of a pass.

It is the one on the right in Ken's photo.[/QUOTE]
A bull nose plane allows you to get into tight corners like inside a box or drawer and you can plane right to the edge of board.

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Guitars, guitars and more guitars.

I got those two as well.

the supplied blades are.......

not up to standard.

I took a broken hacksaw blade to the grinder and made a pair of new blades in 5 minutes.

Useful little planes, for very little money (MUCH less than the Ibex!!)

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My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick

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!

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Reguards,

Ken H

Where can you get a good replacement blade that will fit those HF planes?

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Y'all realize how easy and fun it is to make your own planes, right?

Buy a handful of Ibex replacement blades and make a bunch of bodies... I'm not into grinding steel anymore. But a good, old hand saw or table saw blade(and old one) can be decent steel at just the right thickness if you want to make your own blades, also.

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?