Brian Siano wrote:

[snip]

So here's what I'm wondering. Imagine if one had a small variety of
metal moulding planes-- say, around the size of rabbet planes, or
smaller-- with dedicated knives and sole profiles. And one could
assemble a sequence of these units side-by-side, to create custom
moulding profiles. Thus, one would have the customizability of the
Stanley 55, but the sole would be contoured like a classic wood-body
plane. It'd be _heavy_, of course.

Now, I don't have the metalworking skills or resources to create
anything like this. And I doubt there's much of a market, given the
prevalence of power-driven moulding machines. But, any opinions? Ideas?
Simple reasons why this is better relegated to an unrealized fantasy
called "Siano's Folly" than actual creation in the real world?

I'm guessing it's been tried before, and they found out that it was
awfully _heavy_ and _expensive_. :-)

One thing you might want to explore first is making moldings with
wooden hollows and rounds. When used in conjunction with a rabbet
plane, many different moldings can be made. Also, you can use a scratch
stock (or simple scrapers) to refine custom shapes. They are easy to
make, and the variety of shapes is only limited by your imagination.

If you do a little exploring over on the Oldtools list (I assume
they still have FMM or Flea Market Monday where they advertise tools for
sale), you can probably find some hollows and rounds for sale cheap.
Then either use your #78 (you do have one, right? ;-) or a wooden
rabbet plane to define the basic shapes, and the hollows or rounds to
refine them.

There are articles on the web about this very thing, but I'm too
lazy to look them up right now. :-) Try Googling on "molding plane"
(as a phrase), "complex" and "profile" or "hollows", "rounds" and
"molding". Or just check out the Oldtools list archives.


Chuck Vance