Dear Drivel Starved Nation;
For those of you that follow this Totally Awesome and Worthless Blog, you know that one, you need to get a life – you should be in your shop making something. Oh wait, you are at work…
Second, I am a huge fan of crowned edges in woodworking.
A crowned edge can be used in many ways and in my opinion, almost always more beautiful than a dead square edge. You can read about the proportions of this edge treatment here.
This week we will open the pre-order window for the definitive set of crown profiles for the HP-10 Foxtail Convertible Plane and the kit appears below;
We learned much over the years with the HP-6 Mini Multi-Plane and not the least of which was all the boxes that accumulate in your shop. With the HP-10 Crown Kit, there is only one box and it holds all four profiles (whether you acquire one or all four), both hones and will have a space for the included tube of diamond paste. We are doing this so you can remove the high density foam insert and design a cabinet to house the coming profile kits over the next four years. At some point we will also make the exact same size foam insert for the HP-6 sole and iron kits so you can have a home for them as well.
The two aluminum hones are dual sided and will allow you to hone a 5 degree micro bevel in short order using diamond paste on all four profiles. The angle to the hone for the micro bevel is 30 degrees and it is really easy to do completely by hand. However for those with disabilities or unsteady hands, you can use a honing guide as well.
As of this writing, it looks like we will make HP-10 bodies every two years so if you are thinking about adding this plane to your shop, we have a small inventory remaining from the previous production run.
A visitor to our showroom recently asked me if you use the crown plane to remove all the wood from a square edge and the answer is a definitive NO! You always remove as much material as you can with a block or bench plane and use the crown plane for the last four or five passes. This keeps your crown iron sharper much longer.
My next post will feature images from the wood invitational now appearing at the Bellevue Arts Museum – it is an incredible exhibition of creative woodworking.
-John
HP-10 Foxtail Convertible Plane Crown Kit
I’m excited about the crowning soles, John. What radii will you being supplying (or did you already cover that in your other post)? Is there overlap with the HP-6 crown and radius soles?
I notice that the two smaller radii have narrower soles – cool! It looks like this will give you quite a bit of versatility in the profiles you’ll be able to make/use on the HP-10. You’re not constrained by the body width.
Looking forward to the multi-sole insert for the HP-6 pieces, though my individual inserts fit quite nicely into a single drawer of my tool cabinet.
— Peter
Peter-
The diameters of the kit include .5″, 1.625″, 3″ and 4.5″. This will allow you to crown proportionately on stock widths from 1/8″ up to 2″ in width. As mentioned, there is no one size fits all.
These overlap all HP-6 crowns.
-John
Interesting point Peter brought up about the width of the soles; is there a maximum width that you could put on it? I imagine that at some point the iron would leverage and soles would flex, but it does appear that the design allows for widths beyond the body to work.
Rutager
Oh, oh, one more question; I see that the soles and hones are in two different colors, is that for a reason, or just playing around with aesthetics?
Have you determined what the order of production will be? Can the set of four be pre-ordered or subscribed to?
The hones are color coded to the sole kits they will service.
Planes where the sole is wider than he body are not new. That said, for the HP-10, 2″ is about as far as the body length will allow.
This is the issue we ran into with the HP-6, you still need to be able to comfortably push the plane in relationship to the shaving width.
Alex-
It doesn’t make sense to piecemeal these out – they will all arrive at once. And you save a little $ too.
John
John,
Have you considered doing the opposite. At College of the Redwoods everyone eventually makes a plane with a radius so that they can finish the inside of coopered doors etc. This plane looks to be a great candidate for that. I’m guessing a large radius and a smallish one would be more than sufficient.
Mike
Mike:
Patience please… 🙂
John
Have you considered making a compass plane to carry these irons for concave surfaces? The profile portion of the sole might have to polyethylene or some other flexible material. (Unobtainium?) 🙂
Lots of new stuff coming… Patience Grasshopper!
That sexy sidecar from the SE models is stunning! Any chance that will be made available as a separate accessory?
That sexy “side car” is the fence system that comes with the HP-10 Rabbet Plane Conversion Kit. I don’t know if we have them separate, but Consuelo would know (consuelo@bridgecitytools.com)
-John
John,
I’m no Consuelo, but it looks like you have stock on the fence.
https://www.bridgecitytools.com/default/tools/planes/foxtail-convertible-plane/accessories/hp-10-guide-fence.html
Rutager
Hmm,
Haven’t unpacked mine, but can you add a fence to both sides?
“…can you add a fence to both sides?”
You can but not without a modification to the fence posts. Currently the posts thread past the centerline of the body – they would need to be ground back for a dual fence set-up.
-John
Besides chamfers, any other good reason to use the fence on both sides?
Those with disabilities might benefit from a dual fence set-up. Otherwise, I don’t know of any other reasons.
-John