Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey everyone, great forum here , cant believe I did not find this earlier. Anyways I am new to guitar building, just finished my first electric but I really am more of an acoustic player, want to take the plunge on an acoustic build. I am getting a good collection of tools together and have access to a freinds shop if need be, but I have a few questions regarding hand tools...
Low angle or normal smooth plane?
What is the difference between A2 and 01 blades?
Where is a good brand and supplier for paring chisels?
Any info much appreciated,
Thanks

Get a small hand held low angle and a regular smooth plane...don't have to be expensive...just sharp.

Go here to read about plane irons

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=42607&cat=1,41182,43698


in fact check out http://www.leevalley.com

Chisels...all sorts of chisels on the market...just pick up what you can afford...even cheap ones will get the job done. Me, I like Elskatunas and Henry Taylor and Sorby and non of them are cheap...but there ain't nothing wrong with a set of blue handle Marples or what ever you find at Wally Mart ... they will work till you really get the bug and can afford better.

Tools are like cars....a Chevy will get you there just as will a Caddie or Rolls Royce.

Start going to pawn and junk shops and garage sales, keeping your eye open for tools. Especially for planes and chisels. May, June and July is when you get the best pickens at places like that as peoples is doing their spring clean outs. Some of my best stuff came from garage sales.


blessings
the
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Recently I bought some wooden planes manufactured by MuJingFang.
(They can be bought at Lee Valley.)
I read many good reviews about the MuJingFang planes at woodworking forums.
The plane iron is 3 mm thick and very hard.
What I like about the planes is that they are very light and handy to use.
Especially when use for shooting, the light-weight make them easy to handle.
The planes can be used in a pulled or pushed manner - especially when I clamp my fingerboard for shooting but discover the grain direction is wrong, I simply change the planing direction from push manner to a pull manner.

For adjustment of the plane iron requires just a few taps using a mallet at the back of the iron, or sometimes i simple invert and knock against the bench top.
Tap left or right to correct the skew and to retract the iron tap at the back of the plane dai (body).
Well the best part, they are cheap for the quality.



As for chisel, the most common chisel which I used is
- 1' paring chisel from Diefenbacher Tools - the 6.75" long blade makes it easy to control for me.
- 1" 2-Cherries curved paring chisel - The S-shaped profile makes it easy to access certain area.
- 2mm 2-Cherries micro chisel - good for chiselling the binding area at the neck region especially for classical guitars.
I have some Marples blue chip, Japanese chisel and other sized Diefenbacher chisels but I don't really used them often.
I must admit I dont really have many chance to use them .

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Sen CL Goh
http://senguitar.blogspot.com

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IMO and experience I think A 2 is a bit hyped. I think the appeal to a lot of newbies and neophytes is that they have a hard time sharpening so the promise of a longer lasting blade sounds good. I find it to be much harder to sharpen than 0 1 and because of 01 ease of sharpening I do it more often and faster so the net result for me sharper irons. I haven't found O1 to dull all that fast. I would happily trade any of my A2 irons for 0 1. I have asked for 0 1 instead of A 2 on several planes I have bought from Lie Neilson. Except for planing bamboo as in bamboo fly rods I prefer 0 1. Another place I don't mind A2 is for a trim carpentry apron plane where I am not that worried about super sharpness and want a blade to last with out on the job sharpening. Cryo treatment is of little value in 01 but is significant in the A 2. I don't know for sure but it seems from what I have read that the newer Shapton type stones do a better job of handling the A2 and I would go that route if I was gong to use a lot of A 2.
Used the right way either steel can make a nice iron and produce great results and as Todd said the A 2 will hold a edge longer but will not get as sharp as 01. I just want to say that I love 01 and it works just fine because it seems there has been a lot of , lets see, maybe hype is too strong a word but the feeling is that you are out of it if you don't have a plane with the latest and greatest X 15 Z3 cryogentic super steel. One of the biggest replacement plane iron makers ( initials RH) prefers 01 but got on the A2 wagon because of market pressure.
So, I guess my point is that A 2 isn't the "best" steel for plane irons but a choice with certain pluses and minuses when compared to 01. And I don't want beginners to feel like they "have to have" this or that or they are out of it.
Link

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

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Thanks for the replies, I think I understand the differences between 01 and A2 now. I am planning on buying Veritas planes from Lee Valley because I go by the rule of buy the good one and buy it once. So Low angle Smooth and and a Low angle block too, or just regular block? I was at Lee Valley last weekend and they only had one set of chisels actually called "paring", although there were others that looked very similar but with other names. The one set they had the blade shaft was very long, is that a good thing? What would be the best chisels from lee valley to get? I already have one of those stewmac curved chisels too.

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Pfeil "Swiss Made" chisels are a pretty good value (esp vs. the Lie Nielsens) and were rated to have the best edge holding in Fine Woodworkings recent test. They did rate the Lie Nielsens best overall, however. I have a set of the Pfeils and I'm pleased with their ability to take and hold a good edge.

http://www.woodcraft.com/product.aspx?P ... milyID=300

Joe

Edward: the Narex bevel edge chisels from Lee Vally seem to be very good bang for you buck. Also have the Hirsch cranked chisel in .750 version for brace work that preforms quite well. The advise about flea markets etc is also excellent. Some of these may not look too good but if not broken and good brand names,can be cleaned and tuned up to work like new.

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

I have a lot of different chisels including the Lee Valley bench chisels, Marples blue chip, old Marples with boxwood handles, and numerous other Swedish, Swiss, USA etc. brands. I find that I only really use 1/4" and 1/2" chisels for the most part which seems quite common amongst a lot of luthiers I know, maybe not so much for furniture builders. My favorites are a 1/2" and 1/4" Stanley 720, my Stanley 750s and my Veritas detail chisels including the left and right skew which work great for fitting the extension on archtops, cleaning up nut slots, binding channels etc. I do have a serious untreatable case of tool acquisition syndrome however so take it for what it's worth.

Another vote for the Pfeil chisels. I used to do a lot of carving and of about 25 chisels probably 15 are Pfeils and they're the ones I always go to. They take and hold an edge very well.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I could get away with only the LV low angle block and smoother, a decent 1/4, 1/2 and 1 inch chisel (first two right now are marples blue handle, the one incher is from the 5 buck bin at LV one day .. should have bought 5, its unreal), a couple good bent gouges (fav right now is a Pfiel 7/20) and also a good 1/16 inch .. cleans out the tight spots.

get a couple good scrapers ... the swedish stell are nice, I prefer the thicker stiffer ones. In fact, a set of the curved is goo, and you get one with straight edges in there anyway.

For neck shaping, a good rasp, round/flat style.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

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Well, I finally got around to buying some tools today at Lee Valley. I recently entered an award with my first electric guitar that a local arts society was holding and won (really did not think I would but sure am happy about it). So I spent the award money today, plus some of my own. Heres the list:
Veritas Premium block plane 01
Veritas low angle smooth plane 01, with an A2 toothed blade
Cheap Beveled chisels, 1/4 3/8 3/4 and 1", they only had one kind of paring chisel and I didnt really like the look of them, so I decided to wait and buy some good paring chisels online later on.
Japanese flush cut and small ripping dozoukis
Assortment of scrapers w/burnisher
and some cam clamps

I really would like some info though on what you guys prefer for sharpening. It would be sacrilege to not keep these planes sharp. I am thinking of getting a worksharp, does anyone have any experience with them?

Edward, Todd Stock has two or is it three videos on sharpening out on utube. They are really worth the time to watch. His advice is sound.

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Aoibeann

Edward,
I use japanese water stones and a honing guide, both from lee valley. I find them super easy to use on my A2 blades...just a few strokes, and they are really sharp. I tend to sharpen rather to often, so sharpening goes fast.

Christian

Thanks for the replies. I have never heard of this scary sharp method but I will look into it. Would a veritas honing guide be a good investment? Even though I am on a relatively tight budget, I am all about buying good tools. Oh, and I just realized my mom has an old norton 1000/8000 india stone that used to be my grandfathers.

P.S. Just started watching the first video and my question about the veritas was answered .