If you look at all the writings on handplanes during the last 300 years, there is too much written on bench planes, just enough on the joinery planes and practically nothing on the moulding planes.
Within the next few months we will be balancing the scales with the publication of Matt Bickford’s “Mouldings in Practice.” Everyone who has helped me edit this new book has been both fundamentally changed and inspired by the text. Matt has taken a somewhat mysterious task – cutting mouldings by hand – and boiled down the process so it is straightforward and repeatable.
Sticking mouldings does not require great skill. It does not require years of training. Instead, Matt reveals the process to be one of accurate layout and cutting rabbets and chamfers. If you can master those simple tasks, you are halfway home.
Matt does this with hundreds of illustrations and step photos that demonstrate how every step of the process works, and what things look like when things go wrong.
The book, which is tentatively titled “Mouldings in Practice,” is divided into two parts. The first half discusses the tools and the principles. Matt shows you how a great variety of mouldings can be stuck with a limited number of hollows and rounds – you do not need a full set or even a half set of planes to get started. And he also discusses the roles of snipes bill and side rounds in sticking moulding.
There also is a section of the book for you to work on – one of the keys to good mouldings is learning to draw them accurately in profile. More on this section of the book later.
The second half of the book – which Matt is working on now – is a workbook of common and gorgeous moulding profiles. This part of the book is designed to go into the shop with you (we are investigating a special binding so the book lays flat on the bench). Each moulding profile is broken down into the basic steps so you can follow along on the bench.
These profiles are taken from actual pieces, and this section of the book will also teach you how to group your mouldings on your furniture pieces in a pleasing way.
Pricing and Availability
We don’t have a firm release date yet for this book – likely December 2011 or January 2012. And because of the special binding, we also don’t have a price. But I can tell you that it will be a large format book and it will be in full color. We hope to offer this book also in electronic formats, including ePub and Kindle.
While you wait for this book to hit the shelves, I highly recommend you visit Matt’s blog, Musings from Big Pink, where he documents some of the work in his shop.
— Christopher Schwarz
I can’t wait. The sound of a plane is so much better than a screaming router. Will the book cover making the planes as well?
Keep up the good work!
The book will not cover making planes. It will, however, address maintaining them. If you are interested in making planes I suggest Larry Williams’ DVD “Making Traditional Side Escapement Planes.” I imagine it to be the only source you will need.
Matt
Yippee! Can’t wait for this to come out. Love the idea of a bench book!
I met Matt last year at a LN tool event, he spent a lot of time with me going over his moulding planes, explaining their use in great detail, especially the Snipes Bill planes. I didn’t purchase any on that day, but I have since ordered and received a full set of planes from him. His blog is excellent and he shares a wealth of information. I am eager to get his book and no doubt it will be just as good as his planes.
You weren’t kidding when you said you had a lot of projects lined up for the Press, huh Chris? I love that I not only get to support a small independent publisher, but get amazing books too.
I am amazed, moulding planes are the reason I am alive for, they feed my passion
This is going to make demand for vintage moulding planes skyrocket! I don’t care, though; a book like this is going to fill an immense void in hand-tool woodworking instruction. Can’t wait for the release.
I have met Matt at a few shows, own a pair of his snipes bills, and have taken a weekend class on cutting mouldings at CVSW. I am really looking forward to this book. The first time you stick a moulding with hand planes, you’ll be hooked. This is first-class work from a first-class person.
I hope it covers grinding and honing the irons. And adding moldings to simple designs without going overload crazy.
I’m intrigued. I bought a few molding planes, including a half set of used mixed and matched hollows and rounds over the course of this year.
So far I’ve done absolutely nothing with them except pick them up, fail miserably at something, and put them down again.
This book sounds like the perfect tonic for my problem. Looking forward to it.
This is so exciting! I swear, as far as my wife is concerned, you might as well be selling heroin. She already groans to hear “Schwarz” mentioned, and I find myself deleting the internet history so as to keep my habit a secret.
Seriously though, thanks so much for what you guys are doing.
I’m looking forward to this — I’m in the process of re-doing all the trim in my house, which includes cutting the baseboards with an antique molding plane, and it’s just whetting my appetite.
Will it include mouldings from both sides of ‘the pond’, and which eras?
Burbidge,
Most of the moulding profiles are from the Connecticut Valley. The others from New England. Please feel free to make requests to my blog for specific profiles. I am always looking for subject ideas
Matt
Chris,
That is very cool and very needed.
Thanks
To Bob Jones,
As for sharpening molding planes Larry Williams of “Old Street Tools” (formerly “Clark & Williams) has a great DVD on the subject; “Sharpening Profiled Hand Tools”. I think you will like it.
Michael
I’m curious, what are the best joinery plane books?
There are no books on joinery planes alone. But lots of books cover them well: Planecraft, The Wooden Plane, Traditional Woodworking Handtools, my own book “Handplane Essentials,” and Kerry Pierce’s new book. To name a few.
Binding suggestion: If the first part of the book is mostly discussion and will rarely be referenced in the shop, it may be better to bind it separately in a traditional manner and have the second part be either spiral bound or loose leaf. My shop is in my garage and I prefer not to bring books into it. I usually make a copy of any page(s) I may use so I won’t soil or damage the original. Also, may I suggest that as second part may be used very frequently that it be printed on a very durable paper, perhaps laminated or plastic coated after printing. If those production costs would be prohibitive, then I would prefer loose-leaf pages so as to easily remove and copy only the ones I’ll be working with.