round bottom plane

[yip]

 planning on building a Kentucky style  fowler  with octagon to round barrel and looking for a round bottom plane to inlay the round part of the barrel ,any ideas where to buy one?

[Elnathan]

Well, there are these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/352228947723?lgeo=1&vectorid=229466&item=352228947723&rmvSB=true

I have a Mujingfang jack plane and it is a very nice tool for the money - there is a distinction between traditional Chinese tools and cheap knockoffs of Western tools for the US home-improvement market, it appears. Mujingfang tools are built under much the same conditions and standards that Western tools were built in the 18th century, I think. I don't have a hollow and round set from them but I'm sure they would work fine.

Having said that, since no one in the US appears to carry the Mujingfang hollow/round sets anymore and you can only buy them in pairs, you might want to try looking through ebay and your local flea market for an old hollow plane (note that the plane is designated by the shape it leaves, not its own shape). The alternative is to make your own - a task made a bit easier with modern glues that allow for a laminated body. Both these choices do require you to understand how planes work, of course. I can probably recommend some books depending one which path you want to follow.

[bama]

I don't know about a plane but another method would be to use a large gouge to get the rough shape then finish with a scraper. I bought round scrapers from Brownell's and they work like a charm. Even if you use a plane you will probably have to finish up with a scraper to get a good fit.

[ddoyle]

Is your barrel tapered in the round section? If not set it aside and get one that is tapered. If it is tapered the plane can only be used to the depth/width of the narrowest part (unless you build some sort of angled guide which would be more bother then just doing the inlet traditionally).  Inletting is more daunting to think about then to actually do. A gouge/rounded chisel and a mallet will get you most of the way there without too much trouble. The last bit is (in my limited and amaturish experience) easily accomplished with a gouge, 30 grit floor sanding sand paper wrapped around a mandrel, scraper or curved rasp or like Bob Roller suggests- a piece of threaded rod fashioned into a rasp. (bend it).

As long as your blank is held rigidly and at a good working height you wont have any trouble getting a good fit. It is alot of fun to remove those last few bits of soot that indicate the final high spots and to feel the barrel sink fully home.

A back saw and careful planning/thinking takes some of the bother out of oct section and can also be used to relieve the center of the round section. Lots of great tutorials/instructions/tool pics on here that show how the guys do it that actually know something.

Have fun with it- once the barrel is inlet the not fun parts start.

[45-110]

many antique shops, flea markets, and ebay have the old wood body moulding planes. you should be able to find one with a flat/square bottom that is 3/8" or 1/2", then you can grind the radius you want on the iron and re-contour the wood, i did this years ago and after modifying mine it still works nicely.
best
kw