Norman Pirollo from WoodSkills demonstrated the woodworking techniques featured in this video.
Norman showcases his system for making traditional hollow and round molding planes, including the development of custom blades and specialized work-holding solutions. He explains the challenges of finding quality antique planes and shares his approach to creating new tools using traditional methods.
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The Problem with Antique Planes
Norman begins by addressing the challenges woodworkers face when seeking quality hollow and round planes. Most antique examples available today suffer from significant wear and damage from years of use and repeated sharpening.
The repeated sharpening process shortens the plane body and widens the blade opening considerably. Many antique planes show poor wood quality, with issues ranging from worn mortises to damaged bodies that make them unsuitable for precision work.
Quality antique planes command high prices when available, often making them impractical for working woodworkers. Even when found, the blades are frequently worn down from repeated sharpening, requiring extensive restoration work.
Developing a Modern System
To address these limitations, Norman developed a systematic approach to creating new hollow and round planes. His method produces standardized tools using European beech for the bodies and O1 tool steel for the blades.
The system ensures consistency across all planes in a set. Each blade features standardized dimensions for both the cutting edge and the tang, allowing for interchangeability between hollow and round planes of the same size.
Norman’s approach includes making custom blades from tool steel, shaping them with grinding wheels and files, then heat treating and tempering the cutting edges. This process ensures optimal performance compared to worn antique blades.
Specialized Work Holding
A key component of Norman’s system is a custom holdfast board that attaches to the workbench. This specialized fixture includes adjustable holdfasts and various clamping options for both plane making and molding work.
The holdfast board eliminates the need for traditional bench stops when shaping plane bodies. It provides secure, adjustable clamping that speeds up the plane-making process while ensuring consistent results.
Norman uses this same setup for creating molding profiles with his finished planes. The board holds molding stock securely while allowing precise control during shaping operations.
Practical Applications
Norman demonstrates the versatility of hollow and round planes by showing various molding profiles created with his tools. These include cove moldings, Roman ogees, and compound profiles that combine both hollow and round elements.
The planes excel at creating furniture-scale moldings, with Norman focusing on sizes around seven-sixteenths inch width. This dimension proves most versatile for furniture work, though the system can accommodate various sizes.
By using one plane to create the template for its matching counterpart, Norman ensures perfect complementary profiles between hollow and round tools in each pair.
Economic Considerations
The material cost for making each plane remains relatively modest, with wood and steel expenses totaling approximately fifteen to twenty dollars per tool. This represents significant savings compared to purchasing new planes from the few remaining commercial makers.
New hollow and round planes from specialty toolmakers average over four hundred dollars per pair when available. The limited number of makers and made-to-order production makes them difficult to obtain.
Norman’s system allows woodworkers to create multiple pairs of planes for the cost of purchasing a single pair commercially. The investment in tools and materials pays for itself after making just a few planes.
Teaching the Process
Norman expresses interest in developing a comprehensive online course covering his plane-making system. The proposed course would include detailed instruction on all aspects of the process, from wood selection through metalworking and final assembly.
The curriculum would cover blade forging and shaping, heat treatment processes, and construction of the specialized holdfast board. Students would gain experience working with tool steel and traditional woodworking techniques.
Norman positions this as an opportunity for woodworkers to master traditional skills while creating valuable tools for their shops. The knowledge gained extends beyond plane making to general metalworking and precision woodworking techniques.
Norman’s systematic approach to making hollow and round planes addresses the practical challenges facing woodworkers who want to use traditional molding techniques. By standardizing the process and developing supporting tools like the holdfast board, he makes these valuable tools accessible to contemporary craftsmen. The combination of traditional methods with modern materials and systematic production creates tools that match or exceed the performance of historical examples.
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Matt’s Take
These are my personal thoughts and tips based on my own experience in the shop. This section is not written, reviewed, or endorsed by the original creator of this project.
Norman’s approach to making hollow and round planes really highlights something I’ve noticed in my own shop work — sometimes the old ways need a modern twist to stay practical. The standardization aspect he developed is brilliant because it eliminates one of the biggest frustrations with antique planes: the inconsistency. When you’re working on a project that needs multiple molding profiles, having planes that work together as a true system makes all the difference.
That holdfast board setup caught my attention immediately. Work holding is often the make-or-break element in precision work like this, and his solution addresses the real challenge of securing both the plane bodies during construction and the molding stock during use. The fact that it serves double duty for both making the planes and using them shows good shop thinking — tools that earn their keep in multiple ways are always worth the investment.
The economics here are pretty compelling too. At $15-20 in materials versus $400+ for commercial pairs, you’d recoup your setup costs after just a few planes. But beyond the money, there’s real value in understanding how these tools work from the inside out. When you’ve made your own plane, you understand exactly how to maintain it, sharpen it properly, and even modify it if needed. That kind of intimate tool knowledge translates to better results at the bench.