As most of you know, I make my living (?) working balsa wood and cutting foam. I pretty much work in those mediums 10 hours a day, six days a week (The seventh day is God's day for me...). I've collected dozens and dozens of tools over the years. The ones that work well stay in my arsenal; the ones that don't get thrown out.
I'm here to tell you that there is only one razor plane (and I’ve tried them all…) that makes the cut (please excuse this obvious pun...) in
my shop, and that's the Solingen Razor Plane. It uses a proprietary double-edge razor blade that is made by Solingen, and no other blade will deliver the results that the Solingen blade will in that plane; trust me.
The Solingen plane can be adjusted to make less than paper-thin shaving cuts, and one blade - treated properly - will last as long as a year in my shop (yes, at the half year mark, or thereabouts, I reverse the blade...). Trust me, that blade after a year has cut more balsa shavings than probably 50 "hobby" builders would in the same period of time. In other words, it's tough and very high quality.
Okay, here's the bad part: It appears that Solingen is no longer marketing their plane under their name. Hobby Lobby (the model airplane Hobby Lobby...) used to sell them, and each year that I attended the WRAM Show in White Plains, New York, I would visit the HL booth and purchase one or two planes - and a bunch of blades - just to be sure that I would never run out or be without this outstanding tool. Yes, I'm paranoid about such things - especially when they work as well as this plane does!. Then, a few years back I stopped by the HL booth to get my yearly fix of backup planes and blades and was told that the tool had been discontinued. I went home and searched the Solingen website, and sure enough it was not there.
I did a bit of research, however, and it appears that this same plane is being sold by several European model ship concerns. At least it looks exactly the same in their catalog photos. Is Solingen making this plane just for such concerns, or did those companies buy out all the left over Solingen stock of the planes after they were taken off the market? Can't say for sure about that, but I am ordering one just to see. One thing: The Solingen razor planes that I bought at the WRAM Show were priced at around six bucks, and a package of blades were about the same price (telling...). The planes that I saw on the model ship building sites were priced from $20.00 to $40.00! One site that listed a plane that looks identical to the Solingen is Modelers Central. The web page that shows the plane is:
http://www.modelerscentral.com/tools-paints-glue/hand-tools/shaping/So, you might ask, "Why do you need more of these planes if you already have squirreled away so many?." Well, a lot of modelers come to my shop to build their planes (the flying type...). When they see just how amazingly well the Solingen plane works, they lament that they can't get one to the point that i usually break down and hand them one and a package of blades to take home. I now have only three left, and, no, I will not sell them at any price (okay, that last statement might be a bit strong... I might sell ONE if the price was extremely right.). All kidding aside, I’m fairly sure that we can still get these planes with but a bit of web searching.
Just one more thought: No matter which razor plane you use, please train yourself to never place it blade side down on your bench. Nothing will destroy a bladed as quickly as this. Place the plane on its side when you are not using it at a work session, and than put it back in its cardboard box after you are done working. Your blades will last lots longer if you follow this advice…
Later - Bob Hunt
Topic: Balsa wood planer (Read 16592 times)
