Hi -

As promised, here are a bunch of photos of MuJingFang planes being made...not exactly what one thinks of as a factory eh????

Kinda neat what one can make with a few hand tools....

Cheers -

Rob Lee

Note - the links all lead to photos 34K to 48K large...

<a href="http://www.leevalley.com/home/temprl/Raw_matl.jpg">Raw Materials</a>
<a href="http://www.leevalley.com/home/temprl/Raw_matl2.jpg">Raw Materials 2</a>
<a href="http://www.leevalley.com/home/temprl/Workshop.jpg">Workshop</a>
<a href="http://www.leevalley.com/home/temprl/footvise.jpg">Low tech vise</a>
<a href="http://www.leevalley.com/home/temprl/workshop2.jpg">Workshop 2</a>
<a href="http://www.leevalley.com/home/temprl/fettling_1.jpg">Fitting the blade</a>

Yeah - I've watched with awe, what practice and skill can do many a time in that general part of the world. Saw a bloke making stamps (the kind you use with an ink-pad) from the end-grain of a boxwood-like wood with a set of primitive-looking home-made tools. The Chinese characters he was cutting were about 3-4mm high, and incredibly precise. His eyesight couldn't have been too hot, either, as he was working with the job about 75mm from his right eye!

How about this for a thickness-planer.......

Cheers,

Attached Images

Armstrong thickness planer.jpg (65.2 KB, 367 views)

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IW

Very interesting pictures Rob, thanks for showing.

It's funny, but that was not the mental picture I had of the MujinFang factory.

I wonder how many man hours it takes to make one plane?

Craig

Yep, great shots, thanks Rob.

It's amazing what they can do with their hands and a few simple tools. I wonder what will happen to it all if they ever get an OH&S department...

Probably increase the cost of each item four-fold and decrease procuction by the same ammount!!!!

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Yes, thanks for sharing the photos with us, Rob. Does this mean that Mr Ho is still in business then? A number of posters on the board have said that Mujingfang planes were being off-loaded so cheaply because the factory had closed down. Many of us are obviously impressed by the planes and it'd be good to know that they'll be available for a while yet. Anybody know for sure?

John

Thanks for sharing that Rob.

Arron

I wonder how many planes get made in one man-hour!!


Thanks Rob,

P

Hi -

Nope - he's doing very well for himself - the hand-made planes just aren't that expensive. I should also note that MuJingFang is his trade name for the tool line - not the company name.

Cheers -

Rob

THanks Rob. So is he looking for a distributor in Oz?

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The only way to get rid of a [Domino] temptation is to yield to it. Oscar Wilde

.....so go4it people!

That's scary
Imagine what those guys could do with the quality tools we have at our disposal (like the ones they make for us). Makes me feel even more useless than usual
To make precision cuts I rely on power tools, with hand tools I'm, well, a tool.
Oh well, inscrutable Asians may be, but they're bloody talented.

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Cheers
Jim

"I see dumb peope!"

Hi -

I don't think so - I know he deals through some Taiwanese trading companies, or sells directly.

Cheers -

Rob