BASICS PLANES

STARTING AND BUYING HAND TOOL GUIDE FOR BEGINNERS

MUST HAVE TOOL 1 - HAND PLANES

BLOCK PLANE

A block plane is a small hand plane which typically has the iron beddeb at a

lower angle than other planes, with the bevel up.It is designed to cut end grain and is typically small enough to be used with one hand.

SMOOTHING PLANE

The smoothing plane is typically the last plane used on a woodsurface - when used properly, the finish it gives will be far superior to that made by sandpaper or scrapers. The smooth finish is the result of planing the wood off in strips, rather than by successive buffing and scratching.

The smoothing plane is typically 8 to 10 inches long.The iron of the smoothing plane is generally sharpened straight across or with a slightly arched cutting edge (or at least with rounded corners) to prevent unsightly grooves from being gouged in the wood surface as it is planed.

The throat may be adjusted to a tight opening, so as to allow only a very fine shaving and to reduce tearout of the grain to a minimum. The smooth plane is held with both hands.



JACK PLANE

A jack plane is the general-purpose bench plane, used for general smoothing of the edges, sizing of timber, but only making it smaller to correct size— wood edge jointing. Jack planes are about 12-15 inches long, and the blade can have either a slightly curved edge.

for smoothing stock, or a straight edge for jointing stock.

In preparing stock, the jack plane is used after scrub plane and before thejointer plane and smoothing plane. The name is related to the saying "jack of all trades" as jack planes can be made to perform some of the work of both smoothing and jointer planes, especially on smaller pieces of work.

JOINTER PLANE

The jointer plane (also known as the try plane or trying plane) is a type of hand plane used primarily to straighten the edges of boards in the

operation known as jointing. A jointer plane may also be used to flatten the face of a board. Its long length is designed to 'ride over' the undulations of an uneven surface, skimming off the peaks, gradually creating a flat surface. In thicknessing or preparing rough stock, the jointer plane is usually preceded by the jack plane and followed by the smoothing plane.



SCRUB PLANE

The scrub plane is a type of plane used to remove large amounts of wood from the surface of lumber, such as when eliminating cup or twist in the first stages of preparing rough stock, or when reducing the thickness of a board significantly. Scrub planes generally have a short soles, a relatively narrow but thick blade, a very wide mouth, and a deeply curved edge (of about a 3 inch radius) to make a deep, gouging cut.

A scrub plane is generally used in diagonal strokes jack plane, jointer plane, then smoothing plane.

across the face of a board, rather than parallel to the length of the board (along the grain) as with most other bench planes. In thicknessing or preparing rough stock, the scrub plane is usually followed by the

Its function in modern woodworking has been largely replaced by power tools such as the thickness planer. A scrub plane can still be useful for planing boards too wide to fit through a thickness planer.