The Stanley Plane – A benchmark in metal hand planes for the past 140 years. For the beginner, choosing which type of hand plane to buy first up can be a daunting task. Furnituremaker Wesley Johanson looks at what’s available and offers some helpful advice along the way. Arguably no other tool symbolizes the fine art of woodworking quite like the hand plane. Machines and power tools are great for dimensioning large pieces of timber quickly and efficiently, but a sound knowledge of planes and other hand tools can mean the difference between a casual woodworker and a true craftsperson. Properly cared for and maintained, a good quality, well-made, hand plane will last a lifetime and beyond of whatever woodworking chores you happen to throw at it. Whether it’s on the job framing of houses and other buildings, trim carpentry or the most delicate of woodworking needs. It should be noted that, properly tuned, a hand plane will also leave a much better finish on the wood that you’re working on than any machine or power tool could ever hope to accomplish. Some woodworkers don’t even bother to use sandpaper on their work, instead leaving a glassy, smooth finish done [...]

You can find this original article on Handplane Central at Hand Planes – Where To Begin?

While the various names to describe the parts of hand planes may differ slightly from country to country they are, for the most part, standardized. For instance what is known as a “cutter” or “iron” in Britain and Europe is generally called a “blade” in America. Many of the names used come from anatomical names, so you end up with terms such as eyes, ears, cheeks, face, mouth, throat, toes and heels etc. These all come together to form the “body” of the plane. The descriptive terminology used by the planemaker’s themselves, however, was never standardized per sé, but tend to follow the same general pattern. Standard Bench Planes Stock – Also called the “block” or “body”. The main part of the plane or the largest portion of it. The sole, or bottom of the plane, can be flat or shaped to perform a specified function. Sole – Also called the “face”. The underside, or bottom, of the stock. This is the bit which makes contact with the wood that is being worked. Toe – The front section of the plane stock. This is normally where the name of the plane maker is located. Heel – The back or rear [...]

You can find this original article on Handplane Central at Parts Of A Wooden Plane

It should be said that almost all hand planes on the market will need some adjustment and a little attention, when you get them home from the store, in order to make them truly sing. Any plane will be made better by a little fettling here or there. As far as plane soles being perfectly flat go, however, you do have a little leeway. While many of us who have been taught in high school, trade school or on-the-job to keep the soles of our planes flat, in actual fact the reality is that the entire sole does not have to be completely and perfectly flat for the plane to work properly. There are really only three points on the sole that need to be in true alignment for the plane to work well; the toe, the mouth area and the heel. All points in between are not as crucial and, regardless of whether they are perfectly flat or only flat in those three critical contact points, there is little or no difference in actual performance. Much of the available literature on the subject advocates both methods – perfectly flat or flat at three points. Indeed the writer of one [...]

You can find this original article on Handplane Central at Thoughts On Hand Plane Sole Flatness

If you need to hand plane very small pieces of wood you’ll soon discover that it isn’t that easy to do it in the conventional manner. One solution, however, is to adopt the coopers method of inverting the plane and holding it rigid, while you push the wood over the blade instead. Coopers jointing planes are between 2 foot and 6 foot long, but most of them fall into the four to five foot mark. They’re usually set on a stand or fixed to a low bench. While the average workshop may not have the luxury of having a coopers jointer, you can still use the same method by holding the plane in the jaws of your bench vice or your workmate. A note of caution though – be careful about cranking the vice up too tight as the casting may break from too much pressure. If you use a wooden plane then the pressure that’s exerted will be more evenly distributed but a basic rule of thumb is still to not overtighten. With the hand plane upside-down in a vice its a matter of just guiding the pieces over the plane blade. The only problem with this is that, [...]

You can find this original article on Handplane Central at Hand Planing Small Items

While you don’t need any sort of “specialty” plane to use on plastic laminates the issue is mainly one of blade longevity. A blade ground at the normal angle of of 25 to 30 degrees soon becomes quite dull when used on these materials. What’s really needed is a higher blade angle and a more durable blade edge so that the blade “scrapes” the surface of the plastic laminate, rather than cut through it. Fortunately this can be achieved quite cheaply with a normal Bailey style bench plane and a “spare” blade and chip-breaker. Grind your spare blade in the normal manner and at 30°. There’s no need to finesse over the sharpness of it so honing the blade is not necesary. Once that’s done, flip the blade over on the other side and grind a secondary angle at around 45°. This will end up giving you a side profile similar to the one in the illustration. As there’s no need for the chip-breaker to break the shaving in the traditional manner, its still useful to have it so that the blade can be adjusted easily. One problem though is that it’s now too long for the purposes of this [...]

You can find this original article on Handplane Central at Planing Plastic Laminates

This is the final installment regarding the description and purpose of woodworking planes by W.F.M. Goss in the book “Bench Work In Wood: A Course Of Study And Practice Designed For The Use Of Schools And Colleges”. This book was first published by Ginn & Co, Boston in 1888 when all wooden planes were being steadily replaced with cast iron planes made by Stanley and other makers. W.F.M. Goss was a professor of practical mechanics at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana. Much of the information contained in the book is still quite relevant today, even though the publication is now over a hundred years old. Advancements in tool steel technologies and the introduction of plastics are the main differences that have occurred over that time, handplane-wise. Many of the same tools and techniques described within the book are still being used today, albeit on a more limited scale, just as they were back then. This final section briefly describes some of the more “specialized” bench planes used by the makers of the day. Specialty Planes Rabbeting-Planes have narrow stocks. The cutting edge is set in the face of the plane obliquely, and the iron is wide enough to extend beyond [...]

You can find this original article on Handplane Central at Specialty Wooden Planes And Scrapers

“Wooden bench planes have had their day, and are going out of use…” …So wrote W.F.M. Goss in the 1888 book “Bench Work In Wood: A Course Of Study And Practice Designed For The Use Of Schools And Colleges” published by Ginn & Co, Boston. W.F.M. Goss was a professor of practical mechanics at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana. It should be noted that although much of the emphasis throughout the book is on the different types of wooden planes and their usage, W.F.M. Goss did set aside a short section on the then up-and-coming, new-fangled “iron planes” made by Leonard Bailey and The Stanley Rule & Level Company (among others). These cast iron planes, with their fancy adjustments and innovative designs, were to revolutionize the woodworking industry at that time and it’s interesting to note what the views were at that time on these new additions. It should also be stated that, though the book is well over a hundred years old, much of the information contained within it is still quite relevant and valid today. Iron Bench Planes possess the general characteristics of the wooden ones, but are superior to them in several respects. They are always perfectly [...]

You can find this original article on Handplane Central at Iron Planes – Their Types And Uses

The following passages have been transcribed from the book “Bench Work In Wood: A Course Of Study And Practice Designed For The Use Of Schools And Colleges” by the writer W.F.M. Goss. which was first printed by Ginn & Co, Boston in 1888. W.F.M. Goss was a professor of practical mechanics at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana. Many of the illustrations in the book were produced by Mr. M. Golden, of the School of Mechanics and Engineering at Purdue University. Although the book is well over a hundred years old, much of the information contained within it is still quite relevant and valid today. Certainly when it comes to hand planes not much has actually changed within that period – apart from the advances in tool steel technology. Back then it was still a matter, largely, of welding the more expensive steel cutting edge to a softer iron blade. This was mainly because the new steels of the day were quite expensive to buy on a tradesman’s wages, and woodworkers were still used to having the thicker wooden type plane blades in their hand planes. Times were changing, however, and one of the things that makes this book interesting is [...]

You can find this original article on Handplane Central at Wooden Bench Plane Basics

It’s no secret to anybody familiar with using hand planes that different blade angles produce different results. A lower blade angle is generally better for end grain work while a very high blade angle is great for scraping. Is there a perfect blade angle that will do all manner of jobs in all circumstances? The answer, of course, is no. Planes come with many varieties of pitch, or bed angle. Some planes have pitch as low as 10°, while others are 45°, 55°, 70° and up to 90° or more. Then you also have terminology such as “Common Pitch”, “York Pitch”, “Middle Pitch” and “Half Pitch”. What do all these terms mean? How do you know exactly what pitch you want for what job? As with everything else in life there are always exceptions to any rule but, generally speaking, there are guidelines that can be followed to help make your choice easier. The amount of pitch affects the ease of cutting when using a hand plane. A plane with a lower pitch will cut more easily than a plane with a high pitch. The downside to this though is that a low angle is more susceptible to tearing out [...]

You can find this original article on Handplane Central at Perfect Pitch – Bedding Angles Explained

When you have to plane end grain or a specially hard wood you no doubt skew the plane at an angle so that it makes a shearing out. Why? Because you have found from experience that it eases the work. But have you considered just why this is? Well, in the first place skewing the plane round gives it more of a slicing cut. Think of when you carve the joint. You don’t just force the knife down; you draw it across the meat, and the more you do this the more easily it cuts. This is what happens on a reduced scale when you skew your plane at an angle. A greater width of blade is in operation for a shaving of the same width. For instance in Fig. 1 a piece of wood 1 in. wide is being planed, and when the plane is held square as at A it is clear that a 1 in. length of the cutter is doing the cutting. If, however the plane is held at an angle, say, 45 deg., shaving is still 1 in. wide, a length of nearly 1-1/2 in. of the cutter is in operation. There is more in [...]

You can find this original article on Handplane Central at Using Hand Planes – The Shearing Cut