Plane (tool)
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- "Against the grain" redirects here. For other uses, see Against the Grain.
A plane is a tool for shaping wood. Planes are used to flatten, reduce the thickness of, and impart a smooth surface to a rough piece of lumber. Special types of planes are designed to cut joints or decorative mouldings.
Hand planes are generally the combination of a cutting edge, such as a sharpened metal plate, attached to a firm body, that when moved over a wood surface, take up relatively uniform shavings, by nature of the body riding on the 'high spots' in the wood, and also by providing a relatively constant angle to the cutting edge, render the planed surface very smooth. A cutter which extends below the bottom surface, or sole, of the plane slices off shavings of wood. A large, flat sole on a plane guides the cutter to remove only the highest parts of an imperfect surface, until, after several passes, the surface is flat and smooth.
Hand planes are ancient, originating thousands of years ago. Early planes were made from wood with a rectangular slot or mortise cut across the center of the body. The cutting blade or iron was held in place with a wooden wedge. The wedge was tapped into the mortise and adjusted with a small mallet, a piece of scrap wood or with the heel of the users hand. Planes of this type have been found in excavations of old sites as well as drawings of woodworking from medieval Europe and Asia. Roman planes found at Pompeii are largely similar to planes in use today. In fact wooden planes can still be bought from modern plane makers. As time went on, though, some people began to make plane bodies out of cast iron or even bronze. Though most planes are pushed across a piece of wood, holding it with one or both hands, Japanese planes are pulled toward the body, not pushed away.
Woodworking machinery that perform the same function as hand planes include the jointer and the thicknesser or thickness planer.
Parts of a Plane
Two styles of plane are shown with some parts labeled. The top of the image is a bench plane; the bottom is a block plane.
- A: The Mouth is an opening in the bottom of the plane down through which the blade extends, and up through which wood shavings pass.
- B: The Iron is a plate of steel with a sharpened edge which cuts the wood.
- C: The Lever cap holds the blade down firmly to the body of the plane.
- D: The Depth adjustment knob controls how far the blade extends through the mouth.
- E: The Knob is a handle on the front of the plane.
- F: The Chipbreaker or Cap iron serves to make the blade more rigid and to curl and break apart wood shavings as they pass through the mouth.
- G: The Lateral adjustment lever is used to adjust the iron so that the depth of cut is uniform across the mouth.
- H: The Tote is a handle on the rear of the plane.
- I: The Finger rest knob Block planes are held in the palm of the hand the tip of the user's index finger rests in the indentation on top of the knob.
- J: The Frog is a sliding iron wedge that holds the plane Iron at the proper angle. It slides to adjust the gap between the cutting edge and the front of the mouth. The frog is screwed down to the inside of the sole through two parallel slots and is only adjustable with a screwdriver when the plane iron is removed.
Types of Planes
Planes are sometimes categorized as bench planes or block planes. Bench planes are characterized by a cutting iron bedded with the bevel facing down, attached to a chipbreaker. Block planes are characterized by a cutting iron bedded with the bevel up, and the absence of a chipbreaker. The block plane can be held with one hand and is used for general purpose stuff such as taking down a knot in the wood, smoothing up small pieces, making the end of a sawed board square and smooth, etc.
Bench planes are sometimes named according to their length:
- A smoothing plane is up to 10 inches (250 mm) long.
- A jack plane is around 14 inches (350 mm) long.
- A fore plane is around 18 inches (450 mm) long.
- A jointer plane is around 22 inches (550 mm) long.
- A wooden plane is entirely wood except for the blade. The iron is held into the plane with a wooden wedge, and is adjusted by striking the plane with a hammer.
- A transitional plane has a wooden body with a metal casting set in it to hold and adjust the blade.
- A metal plane is largely constructed of metal, except, perhaps, for the handles. The planes in the image are metal planes.
- An infill plane has a body of metal filled with wood on which the blade rests. They are mainly used for cutting cross grained woods.
Some special types of planes include:
- The shoulder plane, which trims tenons and other joints.
- The moulding plane, which is used to cut mouldings along the edge of a board
- The rabbet plane, also known as a rebate or openside plane, which cuts rabbets (shoulders, or steps) and dadoes.
- The router plane, which cuts grooves and shallow mortises. Router plane:
- The scrub plane, which removes large amounts of wood quickly.
- The chisel plane, which removes wood up to a perpendicular surface such as from the bottom inside of a box.
- The finger plane, which is used for smoothing very small pieces such as toy parts, very thin strips of wood, etc.
- The bullnose plane, which has no 'front' on its body, and so can be used in tight spaces like the backs of drawers or on large joint-knobs.
- The combination plane, which combines the function of a moulding and rabbet planes, having different cutters and adjustments
- The circular plane, which utilizes an adjustment system to control the flex on a steel sheet sole and create a uniform curve. A concave setting permits great control for planning large curves, like table sides or chair arms, and the convex works well for chair arms, legs and backs, and other applications.
Planing With the Grain
Planing wood should result in thin shavings rising above the surface of the wood as the edge of the plan iron is pushed forward, leaving a smooth surface. But sometimes splintering occurs. This is largely a matter of cutting with the grain or against the grain, respectively. The grain referred to in these phrases is the side grain of the piece of wood being worked.
The grain direction can be determined by looking at the edge or side of the work piece. Wood fibers can be seen running out to the surface that is being planed. When the fibers meet the work surface it looks like the point of an arrow that indicates the direction.
Planing Against the Grain
When planing against the grain, the wood fibers are lifted by the plane iron, resulting in a jagged finish, called tearout.
Note that these diagrams and phrases apply to planing the wide face (flat grain) and/or long side (side grain) of a typical piece of lumber, which is cut so its wide face is along the grain. In other words, as part of the tree, the wide face was parallel to the pith and thus along (or parallel to) the direction of the dominant cells, or grain. Because of the nature of wood, planing the end grain of the board is physically different from planing the wide face or the long side.
Stanley Planes
One of the most successful manufacturers of planes is The Stanley Works of New Britain, Connecticut, USA. In 1843 Frederick Trent Stanley established Stanley's Bolt Manufactory in New Britain to manufacture door bolts and other hardware from wrought iron. Then in 1857 Frederick's cousin Henry Stanley followed his example and founded The Stanley Rule and Level Company of New Britain. The two companies merged in 1920, and the Stanley Rule and Level Company became the Hand Tools Division of Stanley Works.Since 1870 Stanley has sold millions of cast iron hand planes, many based on patents purchased from Leonard Bailey of Boston, Massachusetts. Over the years Stanley purchased many other patents and entire plane manufacturing companies, and continued to improve the design of its planes through the first half of the 20th century.
For descriptions of all plane models made by Stanley, see [Patrick's Stanley Blood and Gore].
See also
References
- Hack, Garrett (1997) The Handplane Book. ISBN 1-56158-155-0
- Watson, Aldren A. (1982) Hand Tools: Their Ways and Workings. ISBN 1-55821-224-8
- Hoadley, R. Bruce. (2000) Understanding Wood: A Craftsman’s Guide to Wood Technology. ISBN 1-56158-358-8
- Salaman, R. A. (1989) Dictionary of woodworking Tools. ISBN 0-04-440256-2
- Greber, Josef M: Die Geschichte des Hobels, Zürich 1956
External links
- [Handplane Central] A valuable source of information for all types of hand planes, including wooden planes, infill planes and Stanley type planes. Also information on how to make hand planes.
- [Getting a Hand Plane Ready for Use] Instructions for lapping and sharpening a hand plane using a stationary belt sander
- [Cataloque of American Patented Antique Tools] A pictorial collection of antique planes and other tools showing some of the variety in styles.
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