A jack plane is the general-purpose bench plane, used for general smoothing of the edges and sizing of wood. Jack planes are about 15 inches long, and the blade usually has a moderately curved edge. In preparing stock, the jack plane is used after the scrub plane and before the smooth plane. The name is related to the saying "jack of all trades". Jack planes perform both the work of smooth planes and trying planes. A jack plane has a measuring screw which moves the blade in or out of the plane's body so it can make the workpiece straighter. Jack planes are the steel equivalent to the wood block plane.
A jack plane came to be referred to as a "No. 5" plane or a "Bailey pattern No. 5," at the end of the 19th century. Prior to that, all but the blade was made of wood in bench planes. A man named Bailey contributed the design that persists to this day, and continues to enjoy credit for this improvement. The No. 5 nomenclature originally used by Stanley Tools to label its Bailey pattern jack plane product continues to identify jack planes made by various manufacturers.
To sharpen the blade, water stones, oilstones and ceramic stones can be used.
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 thickness planer, also called a thicknesser.
Contents [hide]
1 Parts of a Plane
2 Types of Planes
3 Planing With the Grain
4 Planing Against the Grain
5 Stanley Planes
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
[edit] Parts of a Plane
Parts of a planeTwo 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. Some people refer to it as the blade.
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 by skewing it 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. On some planes the knob is used to adjust the size of the mouth by allowing a sliding portion of the sole to be moved back or forward to accomplish this.
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 on many planes is only adjustable with a screwdriver when the plane iron is removed. Some planes, such as the Stanley Bedrock line and the bench planes made by Lie-Nielsen have a screw mechanism that allows the frog to be adjusted without removing the blade.
[edit] Types of Planes
Modern wooden planeMost 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 work such as taking down a knot in the wood, smoothing up small pieces, making the end of a sawed board square and smooth, etc.
A smoothing plane
Stanley No. 32 transitional jointer plane (26 inches long)
Router planeDifferent types of bench planes are designed to perform different tasks, with the name and size of the plane being defined by the use. They are designed to be used in order:
A scrub plane, which removes large amounts of wood quickly, is typically around 9 inches (230 mm) in length, but narrower than a smoothing plane, and has an iron with a curved cutting edge.
A jack plane is around 14 inches (350 mm) long, continues the job of roughing out, but with more accuracy than the scrub.
A jointer plane (including the smaller fore plane) is between 18 to 24 inches (450-600 mm) long, and is used for jointing and final flattening out of boards.
A smoothing plane, up to 10 inches (250 mm) long, is used to begin preparing the surface for finishing.
Planes may also be classified by the material of which they are constructed:
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.
An infill plane has a body of metal filled with very dense and hard wood on which the blade rests and the handles are formed. They are typically of English or Scottish manufacture. They are prized for their ability to smooth difficult grained woods when set very finely.
Finger planes, seen in Copenhagen. Note the size.Some special types of planes include:
The shoulder plane, is characterized by a cutter that is flush with the edges of the plane, allowing trimming right up to the edge of a workpiece. It is commonly used to clean up dadoes and tenons for joinery.
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 (rebates) i.e. shoulders, or steps.
The plow plane, which cuts grooves and dadoes (trenches).
The router plane, which cleans up the bottom of recesses such as shallow mortises and dadoes.
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 very small curved bottom variates are known as violin makers planes and are used in making stringed instruments.
The bullnose plane, which has a very short 'front' to its body, and so can be used in tight spaces. Most commonly of the shoulder and rabbet variety.
The combination plane, which combines the function of a moulding and rabbet planes, having different cutters and adjustments
The circular or compass 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 planing large curves, like table sides or chair arms, and the convex works well for chair arms, legs and backs, and other applications.
[edit] Planing With the Grain
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. When planing "with the grain", thin shavings rise above the surface of the wood as the edge of the plane iron is pushed forward, leaving a smooth surface.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. With some very figured and difficult woods the grain runs in many directions and therefore working against the grain is inevitable. A very sharp