And I still have them both, although my collection of hand tools, and planes in particular, has grown considerable in both size and tool quality.
Bench or Smoothing
Plane:
Smoothing Plane
Sole length: 8-10"
Blade width: 1½"-2¼"
Bedding angle: Usually 40°-45°, specialty planes
for hardwoods may be bedded at 50°.
Use: Final smoothing of surfaces and sometimes trueing of small
boards. A well tuned smoothing plane can produce a much better quality
surface than sanding on straight grained wood. A plane cleanly and
smoothly severs the wood's fibers, while sanding scratches the wood and fills
the grain with dust. On wilder woods like curly maple, a smoothing
plane will produce very slight roughness where it goes against the grain,
and this can be removed by using a scraper plane. A smoothing plane
can take shavings as thin as .001". With a shaving that thin, any tearout
will be microscopic.
Jack Plane
Sole length: 14"-18"
Blade width: 1½"-2¼"
Use: Flattening larger surfaces. A general use plane
which is more comfortable to use hour after hour than a heavy jointing plane,
and more accurate than a smoothing plane. Often followed up
by a smoothing plane to achieve a smoother final surface when used on the
outer faces of casework.
Jointing Plane
Sole length: 20"-24"
Blade width:2"-2½"
Use: Flattening and trueing large surfaces, especially in
preparation for gluing up panels, where a precisely flat surface is
important. Often has a grooved, or corrugated sole to reduce
friction.
Carriage Maker's Plane
Similar in size to a jack plane, but with a blade that extends
the full widthe of the sole.
Used for flattening and for cutting rabbets.
Adjustment:
Hand planes have many factors which must be balanced properly for the
best results.
The opening, or mouth of the plane, should have a straight,
nick free leading edge. The distance between this edge and the cutting
edge of the blade should be adjusted according to the job: About 1/32"
for fine work, to about 3/32" for thick shavings. Roughing planes need
an even wider opening for the thick shavings they produce.
The distance from the cutting edge to the chip breaker also
relates to the work being done: About 1/32" for fine work, and 1/16"
for coarser shavings. The chip breaker helps minimize tearout by breaking
off the chips, so a finer setting will make shallower tearout.
The blade on a smoothing plane is not sharpened to a perfectly
straight line, rather the edge is rounded slightly by pressing harder on
the corners of the blade during honing to produce a broad, smooth curve.
The idea is to have the edges of the blade set back about 1/100" to
prevent the corner leaving ridges on the work. The blade for a jointing
plane is ground perfectly straight across, with slightly rounded corners
to minimize marks. A carriage maker's plane must be ground straight
across with sharp corners for rabbeting. In any case, the back of the
blade and the front of the chip breaker must be absolutely flat to prevent
chips from lodging between them.
The sole on a plane must naturally be dead flat if it is to
make the board flat. A little paste wax applied now and then reduces
the work of pushing the plane across a board by about 2/3. Paste wax
leaves a very thin and slippery protective coating, which will not cause
any problems come finishing time, as long as it is applied according to the
directions.
Last comes the adjustment of the blade in the plane. First,
the lateral adjustment must be made to provide for an even projection of
blade across the width of the sole. Second, the depth of cut is adjusted
by planing the board with no blade showing and advancing the blade until
either the proper fineness of shaving is produced, or a moderately heavy
shaving is produced without bogging down the plane or leaving unacceptable
tearout.
Use: Proper technique is also vital to getting good results. When planing the edge of a board, doing several boards at once, side by side, increases the stability of the plane from tilting. In smoothing the faces, pushing the plane slightly sideways (skewing it) can help reduce tearout, while leveling any high spots across the width of the stock. Planing diagonally across the board removes twist and cup, while planing lengthwise removes bowing and leaves a very smooth surface. To prolong the time between sharpenings, never drag the blade backwards across the work, and fully retract the blade when not in use.
Roughing or Scrub
Plane:
Sole length: 10"-14"
Blade width: 1½"-2"
Bedding angle: 45°
Use: Quickly removing large amounts of wood, such as removing
rough saw marks, or thicknessing. The blade is usually very thick and
sharpened to a somewhat more convex edge profile than a smoothing plane.
This allows for a heavier cut to be taken without tearing the wood
fibers too much. The techniques of use are similar to bench
planes. Usually followed by a jack or jointer plane to flatten
the surface.
Block Plane:
Regular
Sole length: 5½"-8"
Blade width: 1½"
Bedding angle: 20°
Use: Small trimming or flattening jobs,
can be used one-handed. The blade can be sharpened to a blunter angle
for difficult hardwoods.
Low-angle
Sole length: 5½"-8"
Blade width:
Bedding angle: 12°-12½°
Use: Especially for trimming end grain, the low bedding angle
reduces crushing of the fibers. Can also be used for the same jobs
as a regular block plane, but not always as well behaved on difficult
hardwoods.
Palm Plane
Sole length: 2"-4"
Blade width: ¾"-1¼"
Bedding angle: 20°
Use: Quick one-handed trimming jobs, like chamfering
corners.
Adjustment: The blade is usually sharpened between 20°-30°. If it is to be used for smoothing surfaces, the corners must be rounded slightly; otherwise the blade is sharpened without any rounding for use in trimming the edges and ends of boards. Lateral and longitudinal adjustments are similar to the bench plane. Some block planes have an adjustable throat to help control tearout.
Use: Block planes are not usually used for flattening the faces of boards, since their size allows them to follow contours and they are not designed to produce a smooth surface on face grain. Instead, block planes are designed to be used for trimming end grain using a shooting board. A shooting board is a board with a shallow rabbet across one end for the plane to ride in, and a fence along one edge square to the rabbet. A board is placed against the fence and the rabbet guides the block plane in trimming the board's end square to its side. Block planes are also the perfect tool for any accurate trimming job, such as trimming the fingers of a box joint flush to the surface, chamfering a sharp edge, and fitting joints that are just slightly too tight.
Rabbet Plane:
Sole length: 6"-10"
Blade width: Usually 1" or less.
Bedding angle: 45°
Use: Making rabbets, may also be used to form the tongue for
a tongue and groove joint, but not as accurate as a dedicated T&G plane.
Some rabbet planes come with a forward blade position so they can be
used as a bull nose plane, some have skewed blades for cutting cleanly across
grain, and most have a spur to score the fibers when cutting across the grain.
Also called a rabbet and fillister plane or a rebate plane.
Adjustment: The blade must be ground perfectly square on the end, and its edge must be aligned to the edge of the plane, else the rabbet will not be cut square. If the rabbet runs across the grain, the spur must be sharpened and in the lowered position. To be properly sharpened, the bevel of the spur must face in, and there should be a skew angle with the sharp point towards the rear of the plane.
Side Rabbeting Plane: A smaller rabbeting plane, usually ~4"-5" long, with a blade angled so as to widen a rabbet or dado. May be made in pairs (one left-handed and one right-handed), or double-ended, with a left- and right-handed blade on opposite ends.
Shoulder Plane:
Sole length: 5"-8"
Blade width: 1½"-2"
Bedding angle: 12½°-20°
Use: Trimming and smoothing shoulders and cheeks of
tennons for mortise-and-tennon joints. Similar to a block plane
with a blade extending the full width of the sole.
Compass Plane:
Sole length: 8"-10"
Blade width: 1½"-2"
Bedding angle: 45°
Use: Trimming and smoothing curved surfaces, such as the edge
of a round table top. features a flexible spring steel sole plate which
is usually bent by a screw mechanism. Can conform to inside and outside
curves with a radius of about 12" or more. Care must be taken in use
to avoid cutting against the grain, and to keep the plane facing straight
forward, rather than being slightly skewed. Skewing the plane effectively
changes the curvature of the sole and will produce uneven results.
Router Plane:
Sole length: 1½"-4½"
Blade width: Varies; 1/8"-3/4"
Use: Making or trimming grooves and dadoes. Consists
of a small base which holds a special chisel at a consistent depth below
the surface. A small router plane is often called an "old woman's tooth".
In trimming a groove or dado, the depth of cut is typically incremented
down until the full depth is reached.
Molding Plane and Plow
Plane:
Sole length: 8"-15"
Blade width: Varies
Bedding angle: 45°
Use: Before routers and shapers, this was the best way to make
a profiled molding. Many designs exist for shapes like table top edges,
crown moldings, rule joints, and raised panels. Many wooden molding
planes come in left- and right-handed versions to allow cuts to be made with
the grain, as the plane cannot be reversed due to the profile. Metal
models are called plow planes, multi-profile planes, combination planes,
or rabbet and fillister planes.
Wooden-Bodied Planes:
Bedding angle: 40°-50°
Use: All the same uses as metal planes, but slightly different
working properties. Some traditional woodworkers prefer the feel of
wooden soled planes, as they have a different mass, weight distribution,
and feel when sliding over the wood. Very old planes have a simple
wedge adjustment, while newer ones may have the familiar wheel adjuster.
Adjustment on the older planes is as follows:
To increase depth of cut, tap the blade lightly. This
can also adjust the lateral movement.
To decrease depth of cut, tap the wedge, or tap the button
on the front of the plane to loosen the wedge and remove the blade for
sharpening. Some planes require the back of the plane be tapped, rather
than the button.
Sole length: ~1"
Blade width: 1-½"-2"
Bedding angle: 45°
Use: As the name suggests, spokeshaves were invented for shaping
wheel spokes. They also come in handy for shaping cabriole legs, and
rounding and chamfering corners. Spokeshaves also come with concave
and convex curved soles, the former being better suited for shaping small
spokes, etc., and the latter for hollow surfaces. Spokeshaves with
soles curved front to back are also available for shaping inside curves,
such as at the end of a stopped chamfer.
Pulled, not pushed, in most cases producing a better force vector for fine work. The design reflects an eastern philosophy of centering; pulling all tools towards oneself. Bedding angle of 45° to 47.5°. Laminated iron similar to chisels. Wooden body.
Pulled by transverse spokeshave-like handle low on the body, which results in excellent control and stability. Bedding angle of 60° which is especially well suited to dense tropical hardwoods. Wooden body.
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