Several different types of wood planes are available for woodworking. As one of the world’s oldest occupations and pastimes, woodworking continues to evolve by inventing new and better tools.
However, there is an adage that if something isn’t broken, it’s not worth fixing, and this adage can easily be applied to many woodworking equipment.
While they may better suit power drills and various forms of power circular saws for auger drills and other saws, a competent manual hand plane defies this trend.
Also, while power planes are plentiful, you give up a lot of precision and control for faster, more effortless action.
While this trade-off may be acceptable for general contracting work that you will likely hide, it is insufficient for significant woodworking tasks.
This article delves into the modest wood plane, dissecting various manual wood planes and their applications.
Hand woodworking planes come in various shapes and sizes, each with its purpose.
The most common types are listed here.
1. Bench Planes
Bench planes are the workhorses of hand planes. However, unlike the other planes on this list, they aren’t a single tool. But rather a category in which numerous hand planes are grouped.
This misunderstanding generates a lot of confusion, especially among inexperienced woodworkers who don’t realize that an experienced woodworker might call a bench plane a fore plane, jointer plane, or smooth plane.
Electric bench heaters are also known as bench planes. Also, the hand plane, a type of bench plane that spans five to thirty inches tall, is the most common workhorse in the hand plane family. The blades on them are beveled down at a 45-degree angle.
Furthermore, these are reinforced by a cap iron, which also assists in preventing clogging in the mouth. Benches planes are numbered, and the differences between each individually numbered size might be the subject of an entire article.
However, several famous planes, such as four planes, jointer planes, and smoothing planes, are termed bench planes.
2. Block Planes
Block planes are similar to smoothing planes in that they are smaller than the other types. But block planes take this to a whole new level.
Also, Block planes range from 3 to 7 inches, whereas smoothing planes are minor wood planes that most individuals will have in their workshop. This is one of the different types of planes.
Given their small size, it’s only natural that you’d utilize a black plane rarely and only in instances where such a sophisticated tool is required.
One thing to remember is that block planes, due to their compact size, remove substantially less wood than other types of wood planes.
Furthermore, block planes also use a bevel-up blade, allowing you to achieve extremes on the angle scale. This implies that you may use a shallow angle to slice through the end grain when smoothing it out. But it also works well for cleaning up previously used workpieces.
3. Moulding Planes
These planes, designed for work on molding and edge trim, are among the most durable planes, with some surviving in operation after more than a century of care.
As its name suggests, the molding plane works on molding and trim. These planes are frequently built of wood and are exceedingly durable. Molding planes are also essential furniture-making equipment since they allow for precise, detailed work.
4. Smoothing Planes
Despite its name, a smoothing plane is not used for flattening wood, which is one of the initial planning operations in preparing dimensional lumber.
Instead, a smoothing plane is used as one of the final processes in constructing a woodworking project– possibly immediately before you treat the wood if you intend to. Also, this is one of the different types of wood planes.
The smoothing plane’s name makes sense because these wood planes smooth off the finishing touches and provide a polished surface.
You can use a smoothing plane to smooth away minor rough patches in a limited area. Producing a finish comparable to– or even better than– sandpaper.
5. Jack Planes
Jack planes are the “Goldilocks” of the wood plane family since they are neither too large nor too small. Because of this, the jack plane can perform far more tasks than the smoothing or jointer planes. Which are the two other significant types of bench planes?
Furthermore, it’s worth mentioning that some intermediate woodworkers believe they can get by without using a jack plane, preferring instead to use the jointer plane for bigger workpieces and the smoothing plane for smaller ones.
While someone with adequate expertise could do it, it is not recommended for the best results or the most efficient working pace.
6. Plough Planes
These planes can cut grooves and rabbets since they have a fence and a depth gauge. The blade is set at a 35-degree angle. Plough planes include a wall and a depth gauge, which allow you to cut grooves in your wood and rabbets around the edge for tongue-and-groove jobs.
7. Rabbet Planes
The Rabbet Plain has been around for generations, designed to cut rabbit joints. The blade protrudes just a smidgeon from the tool’s sides, providing a square cut with reduced bonding risk.
The rabbet plane is designed to carve grooves along the edges of the boards. It is one of the different types of wood planes. These planes are typically 10 inches long and have a broader blade than the tool to allow for square cuts.
8. Jointer Planes
Outside the scrub plane, commonly overtaken by motorized wood planes, jointer planes are among the most significant wood planes used for woodworking jobs.
The jointer plane is typically the first-hand tool wood plane that a woodworker will acquire from the workshop to begin preparing dimensional lumber.
9. Bevel Up Planes
Bevel Up Planes isn’t technically a new plane form because they can be found in almost every plane on this list.
On the other hand, a bevel-up plane has a blade with the bevel on the top side of the blade rather than the bottom, which acts as a built-in chip breaker.
Bevel-up planes also have a unique design that allows for different uses, such as a grip that favors a four-finger grasp.
Furthermore, the various adjustment points are positioned differently on a bevel-up plane. With the blade adjustment, use a smaller knob that needs you to stop working on modifying.
10. Joinery Planes
There are too many joinery planes (instead of jointer planes) to cover them all, but the most important thing to remember is “specialization.”
The fundamental distinction between a joinery plane and the other wood planes discussed here is that each is designed to work with certain joints.
11. Shoulder Planes
For example, the shoulder plane’s blade rests flush with the body’s sole and is usually used for dadoes and tenon joints.
As the name implies, the rabbet plane allows you to cut rabbets into the wood by making half-groove cuts with a blade that emerges from the side of the body.
12. Bull-Nose Planes
Bull-nose planes are shorter, ranging from 3 to 4.5 inches in length. It has a slim body and a slightly broader blade.
This tool may be used to get rid of rabbits and is helpful for detailed work. The low-angle blade is razor-sharp for cutting across the grain.
The lower angle of the blade on the bullnose Plane allows it to cut along the end grain and grain, eliminating rabbets. It derives its name from the metal’s “nose,” a natural stop at the blade’s front.
As a result, it works best on rabbits that don’t stretch the entire length of the piece. Some models are adjustable, while others include a nose you may remove.
13. Chisel Plane
Chisel planes are unique in that they don’t have any guards at the front of the blade. This enables them to clean the edge of a cut where other planes cannot.
Chiseled planes don’t have a front guard, allowing them to reach places other planes can’t. These planes are simple in design and easy to operate. This is one of the different types of wood planes.
14. Combination Planes
The combination plane’s interchangeable cutting blade can perform tasks other planes typically perform. With a few changes, you can make the tool seem like molding or a rabbet plane.
One drawback of many specialist tools is that an amateur artisan cannot afford to purchase the entire set.
Combination planes contain an interchangeable cutter that allows them to handle the responsibilities of numerous more specialist tools, such as rabbets or molding planes, despite their rarity.
15. Compass Planes
The compass plane, also known as a circular plane, features a curved sole that can be adjusted to allow you to use it on a curved surface. These planes can fly where others can’t, but they require some practice.
The spherical Plane, one of the more interestingly shaped airplanes, has a curved sole that is often movable. The Planes can now be used on curved surfaces and details.
16. Japanese Planes
The Japanese use a somewhat different method, whether a pulling hand saw or a hand plane. Another Japanese philosophy applied to woodworking hand tools is the Japanese plane, which focuses on greater precision above raw “force.”
Japanese planes are meant to be dragged rather than pushed like their other woodworking hand tools, as with Western planes.
As a result, Japanese planes tend to shave off substantially less material than their Western counterparts. While this ensures that you do not gouge or remove too much material by accident, it also means that you must use more strokes, and this method increases the time and energy needed to do the same work.
Furthermore, Japanese planes frequently have a more straightforward appearance than Western planes, with a solid wood body and few adjustments.
This is a double-edged sword because Japanese planes are otherwise very direct to fly but are also limited in individual plane scope.
Still, because it simply requires a couple of taps on the blade from each direction to adjust, its basic design suits both beginners and masters. This is one of the different types of wood planes.
17. Finger Planes
A finger plane is a small tool used to flesh out details on small objects like tools and remove excess adhesive. Because these are not adjustable, you may need to purchase multiples to complete each operation.
Although the artisan’s studio has a selection of flat and curved soles, you cannot modify them. The blades are very narrow because they are primarily used for thin boards.
18. Fore Planes
Foreplanes are enormous, measuring 14 to 20 inches long, and are usually the first-hand plane. A plane slams into a rocky surface, which removes material quickly and partially straightens the item because of its size.
These planes are used to level up uneven boards, swiftly removing the wood and preparing it for more sophisticated tools. You can also use them to level out some boards slightly.
19. Router Planes
This oddly shaped plane is made to reach into corners and level the bottoms of depressions in detailed work that would generally necessitate chisels.
The router plane can move around corners and flatten diving bottoms. This aircraft is gradually becoming obsolete due to modern hand tools, although they may still be found in many workshops.
20. Scrub Planes
The scrub is designed to remove explicit material quickly. It features a large handle and a sharp blade for preparing larger boards for different aircraft types.
These Plans, created for ripping work, quickly eliminate material, allowing you to switch to your preferred planes after a large board is trimmed to size.
21. Levelling Planes
Leveling planes are the second most prevalent planer in most workshops. They are identical to the jointer plane, enabling them to cover a larger area with a far tighter cut than their competitors.
This Plane is a little wider than the others to cover more ground with each pass. Straighteners can also be cut on broad surfaces, and this is one of the different types of wood planes.
The forward and combined planes are two other planes considered leveling planes.
