For the past two months I have talked at some length and in some detail about tools. I have talked about the bench plane and its tuning or fettling for use in cabinetmaking and last month I talked about the difference between a sharp edge and a keen edge. Now, this month, I would like to get a little more advanced and talk about the types of plane that might be found around the cabinetmakers bench, what they are used for and why it is often necessary to have exactly this or that type of unusual plane.

Firstly we begin with the standard bench plane. This plane would have a cutting iron fitted with a back iron. This would be set in the body of the plane with the bevel down and a fixed cutting angle of approximately 45degrees This configuration, double iron, bevel down, fixed cutting angle 45degrees , is common to all bench planes though the main difference between the smoothing plane and its larger brother, the fore plane, will probably only be the length of the sole of the plane.

When cabinetmakers didn't have planing machines to prepare timber they frequently had to utilise an entire set of planes to do the job. Firstly, a medium length jack plane to rough out the board, usually diagonally, secondly, a long Fore plane to plane dead flat and, once the carcase was assembled, possibly a short smoothing plane to finish the work off. As most of the work nowadays is done by machine we find that, certainly in our cabinetmaking shop, most makers get by with using just one plane for most of their work. This would be a plane of medium length, probably an 051/2 jackplane or possibly an 06 fore plane. There are occasions when a little short smoothing plane can be very useful though I have noticed that by and large these generally tend to gather dust beneath the benches of most of my makers.

I think perhaps a more useful smoothing plane would be one fitted with "York Pitch". Now York pitch is a higher cutting angle probably of about 50degrees. This would give the plane more of a scraping cut and would make it far more useful on wild or difficult timber. As most of the timbers that we use are both wild and difficult this would be I think a useful tool to have. Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to find one. I think the place to look would be the second hand tool shops or a tool auction and what I would be looking for would be a smoothing plane with a wooden body with a cutting angle set at 50 rather than 45degrees I would have a look at the cutting iron and see if the back of the iron was pitted and if it were I would probably reject it. If the pitting were only minor this could be polished out but I warn you it will involve a great deal of effort.

The second group of hand planes that are worth looking at are the low angle planes. These are often called block planes and described in toolmaker's catalogues as being for use on end grain timber. Whilst this may be true, it neglects to inform the user of one of the most useful features of this particular type of plane, the fact that it has a variable cutting angle. The benefit of this is that a cutting angle can be chosen by you the craftsman to exactly suit the particular job you are doing. But more of that later.

Low angle planes are invariably quite small tools designed to be held with one hand. There is a larger version that was common in many of the cabinetmaking shops before the first world war, that was called a mitre plane, and would be about 10" long by 2'14 wide. These are available second hand but tend to expensive. The features of this family of planes that make them different from the bench plane are as follows.

Firstly the blade would be set into the plane body at an angle of approximately 200. Secondly it would be set with the bevel up rather than facing down as in the bench plane. Finally there would be no back iron. These few differences combine together to give a cutting angle of nominally 45degrees but with the bevel up it is possible to change that cutting angle by re— grinding and re—honing the cutting iron. You, the user, are in charge of the geometry of the plane not the manufacturer. This allows you to set the plane up with a slightly lower cutting angle for end grain or a steeper angle for "difficult" stuff like Ripple Sycamore. Now this is best accomplished by having two blades, one ground at 20 degrees and honed at 25 the other ground at 30 degrees and honed at 35

Another type of plane that is fitted with a blade with the bevel facing upwards is the shoulder plane. This is a very narrow plane and the blade extends across the entire width of the body of the plane. Indeed the plane blade should be very slightly wider than the body of the plane because its job is to get into the corner of a joint like the shoulder of a tenon. Most cabinetmakers have a couple of these things and they are in quite regular use. You will see them in the tool catalogues in a wide variety of sizes from planes with a blade almost an inch wide and a body weighing a couple of pounds to very tiny planes that could only be held with the finger and the thumb. Each of these models have a different use.

first published in The Woodworker Magazine by David Savage in the series CRAFT OF CABINETMAKING 12