Introduction to Bench Planes

Hand planes are among the most iconic tools in woodworking, with history dating back to ancient Egyptian times. With such a longstanding rich history, have they been replaced by power tools or placed into a boutique category for only those purist Neanderthal woodworkers? No way! Hand planes still serve a mainstream purpose for all woodworkers, even those who primarily use power tools. Many hybrid woodworkers use power tools to quickly get wood to an approximate size and shape, and use hand planes and other hand tools to achieve the high quality finished surface and make micro adjustments to sizing of pieces.

While there are many categories of planes that can be used in a woodworking shop, ranging from block planes to a variety of specialty planes, the planes that many woodworkers use the most are bench planes. Bench planes range in size and serve different purposes depending on their length, but bench planes are generally placed into one of three categories;

Smooth planes. As the name suggests, smooth planes are intended to produce a smooth surface on wood, without as much focus on establishing flatness. They are the smallest planes in the bench plane category.

Jack planes. Jack planes are “jack of all trade” tools. They are longer than smooth planes, so using them can begin to establish more of a flat surface in addition to smooth. They are generally not considered long enough to establish a jointed surface on furniture sized projects, but could play that role for smaller projects such as boxes.

Jointer planes. These are longer, often 20+ inches long, and designed to put a jointed edge on boards up to three times the length of the plane.

If you are interested in learning more about hand planes and other useful hand tools, check out our class on using hand tools.