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THE PRO’S
ADVICE
THE RIGHT PLANE FOR THE JOB
JOHN DAVIES
CARPET FITTER
TRY PLANE, JOINTER/FORE PLANE
NO 4 SMOOTHING PLANE
JACK PLANE
BLOCK PLANES
THE LOW ANGLE BLOCK PLANE
DUPLEX REBATE PLANE
Ideal for truing the long edges of timber in readiness to join the edges
together to produce a wide board as for a tabletop. The long plane sole
bridges all of the high spots on the timber and ensures that these are
removed first. The cutter must be absolutely square across its width.
Perfect for producing a fine finish to the surface, particularly if you are
working in a hardwood with interlocking grain, that is when the struc-
ture flows in both directions and is roughed up by the plane at the
same time as it is being smoothed just a few millimetres to the side. Its
compact size also makes it a good general-purpose plane for trimming
and fitting on the job site, but it tends to follow the undulations of the
timber and so cannot be used to create true long surfaces.
The best choice for stock removal and preparation of timber from the
sawn condition. To function properly the cutter is honed to a slight
convex shape between 0.5 and 1mm at its maximum for rapid stock
removal.
Designed to accurately plane end grain. In this situation with a bench
plane the cutter tends to vibrate or ‘chatter’, which can mark the sur-
face, whereas with a block plane the vibration is reduced because the
cutter works with the bevel uppermost. The range of 5 planes differs
mainly in the type of adjustment offered. Stanley’s top two products
are fully adjustable for depth of cut, cutter alignment and mouth ap-
erture, an often overlooked feature but which is critical to controlling
the fineness of the cut. Other block planes in the range will work just
as efficiently as the fully adjustable models but you will need to take
more time to adjust them manually.
This is the best specialist end grain plane and it is also perfect for trim-
ming the edges of decorative laminate; although you will need to hone
the edge more frequently
So called because of the two cutter positions (standard and bull nose),
it is designed to produce rebates.
