How-To
How a Handplane Cuts
Learn how a handplane cuts, and how to achieve beautiful, thin shavings with your own tools.
Mar 06, 2014
To get a handplane to cut effectively, a woodworker needs to understand the basic mechanics of how a plane cuts. In this short video, furniture maker Garrett Hack explains how a handplane generates a shaving as well as a number of other aspects of the tool including: bed angles, adjustable throat openings, bevel up vs. bevel down planes, and a whole lot more.
See more on FineWoodworking.com:
- Holding Thin Stock for Planing – Chris Gochnour’s ingenious solution for planing thin pieces of wood
- Camber: The Secret to Perfect Planing – Crown your smoothing plane blade, and say good-bye to sandpaper
- Planing Difficult Grain – With a well-tuned plane and the right approach, tackling tricky figure doesn’t mean sanding all day
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Comments
Just wonderful. This explanation got right to the core of what is going on with planes with different angles and helped me understand why to use different planes for different types of woods.
Very well done. I now understand the reasons behind the principles I was taught.
I didn't understand 'bevel up' and 'bevel down' - I assumed all blades in planes were bevel up. Could you elaborate?
I never believed the throat adjustment made such a difference. Thanks for showing. I have a very cheap Chinese block plane with a ridiculously open throat and it cuts well with a sharp blade which happens to be very thick. As long as I am with the grain.
@webrohm The plane blade is sharpened on one side only the same as a chisel in block planes and low angle planes the bevel is up in most other planes the bevel is down and a breaker is attached. If you go on to YouTube there are loads of videos on plane setup and that will help you to see.
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