Hand Planes
Discover how to shop for and tune up woodworking hand planes. From block planes to bench planes and specialty planes, you'll learn how to get the most out of these classic woodworking tools.
Most of us have one or more old bench planes sitting on shelves gathering everything but sawdust.
Make smoothing wood just plane simple. Sand less by tackling tricky wood grains with a scraping plane.
WOOD Contributing Craftsman John Olson shows how to tune and optimize a hand plane.
The more I learn about hand tools, the more questions I have. For instance, what are Japanese hand planes? Are they better than my regular bench planes?
I’m confused about the differences between a standard block plane and a low-angle block plane. Can you sort them out for me?
If you had to recommend three, which hand planes should I start with?
Some folks lay planes on their sides to protect the blades’ cutting edges, while others insist you should set them on their soles. Who’s right?
What is an infill plane?
My low-angle block plane keeps pulling up chunks of grain on quilted maple rather than cutting cleanly, even with a sharp blade. How can I avoid this tear-out?
Tip of the Day
The history of your shop as told by scrapwood
I enjoy using colorful, exotic woods to craft small woodworking projects. When I make a project... read more