Popular Woodworking 2000-12 № 119, страница 41
SHOULDER PLANE Even if you machine your tenons to exact tolerances,you're occasionally going to get one that is oversized (wood is cantankerous that way). Instead of setting up your table saw or router to trim the tenon, get out your shoulder plane and do the job in five seconds. #5 JACK PLANE Jack planes are good for lots of things, including trimming doors and drawers. One well-tuned tool can actually surpass the work of a jointer or a sander. #26 PLANE This #26 transitional plane is a common sight at antique markets. Some people prefer transitional planes because the blades are easy to adjust yet the plane is lighter than an all-metal plane. across the wide boards that I flatten by hand and for jointing the edges of boards that are too small to support my larger jointer plane. In a power shop, these are just as useful for trimming drawers and edge jointing as well. The #7 and #8 jointers are, as you might guess, best suited for edge jointing a board. Since they are 22"-24" long, they obviously find their use on long boards. The length of the plane causes it to ride the high spots as the blade nicks them off. That way, the high spots get lower and lower until there is nothing left but an even surface that matches the long flat bottom of the plane. I honestly can't think of a use for these in a fully powered shop if you joint all your boards with a power jointer. Other Planes From 1905 to 1942, Stanley made the 14", #62 low angle jack plane that is being reproduced today by plane maker Lie-Nielsen. The low angle of the blade makes it ideal for working on end grain or cross-grained wood. As I confessed before, I use a lot of pine and my Lie-Nielsen low angle jack reminds me every time I use it why I like good quality hand tools. The 3/16"-thick low-angled blade and the well-built heft of this plane makes light work of some of the most temperamental grain and hard knots that I run into. It also has an adjustable mouth that I can set to a barely perceptible opening and eliminate nearly all tear out — even in the most irregularly grained wood. This is a real plus for both the powered and the powerless shop. In fact, this beauty can sometimes tackle a job that would make most jointers and planers tremble with fear. One other plane gem that has become essential in my shop is the scrub plane. Scrub planes take a lot of wood off in a hurry. With my Stanley #40 I can take off a H" or more from the uneven side of a 12" x 5-foot board in a matter of minutes. This is a small plane but a beast when it comes to getting my rough stock down to size. Often with hand tools, using the right one begets speed, and that's certainly the case with the scrub plane. Rabbet and shoulder planes come in a variety of shapes and styles but all serve the same basic purpose. As implied by the name, they're used for cleaning up rabbets or any joints that have right-angled surfaces, such as the shoulders of a tenon. When you cut your mortise-and-tenon joints by hand, your hand sometimes over-cuts or under-cuts. A small side rabbet plane helps clean these up. Though I don't personally use a power tenoning jig, I hear that once in a while a little trimming or cleanup is needed there as well. That's when these come in handy for getting that just-right fit. The same holds true for dadoes and grooves, whether power cut or hand crafted. Some examples of these that are still made today and available through mail order and retail woodworking stores are the Stanley #78 duplex rabbet plane, the Stanley #79 side rabbet plane and the Lie-Nielsen #98/#99 set of side rabbet planes. One final basic hand plane that I reach for often is the block plane. You can find these, old and new, in many price and quality ranges. The one I use most often is a simple Stanley #601/2 that I bought new from a mail order catalog. Like most modern hand tools it's not up to the heft and quality of its ancestors but it'll do for most chores. When it's freshly sharpened, it will take clean shavings from the end grain of a freshly hand-sawn board. It's also good for softening the edges on finished work, especially if you want to have the subtle character of hand tooling instead of the uniform edges that come from a machine. In my hand-tool-only shop I can't get along without these icons of the hand tool world. But I hear from some of my powered up brethren that these planes enhance the workmanship and pleasure of their shop as well. Even if you haven't fallen prey to the hand tool fever that struck me, you just might find that some of the rich old tradition in these tools can add to your shop as well. PW You may never turn away from your 8" jointer to prepare an edge for gluing, but once you get your hands on a few well-tuned planes I think you'll see how useful they can be in any shop. |
