Popular Woodworking 2008-06 № 169, страница 45

Plane round. Planes aren't limited to creating flat surfaces. Here, I'm using a jointer plane to roll the edge of a board.

Tapered legs can be made very quickly and accurately with handplanes. I remove most of the waste with a jack plane, as it will hog off wood. I clean up down to my layout lines with a smooth plane. Using planes, it is equally easy to make doubletapered legs.

The best tool for fitting parts and components is a sharp, well-tuned plane. I once hired a carpenter to do some work. I watched in amazement as he tried to use his chop saw to trim as little as V32". I fetched a plane and fitted the piece for him in a couple of passes. He asked me to leave the plane with him while he finished the job.

The ability to adjust handplanes and the fact they stop cutting when you stop pushing, makes them an ideal tool for fitting drawers and doors. By the time you have reached the stage where you are fitting these components, you already have a lot of work invested in t hem. It is nice to fit them in a manner that poses little risk.

Nontraditional Uses

As I mentioned above, a plane's very name risks limitingthe user's imagination in finding ways to use the tool. There is no rule that you can only use a smooth plane for smoothing, or ajointer plane for jointing. In other words, the best plane for the job is the one that meets your particular needs. For example, I have a No. 7 with a blade whose cutting edge is slightly

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Pull stroke. Though planes are generally pushed, sometimes circumstances dictate a pull stroke instead. Here, I'm using a smooth plane to clean up down to my layout lines on a tapered leg.

Control. Clamping your plane upside down in a vise and running the workpiece over the blade gives you more control when planing short pieces.

crested in the manner of a smooth plane, rather than being straight across. I use it for smoothing large tabletops and occasionally for dressing the surface of my workbench. The jointer is as well tuned as one of my smooth planes and thus lakes a very fine cut. Used on a broad, long surface, it fi nds and eli m i nales h igh spots that a smooth plane might follow.

Bench planes are configured with a tote over the heel, because they are intended to be pushed. However, there are plenty of times when I turn a plane around and pull it in the manner of Chinese and Japanese planes.

Planes are most often used with the sole down and are pushed over wood. However, they can be used very effectively with the sole up and the wood being pushed over the plane.

I frequently clamp ajointer plane upside down in a vise and run short pieces over it, as this position gives me more control.

We use this technique in every chairmak-ing class to joint the hand blocks that have to be glued to a bent arm. I am always amused by students who express fear of the plane's cutting edge, knowing that at home, many of them would do this job by passing the block over jointer blades spinning at 3,000 rpm. I illustrate how safe this technique is by dragging my fingers over the cutting edge. Skin is soft and pushes out ofthe way. In fact, the greater danger is to the plane. You must grip it so the vise's pressure is across the sole. If you grip the cheeks, you may very well break the casting.