Types of Hand Planes: Numbers, Sizes and Uses

The types of hand planes fall into four families: bench planes that flatten, straighten and smooth boards; block planes for one-handed trimming and end grain; joinery planes that cut and fit rabbets, grooves, dados and tenons; and shaping planes such as spokeshaves and molding planes. Fine Woodworking's guide calls bench planes the hardest-working and most common of all.

Within bench planes, the name tells you the job and the number tells you the length:

• Smoothing plane (No. 1 to No. 4) - the final surface before finish.
• Jack plane (No. 5, and the No. 6 fore plane) - general work and removing stock quickly.
• Jointer plane (No. 7 and No. 8) - straight edges and flat faces over long boards.
• Scrub plane - a convex blade for rough, fast removal (Wikipedia).

The Stanley/Bailey numbering, followed by most modern makers, assigns numbers by length (Wikipedia):

• No. 1 - about 5 inches; Rockler describes it as a one-handed smoother.
• No. 3 and No. 4 - smoothers; the No. 4 is about 9 inches in Wikipedia's table, and Rockler lists a 2 inch wide blade and a 10 inch sole. The most common bench plane.
• No. 5 - jack plane, about 14 inches.
• No. 6 - fore plane, about 18 inches.
• No. 7 and No. 8 - jointers, about 22 to 24 inches; Rockler's No. 7 has a 21-7/8 inch sole and weighs nearly 8-1/2 pounds.

Fractions mean a different width at the same length. A No. 4-1/2 is No. 4 length but wider (Rockler lists a 2-3/8 inch blade on a 10-1/4 inch sole). A No. 5-1/2 is No. 5 length with the width of a No. 6 or 7, and a No. 5-1/4 is No. 5 length but narrower (Wikipedia).

Block planes are small, 3 to 7 inches long in Wikipedia's description, and used in one hand. Their blade sits bevel up, with no true chipbreaker (Rockler). Wikipedia gives about 20 degrees for a standard block plane and about 12 degrees for a low-angle one; the lower angle pares end grain more cleanly. Typical jobs: trimming end grain, chamfering edges, removing glue lines and fitting parts.

The low-angle idea also comes in bench-plane size. Rockler's No. 62 low-angle jack uses a 25 degree blade set bevel up on a 12 degree bed, with an adjustable mouth, so you can change the effective cutting angle by regrinding the bevel instead of buying another plane.

• Rabbet and shoulder planes - the blade runs the full width of the body so it can cut into a corner; Rockler recommends a shoulder plane for fine-tuning tenons and cleaning up rabbets.
• Router plane - cuts or cleans the flat bottom of dados, grooves and hinge mortises to an exact depth; see our dado joint page for the joint.
• Plow plane - cuts grooves with the grain; Fine Woodworking mentions the adjustable Stanley No. 71 among joinery planes.
• Chisel plane - no sole ahead of the blade, for trimming right into a corner or flush-cutting dowels (Rockler).
• Spokeshave, compass and molding planes - for curves and profiles such as hollows, rounds and ogees (Fine Woodworking).
• Scrapers - a high-angle scraping cut that works on figured wood where a plane tears out.

People searching "types of planers" often mean machines. A thickness planer feeds a board past a cutter head on rollers and makes the second face parallel to the first, giving consistent thickness along the length; it needs one flat face to start. A jointer (called a surface planer outside North America) has its cutter head between two tables of different heights and makes that first flat face and a square edge (Wikipedia). A hand-held power planer is the portable version. Hand planes can do the same jobs by hand: a jointer plane flattens and straightens, and a jack plane brings a board to thickness. Thickness planers can leave snipe, a deeper cut near each end, which is managed by leaving boards long and trimming later.

Rockler's experts suggest starting with a block plane, the plane carpenters kept in an apron pocket, because it trims, chamfers and fits parts on almost every project. The second plane is usually a No. 4 smoother or a No. 5 jack. The No. 5 can do rough work and passable smoothing, and the No. 4 leaves a finer surface on small parts; a jointer comes later if you flatten long boards by hand.

Whatever you buy, Rockler's point applies: you must learn to sharpen the blade and keep it razor-sharp. The Stanley number tells you length and width at a glance, which helps when buying used.