Equipment/Hand Planes
Class Orange equipment: Only use if you are confident doing so. Training is available if not.
(More about equipment classes)
Summary
The hand planes can be used on wood for a variety of purposes such as:
- Smoothing surfaces
- Creating straight edges
- Thicknessing
Setup and Use
To work well a hand plane needs care an attention each time it is used. Of the three regular maintenance operations, two of them should be done by you if you use the plane, only one requires access to restricted equipment.
Before each use
You should check the blade is sharp. A dull blade will fail to cut properly and at best will be frustrating to use, at worst will tear your material. If the blade is not sharp enough to shave with, then you should re-hone it using the veritas jig set to 30˚standard angle and the diamond sharpening block on the finest setting (red). You can see how to do that in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOOAeuTLFhQ
Once you're happy the blade is sharp, you need to set the blade angle and cut depth correctly. A good quick start guide for that is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD8Gq5bQGUc
If you're doing a long job with the plane you should expect to have to repeat these operations as you go on, at least once an hour.
Once a month
Over time, repeated honeing of the blade will remove the original 25˚ bevel. This will need to be put back in by a workshop owner. If you think this needs doing please contact workshop@makespace.org.
