What is a block Plane Used For and How to Adjust a Blockplane

so block plans this is a subject I've been meaning to get around to for a while and a lot of confusion and ideas about what a block plane is what it is used for and how they work and so I just want to kind of go through some of the highlights on them number one what is a block plane a block plane is usually something short 7 inches or less and it doesn't have a tote in the back a handle that you can hold on to it's intended to be held in the palm of the hand and so the rounded part sticks into the palm it is intended to be a one hand tool something that you hold nicely and slide on the surface it's not something you're intended to hold both hands and push if you're pushing hard enough that you need a second hand then this isn't the tool you want to use for it there are several different types there are hundreds of different types of block planes they come in all sizes and types but basically there are two main categories number one the traditional high angle plane you can occasionally see these as a bevel down but most block planes are a bevel up structure they don't have a chip breaker it's just the single iron so what do I mean by bevel up or bevel down basically a plain iron is just like a chisel and you have this bevel here and then the flat on the other side for most standard planes the flat is up and the bevel portion is down and this allows you to get a much shallower angle but still having more control whereas if you flip it with the bevel up you tend to lose a little bit control but you can get a sharper more shallow angle or a low angle cut and so most most block planes have the bevel side up the average block plane has a bed angle of about 20 degrees and that is much much lower than a standard plane and so it sounds like fantastic it's a 20 degrees but have to remember it is bevel up so you also have to include the angle of the bevel and so if you sharpen your bevel at 25 degrees then your actual cutting angle is 45 degrees so the 25 plus the 25 of the angle gives you 45 so it's the same angle as your average plane having it all the way up at 45 degrees but because it is bevel up you can lower the angle and so this one is actually at about 15 degrees and then this one is all the way down at 10 degrees and so you get an extremely low angle cut so 10 degrees plus the 25 this is cutting at 35 degrees and basically all that means is the lower angle to cut the easier it is to work on end grain and it tends to cut a little bit easier it's easier to push through also with a lower angle you tend to have a little bit more problem with figured wood and tear out so that's why you might want a higher angle plane but usually if you have an angle this high why not just get a bench plane and use a number for least that's my opinion but there are people who really like these and they're good to have on hand adjusting block planes is just like any other plane in that you basically have two parameters for the iron number one its depth of cut so how far is the iron pushed forward and number 2 its lateral adjustment and basically the lateral adjustment allows the iron to dig more in on one corner or the other or keep it perfectly flat which is usually what you want to be and for a lot of planes there's knobs and levers that you can move things around on that but on these cheaper block planes like this there really isn't anything you can do basically the only way to adjust it is when you put the iron in you don't let the air and go all the way forward you leave it back a little bit and then you use a hammer or mallet just lightly tap it in until it starts cutting and then it you can tap it from side to side to change the lateral adjustment of the cut and that takes a little bit of finessing working and so that's why it's really not a great beginners tool but once you get to hang out you can get fairly nice little girls so that is the traditional block plane so on a more modern design of a low angle plane there are a few other things to make it easier number one there is a knob on the back that allows you to adjust the depth of cut in and out my knob had broke off before I got this one but I can just use a pair of pliers to grab it and turn it not the best thing but it works that allows you to then pull it out of cut or push it back in also the lateral adjustment is done with this little plate here so you can slide the iron from side to side giving it a deeper cut on one side of the other one thing that is very nice to have on a block plane is the ability to close the mouth the tighter this mouth is the cleaner your cut is going to be the less chance of tear out and what you can do is loosen up this knob here and with this handle you can actually open and close the mouth so you can close it all the way down to the blade or you can open it up fairly wide so you can take basically as deep a cut as you want I like to keep it fairly tight and close so that I can get a cleaner cut and I like that just to be just about as close as it can be and then once you have everything set up just like before and get your nice curls out of it and this is a lot easier to adjust and much better for someone starting out to get something with an adjustment knob for depth and horizontal movement the mouth makes it just that much easier as well this is a little bit older style or more traditional style adjusting this is a stanley number nine and a half kind of the gold standard for block planes it is what a lot of others are based off of but has a slightly different mechanism this lever allows you to do your horizontal adjustment and so this is actually very close to a standard plane and how it works in that it is in a slot of the iron so you can adjust you or your plane side to side and then your depth of cut is done with this knob and this actually runs a gear that pulls the iron in and out so that you can have a very very accurate so takes a little bit of movement takes a good bit of movement on this or to move the iron in and out it also has the very same mechanism for opening and closing the mouth so you can get a very tight cut on it this is one of my favorite to use it just feels good it's got a lot of weight and it it makes a decent cut this one I've set fairly tight right now and I love that so a block plane has a lot of different different ways of adjusting and nor is this the totality of all ways of adjusting a plane but if you just keep in mind that just like any other plane you have to worry about the depth of cut and the lateral movement of the cut and if it has it the mouth opening some other planes have other things in and out of them but those are the three basic things you're going to need to know for most any block plane now what are some of the uses for a block plane um now some people when they are power tool users and getting into planes they purchase a block plane and they think they're going to do their planing with this and for a hand tool person a block plane actually has very few general uses it is something you use quite a bit but it is not the go-to plane for anything you're never going to flatten the surface with a block plane and you're never going to do like the flat side of a board with it it just is not meant to do that it doesn't have the the force behind it because it's a one hand tool for doing the edge of a board sometimes for smoothing this is fantastic because you can just very nicely wisp off an edge but one of the most common things for this is actually chamfering corners because you can get a very nice 45 degree chamfer with just a few passes and there I've got this actually a really heavy chamfer but the chamfer has these extremely sharp corners and that was just so much faster than getting out a router bit and so much sharper than doing it with a sandpaper and you could do any champ for you wanted so I could do a very heavy 45 and then put 22s and 22s on it so you get this three-sided for very quickly done with a block plane and you can just kind of balance it on your fingers so your fingers guide it down the plane so you can maintain that angle all the way along it this is just a lot of fun I think that's what I use block plane for the most is chamfering corners knocking them down or even sometimes in that corner just really nice and sharp I'll just do one quick pass just to knock down that corner so I'm not going to be nicking it and banging it up the other thing I block plane is really great for is doing end grain and you can actually get these nice curls and this is almost too light just falling apart see if I can pull those out you can get these really sweet end grain curls you just can't get with most other planes and it is fantastic for that because you can get that quick low angle block and in grains usually are not that large now if you're doing like an end grain cutting board this may not be your option this isn't your option but with the low angle cut in grain is fantastic with this so there is a very quick overview on block planes and if you know how to use them they can be an extremely useful tool but don't make the mistake of assuming that a block plane is the one plane you need and honestly I really think it's the second plane that someone should buy I think the first plane that most people should get is a number four or number five this has far more use in the shop and most anything you do with a block plane you can do with this number four it's just the block plane has a little bit better specific specificity and that it is easier to handle and easier to do small corners and little things so block plane is great for that I didn't go into actually sharpening them because they are basically sharpened just like a block plane and there are lots of other videos on that and I've done a couple videos on that so you can take that up it's a it's a fairly easy plane to sharpen especially since it is so small they sharpened very quickly and you can clean up your hair yeah nicely so I hope you like this video it was a fairly fun video to put together and I've had quite a few people asking about so I hope I answered your questions if you still have more questions let me know in the comments below I'd love to hear about that and I will get back to you if you liked the video please hit like and think about subscribing also I want to say a huge thank you the patrons on patreon you guys are absolutely amazing and an incredible encouragement to me so thank you for that if you did like this video you may find that you like one of the other videos around and until next time have a wonderful day

Channel: Wood By Wright

Views: 205,689

Rating: 4.9278288 out of 5

Keywords: Block Plane, blockplane, Hand plane, Wood By Wright, woodworking, Handtools, Hand tool, Hand Tools, Hardwood, Hardwoods, how to, Iron, setup, how to adjust bailey block

Id: V3FNK8wlEzA

Length: 11min 22sec (682 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 04 2016