Trilogy of Wooden Hand Planes

Technology hardly looks back at its past for some kind of revival so that people suddenly yearns for the rotary phone, the 8-track tapes or vinyl records (sentimentalists notwithstanding). Technology and the evolution of tools just simply move forward. Power tools replaced hand tools to cater to the demand for quicker, easier results. The hand plane, however, maintained its niche but only among serious enthusiasts.

Archeological evidence suggests that the Romans were the first to use hand planes although there was indirect indication that the Egyptians may have employed some kind of tool to create smooth surfaces on wood but no actual artifacts of the tool were actually found. It was not until the 19th century when the use of ductile irons for the plane body was introduced by Leonard Bailey that allowed for the mass production of hand planes, followed by innovations and a variety of designs to suit specific applications. But then, milled, dimensioned lumber (planed smooth on all sides) were readily available from lumber yards' after World War II and from home centers starting in the 70s'. With the emergence of more and more power tools including portable power planers, power sanders, the hand planes practically went into obscurity - to the general public, that is.

Two examples of old iron-bodied planes next to a home made wooden one are shown below.

Now, strange as it seems, hand planes are popular again among woodworkers - both the serious and the hobbyist/weekenders. Low to medium priced hand planes are imported from India and China and recently Stanley Tools manufacture some of the popular models in Mexico. The top quality ones and more expensive, of course, are made by Lie Nielsen in the U.S. and Lee Valley (Veritas) in Canada. Additionally, blade makers are doing good business too - Hock Tools in California make high quality plane blades and now Pinnacle is producing replacement blades. The UK has been a consistent producer as well.

My theory is that baby boomers who have retired, such as myself, who now have more time and the wherewithal to use hand tools, contributed to this resurgence. Click pictures for a larger image.

I built the three basic hand planes - the block, smoothing and jointer planes - from plans featured in a Popular Mechanics magazine. The design called for plane blades manufactured by Hock Tools (Ft, Bragg, CA). I stuck with the basic design of the core structure but veered away on the external shape and added handles to two of them.

Link to the PM plan:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/woodworking/1273456?click=main_sr

Three species of wood were used - marble wood for the sides, sole and wedge and oak for the inner core for this block plane.

For the smoothing plane (next photos), I used marble wood for the sides, lace wood for the sole and oak in between.

For the jointer plane, paduk was used for the sides, African wenge for the sole, cherry for the inner core and Brazilian pau ferro for the wedge.

Unlike power tools, hand planes do not create saw dusts and noise - in fact the swishing sound of fine wood shavings curling up is quite soothing. And, it affords the user an upper body workout.