Specialist Hand Planes
Compass Plane:
The compass plane is equipped with a standard bench-plane blade, cap iron and lever cap, however the sole of the plane is made from a strip of flexible steel.
The plane can be fine-tuned using a large knurled nut which in turn moves the sole to form a convex or concave curve.
The compass plane is preferably suited to trimming slow curves like the edge of a rounded desk where a spoke shave plane would in fact follow all the lumps and protrusions of the wood.
Prior to using the compass plane it is best to saw your wood roughly to the shape you require the most then set the sole of the plane to the necessary curve.
Alternatively you could get an old section of board and sketch the planned curve onto it then set the sole of the plane to the correct curvature.
As you are working with the wood, you have to remember to reposition the work piece from time to time to have the ability to plane along the grain of the timber at all time.
Router Plane:
The router plane was the preferred tool for levelling the bottoms of housings, this has now been succeeded by the electric router.
Because of its cheapness the router plane can still be found in countless workshops all over the world and used for creating small recesses for hinges or locks.
These type of planes are screw adjustable to extremely fine tolerances.
Chisel-like cutters are mainly used for levelling square sided recesses with a pointed cutter for working the undercut sides of dovetail housing.
This kind of plane will help you to level of through housing with the cutter mounted in the forward position, whereas with the cutter mounted to the rear of the clamp this enables you to work in reverse to the end of the stopped housing.
A small fence which is screwed to the sole guides a cutter in a set distance from a straight or curved edge. A depth guide fitted with a small flat shoe shuts the open throat at the front end of the plane when used on a narrow edge.
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