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Browse our selection of woodworking hand planers at Cromwell.co.uk. We stock a wide assortment of planes, including bench planes, scrub planes and block planes to give you everything you need for the job. We also stock hand plane accessories to keep your tools ship-shape and working their best.

Here at Cromwell, our hand planer range is carefully selected from top brands like Stanley®, Irwin® and our own brand Kennedy®.

What are hand planers?

Hand planers are a manual hand tool used for trimming and finishing wood. They consist of a metal or wooden body with a sharp blade (known as the iron) fastened into to the plane. The iron juts out on underside or sole of the plane and can be angled to achieve the required cut.

Their design features two handles, a short one located at the backside of the plane and a long, shaped handle at the front. The shorter handle is used for driving force to push the planer over the workpiece, while the front handle guides the planer over the workpiece and keeps it straight.

Why hand planers?

Planers (with the exception of scrub planers) don't so much as cut, but shave wood from a workpiece to make minor adjustments in length or level while providing a smooth finish. Some woodworkers use a hand planer on the wooden face to prepare or finish a workpiece, as a planer can provide a smoother and cleaner finish than sandpaper.

When are hand planers used?

Hand planers are used in any application where wood may need to be trimmed to a certain size or finished.

Hand planer types

There are a lot of woodworking hand planers available on the market, it can sometimes be difficult to find the one that's best for you. Here are a few of the most common and their applications.

• Bench plane   -   These planes are considered the standard in plane types, and are used to trim, straighten and smooth a work piece. There are four sub-types of bench plane:

      - Fore plane - used for sizing and straightening edges to their final length and levelling wider workpieces

      - Jack plane - used for final sizing of a workpiece

      - Jointer plane - used for accurately levelling and squaring a workpiece

      - Smoothing plane - used to smooth and finish the workpiece

• Block plane   -   Smaller than bench planes, a block plane is designed for single-handed use and is ideal for use on a workpiece that is too big for a vice or clamp, like a door for example. They're used widely for creating a chamfered edge or trimming end grain and can be as small as 6cm.

• Japanese plane   -   The Japanese plane, or Kanna, is a simple design made from Japanese red or Japanese white oak. This kind of plane pulls over the workpiece instead of the traditional push method used in Western planes.

A hira kanna translates to 'normal plane' and is the equivalent to the Western style bench planes, and has three subtypes:

      - Ara-shiko - jack plane - levelling and straightening.

      - Chu-shiko - jointer plane - accurate levelling.

      - Jo-shiko - smoothing plane - finishing and smoothing.

• Scrub plane   -   Designed to remove large amounts of stock quickly and efficiently. This kind of plane is used differently to the other types discussed here. To plane an edge a scrub plane cuts along the grain to remove the most material. When planing the face of a piece; diagonal strokes across the grain are used to remove the maximum stock from both the length and the width.

• Specialist planes   -   Most specialist planes, such as shoulder planes, router planes and moulding planes are used for joints associated with furniture making and have long since been replaced by power tools. Some are still available to buy however and can still be beneficial to a busy workshop.

Considerations when choosing hand planers

• Condition of the wood - Off-cuts and rougher wood must be prepped before starting a project. The type of preparation required to the piece will determine the kind of plane you'll need.

• Application - what you want to achieve with a plane, whether levelling, smoothing, or creating joints and tenons will point you in the right direction.

• Material - Western-style planes are made with wood or metal and can be chosen according to personal preference.

Hand planer jargon buster

Stanley® has been most influential in the evolution of the hand plane. Many manufacturers use the Stanley® model numbering system to identify their planers and understanding it can be particularly useful when ordering spare parts.

The rule of thumb for the whole numbers is the higher the number, the longer the plane, and this was the case until Stanley® introduced quarter and half numbers into the mix.

The numbering system goes right up into the hundreds. However, for everyday woodworking, the standard set from 1 to 9 should cover all bases. (Please note all measurements are approximate).

• 1 - smoother plane. L5.5", Iron: W1.25"

• 2 - smoother plane. L8", Iron: W1-5/8"

• 3 - smoother plane. L9.5", Iron: W1-3/4"

• 4 - smoother plane. L9.75", Iron: W2"

• 4 ½ - smoother plane. L10", Iron: 2-3/8"

• 5 ¼ - jack plane (but can also be used for jointing). L14", Iron: W2-1/8"

• 5 - jack plane. L14", Iron: W2-1/2"

• 5 ½ - jack plane. L15", Iron: W2-3/8"

• 6 - fore plane. L18", Iron: W2.75"

• 7 - jointer plane. L22", Iron: W2.75"

• 8 - jointer plane. L23-7/8", Iron: W2-5/8"

• 9 - block plane. L11.5", Iron: W2"

FAQs

Can you use a hand planer to remove paint?

Yes, it's perfectly fine to use a planer to remove paint. The only thing to look out for is that some paints contain harder pigments or abrasive minerals (mostly older paints) and can dull the iron of your planer. This is easy to remedy though with a sharpening kit or strap.

Which is the most versatile hand plane?

The best hand plane to buy when you only want to do basics jobs like trimming, straightening and smoothing is a jack plane. It's fairly adaptable and can perform most of the jobs a fore plane and smoother plane can.