Hand Plane Types: A Guide to Every Bench Plane, Block Plane & Specialty Plane

Bench Planes

Bench planes are the workhorses — general-purpose planes used at the workbench for flattening, jointing, and smoothing boards. They're categorized by number, which corresponds to length. The numbering system was established by Stanley in the late 1800s and is still the universal reference.

#1 (5-1/2" long): A novelty/collector's item. Too small for practical work. Rarely made or used.

#2 (7" long): Also mostly a collector's item. Occasionally used for model making and very small work.

#3 Smoothing Plane (8" long, 1-3/4" blade): The smallest practical bench plane. Good for smoothing small surfaces and fitting joints. Preferred by some woodworkers over the #4 for its lighter weight and maneuverability. Popular with those who work on small furniture and boxes.

#4 Smoothing Plane (9-3/4" long, 2" blade): The most popular bench plane size. Used for final smoothing of surfaces after flattening with a longer plane. A well-tuned #4 leaves a surface that's smoother than any sandpaper can achieve. This is the plane that produces the glass-like finish you see on hand-tool furniture. If you buy only one bench plane, this is it.

#4-1/2 Smoothing Plane (10-1/4" long, 2-3/8" blade): A wider, heavier version of the #4. The extra mass reduces chatter on difficult grain. Preferred by many serious hand-tool woodworkers as their primary smoother. The wider blade covers more surface per pass.

#5 Jack Plane (14" long, 2" blade): The "jack of all trades" — the most versatile bench plane. Long enough for light jointing, short enough for flattening panel surfaces, and capable of rough stock removal with a cambered (curved) blade. Many woodworkers use the #5 as their primary rough-work plane. If you could have only one plane for building furniture, the #5 would be a strong candidate.

#5-1/2 Jack Plane (15" long, 2-3/8" blade): A wider, heavier jack plane. Bridges the gap between a jack plane and a fore plane. Good for rough flattening wide boards.

#6 Fore Plane (18" long, 2-3/8" blade): Used for flattening surfaces and edges. The length bridges local high spots, creating a flatter surface than a shorter plane could. Often used as a "trying plane" — the intermediate step between rough stock removal (#5) and final smoothing (#4).

#7 Jointer Plane (22" long, 2-3/8" blade): The primary edge-jointing plane. Its length rides over dips and high spots, producing a straight, flat edge suitable for gluing. Essential for hand-tool joinery where machine-jointed edges aren't available. Also excellent for flattening large surfaces like tabletops.

#8 Jointer Plane (24" long, 2-5/8" blade): The longest standard bench plane. Used for the same purposes as the #7 but better for very long boards (6+ feet). The extra length and weight provide more reference surface. Less common than the #7.

Block Planes

Standard angle block plane (20° bed angle): A small, one-handed plane for trimming end grain, easing edges, fitting joints, and general light work. The low-angle blade is set bevel-up. Every woodworker needs a block plane — it's the plane you grab most often for quick tasks.

Low-angle block plane (12° bed angle): Excels at end grain work because the effective cutting angle is lower than a standard block plane. The blade is still bevel-up, but the lower bed angle means the blade approaches the wood at a shallower angle, slicing end grain fibers more cleanly. The most versatile block plane for general shop use. Popular models: Lie-Nielsen 60-1/2, Veritas Low-Angle Block Plane, Stanley 60-1/2.

Specialty Planes

Shoulder plane: A narrow plane with the blade extending to the full width of the body. Used for trimming the shoulders and cheeks of tenons and for fitting rabbets. The blade-width body reaches into corners that bench planes can't access. Essential for hand-cut joinery.

Rabbet plane: Cuts rabbets (L-shaped steps along the edge of a board). The blade extends to the edge of the body so it can cut into corners. Some rabbet planes have a fence and depth stop for consistent rabbets.

Router plane: Not a router in the modern sense — a hand tool for cleaning the bottoms of dadoes, grooves, and mortises to a consistent depth. An L-shaped blade protrudes through the sole and is adjusted for depth. Veritas and Lie-Nielsen make excellent modern router planes.

Spoke shave: A short-soled tool with handles on each side for shaping curves, chamfers, and rounded surfaces. Used for chair legs, spindles, and any curved work. Available in flat-sole (convex curves) and curved-sole (concave curves) versions.

Scrub plane: A narrow-bladed plane with a heavily cambered (curved) blade for aggressive stock removal. Used to quickly reduce rough lumber to approximate dimensions before jointing and smoothing. The curved blade takes thick, narrow shavings without jamming.

Which Planes Do You Actually Need?

For a beginning hand-tool kit: a #5 jack plane and a low-angle block plane cover 80% of hand planing tasks. Add a #4 smoothing plane when you want to replace sandpaper with plane-finished surfaces. Add a #7 jointer plane when you start hand-jointing edges for glue-ups. The specialty planes (shoulder, router, rabbet) come in as your joinery demands them.