Using Replaceable Blade and Block Planes

The working of both the planes is describes below:

Replaceable Blade Planes

The replaceable blades are specially formed for the people who do not have the facilities to use sharpening blades. In contrast to this, many people willing to use replaceable blades instead of the sharpening blades. These are used for many jobs including the jobs done by bench plane. Replaceable blades are comparatively longer and narrower than the smoothing planes.

Unlike bench planes where blade is not of the full width of the plane, these are the full width of the plane and can easily be used near the edges. These blades are supplied with guide fence, which make them available for rebating. The design of these planes may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer but they all have one property similar that in all these planes the blade is positioned by a clamp and this clamp works like a cap iron in the bench plane. These planes also have some sort of blade tilting control. Shaving thickness is controlled by the knurled knob. This knob adjusts the projection of the blade and sole evenly.

The major advantage these planes is that they have a series of blades available to perform different tasks. Other than standard straight blade, there are curved blades, special purpose blades etc. the curved blades are used to smooth the timber wider than the blade and the curve blades lessen the chances of digging in. Special purpose blades tend to make an obtuse angle, which enables them to scrub the surface instead of shaving. These blades are very handy against stiff or hard surfaces like plastic laminate or chipboard.

Normally, special blades have longer life than standard blades. Another advantage of replaceable blades is that you can sharp them again with special handle to support the blade. Replaceable plane and bench plane usually have the same operating techniques. You can operate them easily with little effort.

Block plane

Block planes are usually smaller and narrower than the bench plane. They are used for small tasks like trimming the end grain. Though, different designs vary in size or shape but all of them vary from bench plane in two directions:

- The blade of the block planes is positioned at an angle of 30 degrees to the sole plate towards the topmost.

- Block plane doesn't have any cap iron. Instead it contains a knurled screw that keeps the blade in firm in position. However, the adjustment of shaving thickness and blade tilt is quite complex and faulty. But the modern block planes usually have an adjustable slot in the sole blade to adjust both the blade and the shaving thickness. Therefore this adjustable slot is nothing less than cap iron on a bench plane.

The block plane is used both for trimming and chamfering. While chamfering the grain, it is held in one hand whereas for trimming end grain, both hands are used to give it a solid grip.

Using Replaceable Blade and Block Planes

By: Tauqeer Ul Hassan

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