A smoothing plane or smooth plane is a type of bench plane used in woodworking. The smoothing plane is typically the last plane used on a wood surface - when used properly, the finish it gives will be far superior to that made by sandpaper or scrapers. The smooth finish is the result of planing the wood off in strips, rather than by successive buffing and scratching.
The smoothing plane is typically 8 to 10 inches long. The throat may be adjusted to a tight opening so as to allow only a very fine shaving and to reduce tearout of the grain to a minimum. The smooth plane is held with both hands. The iron of the smoothing plane is generally sharpened straight across or with a slightly arched cutting edge (or at least with rounded corners) to prevent unsightly grooves from being gouged in the wood surface as it is planed.
Famous quotes containing the words smoothing and/or plane:
“Whale on the beach, you dinosaur,
what brought you smoothing into this dead harbor?
If you’d stayed inside you could have grown
as big as the Empire State.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“We’ve got to figure these things a little bit different than most people. Y’know, there’s something about going out in a plane that beats any other way.... A guy that washes out at the controls of his own ship, well, he goes down doing the thing that he loved the best. It seems to me that that’s a very special way to die.”
—Dalton Trumbo (1905–1976)