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Home , Machinist square, Marking knife, Shoulder plane

The Shoulder This underrated trimmer picks up where machines leave off .

By Craig Bentzley

As much as we might like to believe that our various share with you in this article. machines theyWhen can it fine-tune comes to machine-correcting of Therehigh-precision are plenty tasks, of new which and I’ll can produce perfect joinery cut joinery for a perfect fit. used shoulder planes available every time, we’d be kidding in various widths, lengths, and ourselves. The truth is that ill-fitting tenons, , dadoes, 3 accurate joinery often depends and other flat-faced joints, it’s choice is a 4 hard to beat a well-tuned shoulder configurations. A good starter on precision to within several will probably⁄ handle most of thousandths of an inch—a afterplane. its This ability open-sided to trim tenontool, with your needs. But"-wide regardless plane, which of challenge under the best shouldersits full-width and blade, make is rabbets. named (See the size plane you get, once you circumstances. That’s one of “What’s in a Name?” at right). the reasons planes and other Despite the moniker, shoulder reaching for it a lot during the hand are still around; planes are handy for a whole host coursestart using of building it, you’ll projects. find yourself

44 woodcraftmagazine.com Dec/Jan 2012 Figure 1: Anatomy What’s In A Name? Blade When shopping for a shoulder locking plane (especially online), be screw aware that not everyone is on the same page regarding the name of this parti cular type of plane. Some manufacturers Toe call them “shoulder planes,” some call them “ planes” or “rebate planes,” and some call them “shoulder rabbet” planes. It seems that most Blade depth American manufacturers Sole Mouth adjusti ng screw have adopted the name Lever cap “shoulder plane,” so that’s what I’m sti cking with here. Heel

Built to trim into corners narrow plane with a blade that is Blade theA shoulder full width plane of the is basically body. Because a the sides of the plane are open, Tuning and sharpening reason enough to return a new the blade can reach into corners, Shoulder planes are highly to the manufacturer.) allowing the trimming of tenon specialized tools and must shoulders and cheeks, as well as be precisely machined and .002" can often be corrected the edges of rabbets and dadoes. properly tuned in order to work An error of less than about dadoes, and grooves from scratch. plane, the sole should be dead 100by sanding grit) to thea granite sole. Attach surface In Thefact, blade it can on fully a typical create rabbets, accurately. As with any hand plate, and (I usually a , start with it’s also important that both straight wooden to the sidesflat, but are with parallel a shoulder to each plane, other plate. Hold the plane against factory-made shoulder plane is and perfectly perpendicular thedesigned blade tobedded work atin a 15°-up to 20° to the sole. When shopping for angle.configuration, This bedding with theangle, body coupled of a new or used shoulder plane, Tip Alert with a 25° blade bevel, adds up to make sure to check the body An automoti ve feeler and with a machinist’s square. a dial caliper will allow you to with lower cutting angles are ideal take precise measurements when a 40°-45° cutting angle. Models than a couple thousandths of gauging joints and tuning planes. anIf it’s inch, out keep of square looking. by more(This is trimmingfor end-grain with , equal aplomb. although they usually handle face-grain removable toe (the section of the When “Tiny” Matt ers bodyMany in frontshoulder of the planes blade) include that a You might think that working to thousandths of an inch is the purview of a machinist, not a woodworker. But when creati ng joints (and as a plane, allowing the tuning hand planes), it can matt er a lot. See for yourself: create a bladeenables to themreach to all pull the double-duty way into a perfectly fi tti ng morti se-and-tenon joint that slips together with corner. Removing the toe on some moderate hand pressure. Then cut away about .004” (the thickness shoulder planes can be a hassle, of a dollar bill) and refi t the joint. You’ll fi nd that it’s now sloppy, but it’s a good option if you don’t and you’ve just compromised its strength, even when glued up. own a dedicated chisel plane.

Photos: Paul Anthony; Illustrati ons: Melanie Powell Dec/Jan 2012 woodcraftmagazine.com 45 Figure 2: Blade Side Projection grinder, drawing their temper.

simply by honing them with waterstonesI usually sharpen through thin 8000 blades grit. No side projection results in tapered wall (exaggerated for clarity) clampingI typically the use narrow an “Eclipse” shank style of .002 recommended thehoning blade in (Woodcraft the way that #03A21), side projection (required for are normally held, (Photo A). square rabbets) Adjusting the blade and mouth To cut properly, a shoulder plane blade must project the right amount from the side of the body as well as from the bottom of the sole. While common sense might indicate that the the fence with the blade The next item of concern is side of the blade should be set retracted, and rub it on the its beveled end needs to be body, cutting geometry dictates close to square, it shouldn’t deadthe blade. square Most to theimportantly, sides of the flush to the side of the plane takesandpaper. long to If bring the plane it up tois fairlysnuff, plane body. Check it by placing Figure 2, a blade that’s set working through successively a small machinist’s square otherwise. As shown in against the sides of the blade, a tapered cut, especially when makingflush with deep the rabbets body will and create finer grits to 220 grit. Tip Alert endfirst of making the blade sure is that out ofthe square, sides When truing the sole of a plane itof canthe beblade corrected are parallel. during If thethe thedadoes side from of the scratch. blade must In order against sandpaper, first draw projectto cut a bysquare-sided about .004 shoulder,inches. felt-tip marker lines across the thicker blades can safely be Therefore, if both sides of a sole to help you gauge your ground,sharpening and process. then honed, Although some shoulder plane are to be used sanding progress. vintage plane blades are so thin without readjustment, the blade they’ll overheat quickly at a should be about .008" wider than the body, as is the case with many vintage planes. Unfortunately, the blades on many older planes have been ground down to match the body

width. And, surprisingly, the

A An Eclipse-style honing guide works well to ensure that the cutting edge remains square to the sides of the blade when sharpening.

46 woodcraftmagazine.com Dec/Jan 2012 B C Set the lateral blade projection by resting the plane Trim a tenon shoulder by holding the workpiece body on notebook paper shims, and then pressing against a , whose fence secures down on the blade before locking it in position. the piece and prevents exit tear-out. blades on many new planes mind that some shoulder planes come the same way. This just have a tendency to clog, the tablesaw a hair shy of the shortcoming can be corrected especially when cutting across shoulders. I then cut them on by adjusting the blade to the grain. This isn’t a defect; project from whichever side is it’s just the nature of the beast. onknife a bench line. After hook, sawing butting the the being used as a reference for Simply clear the throat manually tenoncheeks, shoulder I place my against workpiece the a particular job. To make the when the occasion arises. bench hook fence to prevent adjustment, lay the plane on its side spanning a couple pieces Shaving tenons Before the advent of power tools, shouldertear-out at plane the endis all of it the takes cut. push the blade down with your toA couple shave perfectlylight passes to thewith the of paper on a flat surface. Then shoulders almost always required line as shown in Photo C. clamping mechanism (Photo B). tenons were hand-sawn, and their Fat tenon cheeks can also Thefingernail, downside and of tighten this approach the blade be trimmed with a shoulder is that the blade must be shifted goodsome chancecleanup you’re to achieve making a tight- your plane, although it’s a bit trickier. to the other side when you tenonsfitting joint.on a tablesawAlthough or there’s , a Because there is little frame of need to use the opposite side misalignment can still creep into reference, you have to take care of the plane as a reference. your setup. That’s where the to cut parallel to the tenon cheek To set the blade projection shoulder plane comes into play. to prevent tapering it. With your from the sole, use the blade plane adjusted for a very light depth adjustment screw. a to lay out the pass, start the cut with the toe When laying out tenons, I use purposes, you’ll want a cut of For most joint-trimming it on scrap). When hogging outno more a rabbet than or .002"-.003" , you can(test set it for as heavy a cut as possible without suffering clogging or blade chatter. The mouth opening, which is screw, should be adjusted to locked in place by the toe-locking a , close the mouthsuit the as depth much of as cut. possible As with D To trim a tenon cheek, use a fine cut and a steady hand, resting as clogging the opening. Keep in much of the sole as possible on the tenon before beginning the cut. to minimize tear-out without Dec/Jan 2012 woodcraftmagazine.com 47 Stop prevents E F exit tearout. the ends of a tenon for easy When planing a rabbet, use a wooden fence to guide insertion into its mortise. the tool and a backer block to minimize exit tear-out.

Fine-tuning the scribed surface (Photo D). Then carefully rabbets and dadoes shoulder line, and plane to my pushfirmly it registered forward while on the keeping tenon depthstraightedge line, as flushshown to in Photo F. tenon is longer than the width of madeAnother rabbets, ideal use dadoes, for a andshoulder piece of scrap to the workpiece theit level plane, with start the atsurface. the shoulder If the plane is fine-tuning machine- atTo the prevent trailing exit end tear-out, of the cut.clamp a and take overlapping passes easier to widen or deepen a You can also correct until you reach the end of the jointgrooves. with It’s a couple often quicker of planing and mismatched rabbets with a tenon. When trimming cheeks, shoulder plane by removing the always take very light passes, your machine setup. To widen a toe and employing the tool as jointpasses (or than create it is a to new reconfigure one), you the tenon in the mortise to avoid need a way to guide the plane to up the corner (Photo G), the removingfrequently too checking much material. the fit of toea chisel can beplane. reinstalled After flushing and the While at the bench hook planes don’t include an integral rabbet faired, using the plane fence,your cutline. it’s easy Although to set up shoulder a wooden in the conventional fashion. a small chamfer on the tenon on your workpiece. To widen or deepen a dado, ends,with plane as shown in hand, in Photo I like Eto. put or to simply clean up a ragged The chamfer eases assembly the joint lines with a knife or joint bottom, a shoulder plane can and helps to prevent pushing To cut a rabbet, I first lay out be pressed into service, providing all the glue to the bottom of . (A knifed shoulder the joint. To ensure an even line helps prevent cross-grain depthit’s narrow of cut, enough scribe todepth fit within lines the mortise during glue-up. tear-out.) I then clamp a stout on both sides of the board and check the depth frequently while planing to prevent overcutting

out at the ends of the cut, start fromor undercutting. each end of Tothe avoid joint, tear- working your way to the center. Tweaking tongue- and- joints

G Most of my cabinets are fitted Removing the tool’s toe allows it to act as a chisel machinedwith tongue-and-groove a batch of T&G joints plane for getting into tight corners. backboards. If you’ve ever

48 woodcraftmagazine.com Dec/Jan 2012 and found the fit a little too H When refining a tongue-and-groove joint, I shave an equal amount from each side of A small shoulder plane is great for trimming misaligned the tongue to prevent offsetting it. moldings to make the edges meet properly. snug, it’s a simple matter to in Photo H shift while gluing or nailing tweak the joints with a shoulder end for end and take a second cut . Then flip the board is small, a shoulder plane mating grooves are perfectly a groove, and repeat if necessary. it into place. If the misalignment centeredplane. If the on tonguesyour boards, and their clamp from the other side. Test the fit in the joint. Since the blade will the boards on a bench and take Flushing up moldings nestlecan help into acceptably a corner, refinethe case a thin, continuous shaving from Despite care when aligning side can be used to support the one side of a tongue, as shown applied moldings on cabinets, plane while removing small it’s not unusual for a piece to amounts of material from the top edge of a strip (Photo I). Complex moldings About Our Author may require some additional Craig Bentzley has been restoring antiques gouge or chisel work to and building furniture for nearly 40 years. In bring curved surfaces into addition to writing, Craig also teaches at guilds, alignment, but the shoulder woodworking shows, and at Woodcraft stores. plane will handle all the n

flat edges and faces. A Model Plane Kit The only thing sweeter than picking up a good commercial tool and putting it to work is making your own. Ron Hock offers a wooden shoulder plane kit (Woodcraft #151095) that promises to make this dream a reality. To satisfy my curiosity and inner craftsman, I ordered one and went to work. The provided instructions were easy to follow, and Ron’s Web site (www.hocktools.com) has a short video that clearly shows how simple it is to make one of these planes. It took me about two hours from start to finish. The most difficult part of the process was coming up with an attractive, comfortable design that was uniquely my own. bit tricky, but the plane performs well, and it’s Unlike metal-bodied planes, this plane is a a nice addition to my burgeoning collection. bevel-down configuration with a bedding angle Depending on the type of work you do, it may of 37°. As with all wooden planes, setup is a be the only shoulder plane you’ll ever need.

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