AJBaker
Established Member
I'm always slightly annoyed when I read about 'western woodworking' or 'western tools', usually in comparison to 'Asian woodworking and tools'. I don't know enough about Asian woodworking, but I do know that Japanese and Chinese traditional woodworking are very different. The Chinese, for example, don't traditionally use pullsaws, as far as I know.
With western woodworking I'm fairly familiar with the UK/US tradition, and the continental woodworking tradition (mostly the kind in Switzerland/Germany), and they are also very different.
To a traditional Swiss woodworker, a Stanley plane or an infill plane are as exotic as a Japanese pull saw. Metal body planes were never popular over here, and are only now starting to be accepted, albeit the Rali design rather than the Stanley Bailey design.
(Rali, btw, is a Swiss company, their factory is 30min away from me).
I thought it might be interesting to look at some of the tools that a traditional continental woodworker might use, and how they differ from the UK. Hopefully this will be interesting for someone, since this information isn't particularily widespead in English.
Here I'll have a look at bench planes:
Their job is to take rough stock and 1. roughly get it flat, 2. get it properly flat and 3. get it smooth.
In the UK, the basic bench planes for this job are the jack, jointer/try plane, and smoother. For the wooden versions, the first two have a big comfortable handle, and the latter has the famous coffin shape. The Stanley equivalents are No5 or 6 for the jack, No 7,8 for the jointer, and No3,4 for a smoother. Sometimes an old wooden smoothing plane with a big mouth is also converted into a scrub plane.
On the continent, when turning a rough board from rough to flat and smooth, four to five planes can be used:
1. Scrub plane (Schrupphobel)
24cm long, with a 3,3 cm wide blade with extreme camber (radius about 5cm). The mouth is fairly open, and the iron is thick and has no chipbreaker. This will tear through wood leaving deep rounded gullets. This plane is for removing high spots, or for reducing the thickness of a board. It can be used with or across the grain.
I'd recommend one to every handtool woodworker, in my opinion there is no metal plane that works as well for this job. The horn gives a great grip and lets you use more of your muscles, and the light weight and low friction sole make a big difference when you have a lot to do.
2. Schlichthobel
The scrub plane is fast, but it leaves an excessively rough surface. There are deep grooves, and probably a lot of tear out. In order to smooth things a bit, the Schlichthobel comes next. It's 24cm long, with a 4-5cm blade with little camber. The mouth is still fairly big and there is no chipbreaker. This plane takes off the peaks of the gullets, but still leaves a slightly rough surface (but at least it doesn't look like the surface of the moon anymore).
3.1. Jointer (Rauhbank)
Depending on the job at hand, you might want a long plane to true the surface at this point. It's about 60cm long, and the 5-6cm wide iron has a chipbreaker. Not much to say about this plane, it used the same way as a UK jointer.
3.2. Doppelhobel
The Doppelhobel (literally 'double plane') looks almost identical to the Schlichthobel. The major difference is the addition of a chipbreaker, and a tighter mouth. Otherwise, it's also 24cm long, and a 4,8cm wide iron is standard. This is probably the most versatile plane, and I think that it's sometimes sold as a "German jack plane" in English.
It would typically be used either after the jointer, or instead of the jointer (depending on how flat the surface needs to be).
It's set for a fairly fine shaving. This plane is for getting rid of the tear out still left over, as the chipbreaker and small mouth leave a much better surface than the previous planes that took a fairly heavy shaving.
4. Putzhobel (Smoother)
This plane looks almost identical to the Doppelhobel, but there are two key differences: The body is 2cm shorter, and the iron is set at a steeper angle of about 50° (48-50° typically). It is set for a very fine shaving with a tiny mouth. It's used at the very end to get a fine finish, thanks to the steeper pitch, chipbreaker and tiny mouth. It does the same job as a coffin smoother or a No3-4.5 Stanley.
A more modern variation of the smoother is the "Reformhobel":
The main difference it the adjustable mouth, which can reduce tear out to a minimum.
Hopefully this was interesting for for some people, if anyone wants to know more I'll follow up with continental joinery planes.
Thanks for reading this far!
With western woodworking I'm fairly familiar with the UK/US tradition, and the continental woodworking tradition (mostly the kind in Switzerland/Germany), and they are also very different.
To a traditional Swiss woodworker, a Stanley plane or an infill plane are as exotic as a Japanese pull saw. Metal body planes were never popular over here, and are only now starting to be accepted, albeit the Rali design rather than the Stanley Bailey design.
(Rali, btw, is a Swiss company, their factory is 30min away from me).
I thought it might be interesting to look at some of the tools that a traditional continental woodworker might use, and how they differ from the UK. Hopefully this will be interesting for someone, since this information isn't particularily widespead in English.
Here I'll have a look at bench planes:
Their job is to take rough stock and 1. roughly get it flat, 2. get it properly flat and 3. get it smooth.
In the UK, the basic bench planes for this job are the jack, jointer/try plane, and smoother. For the wooden versions, the first two have a big comfortable handle, and the latter has the famous coffin shape. The Stanley equivalents are No5 or 6 for the jack, No 7,8 for the jointer, and No3,4 for a smoother. Sometimes an old wooden smoothing plane with a big mouth is also converted into a scrub plane.
On the continent, when turning a rough board from rough to flat and smooth, four to five planes can be used:
1. Scrub plane (Schrupphobel)
24cm long, with a 3,3 cm wide blade with extreme camber (radius about 5cm). The mouth is fairly open, and the iron is thick and has no chipbreaker. This will tear through wood leaving deep rounded gullets. This plane is for removing high spots, or for reducing the thickness of a board. It can be used with or across the grain.
I'd recommend one to every handtool woodworker, in my opinion there is no metal plane that works as well for this job. The horn gives a great grip and lets you use more of your muscles, and the light weight and low friction sole make a big difference when you have a lot to do.
2. Schlichthobel
The scrub plane is fast, but it leaves an excessively rough surface. There are deep grooves, and probably a lot of tear out. In order to smooth things a bit, the Schlichthobel comes next. It's 24cm long, with a 4-5cm blade with little camber. The mouth is still fairly big and there is no chipbreaker. This plane takes off the peaks of the gullets, but still leaves a slightly rough surface (but at least it doesn't look like the surface of the moon anymore).
3.1. Jointer (Rauhbank)
Depending on the job at hand, you might want a long plane to true the surface at this point. It's about 60cm long, and the 5-6cm wide iron has a chipbreaker. Not much to say about this plane, it used the same way as a UK jointer.
3.2. Doppelhobel
The Doppelhobel (literally 'double plane') looks almost identical to the Schlichthobel. The major difference is the addition of a chipbreaker, and a tighter mouth. Otherwise, it's also 24cm long, and a 4,8cm wide iron is standard. This is probably the most versatile plane, and I think that it's sometimes sold as a "German jack plane" in English.
It would typically be used either after the jointer, or instead of the jointer (depending on how flat the surface needs to be).
It's set for a fairly fine shaving. This plane is for getting rid of the tear out still left over, as the chipbreaker and small mouth leave a much better surface than the previous planes that took a fairly heavy shaving.
4. Putzhobel (Smoother)
This plane looks almost identical to the Doppelhobel, but there are two key differences: The body is 2cm shorter, and the iron is set at a steeper angle of about 50° (48-50° typically). It is set for a very fine shaving with a tiny mouth. It's used at the very end to get a fine finish, thanks to the steeper pitch, chipbreaker and tiny mouth. It does the same job as a coffin smoother or a No3-4.5 Stanley.
A more modern variation of the smoother is the "Reformhobel":
The main difference it the adjustable mouth, which can reduce tear out to a minimum.
Hopefully this was interesting for for some people, if anyone wants to know more I'll follow up with continental joinery planes.
Thanks for reading this far!
