the.com/wood plane
A knife in a jig, shaving wood thin enough to make shavings, not sawdust.
means A hand tool with a flat sole and an angled blade that shaves a thin, even layer off a wood surface to smooth, flatten, or thin it.
from "Plane" comes via Old French "plaine" from Latin "planus," meaning flat or level — the same root behind "plain" and "planar." The tool took that name because its job is literally to make a surface level: the blade doesn't just cut, it levels. The woodworking sense of the word goes back to Middle English, with the compound "plane" plus "wood" simply specifying which material the tool is built to flatten, as distinct from metal planes or other related tools.
- blade angle
- Usually bedded around 45 degrees, called 'common pitch'
- shavings not dust
- Cuts fibers cleanly instead of tearing them apart
- older than vise
- Romans used bronze-soled planes two millennia ago
- sole flatness
- A warped sole ruins accuracy more than a dull blade