Planing Edges Square

photographs by the author

Two pieces of 9mm plywood glued together create a side fence for a jack plane.

When you give a plane a sharp edge and set it to make a fine cut, it’s easy to come neatly up to the pencil line you’re cutting to. It’s not so easy to keep the plane square to the work, especially if its sole is teetering on a narrow edge. For some jobs, such as fairing the edge of a lapstrake plank, being off a few degrees isn’t cause for concern, but for other jobs, such as planing stitch-and-glue panels in pairs or joining boards for a transom, an unwavering square edge matters. I’ve resorted to a few simple shop-made fences clamped to a plane to make it easy to keep the tool square to the work.

For larger planes balance on the work can be an issue. The small section of this fence could be made thicker to better balance the jointer plane over the work.