Edge and bevel plane
Edge and bevel plane
When processing solid wood and wood-based materials, the workpieces usually have very sharp edges. As a rule, these are then slightly broken during sanding and plastering with a few sanding movements or planing strokes. With different edge and bevel planes, you have further options for rounding and decorating the edges.
Japanese bevelling planes
Japanese bevelling planes are basically normal Japanese planes, where the chip thickness can be adjusted. The finer the chip, the better the surface finish. The special feature of the bevelling plane is that it is equipped with an angle fence, which can be used to plane not only a 45° bevel, but also a 60° and 30° bevel. The fence can be mounted in three positions for this purpose. However, the bevel width cannot be fixed on this planer. To achieve even bevels, you can mark out the bevel in advance using a moulding gauge.
With this Japanese bevel plane, all bevels are exactly the same size
This is not the case with the bevel plane with bevelling iron and its replica by Philip Marcou. Here, the angle fence consists of two bars, the distance between which is used to set the bevel width. The edges are then planed until the plane takes nothing away and all edges are the same width. These planers have another special feature. The actual planer body can be moved sideways on the 45° angle stops. This allows the entire width of the plane iron to be utilised before the iron has to be resharpened.
Edge planer with predetermined rounding
The Hattori edge/bevel plane is made from a single piece of steel. The two bevelled surfaces on the top and the milled groove from below result in two individual cutting edges at both ends. The plane therefore cuts in both directions. The Hattori edge planer produces a small rounding, which ensures optimum wetting of the edge when treating surfaces with lacquer, for example. In order to obtain even edges, it is also used to plane until the plane takes nothing away. As the planer has no chip thickness limit, it should always be planed with the grain. You can easily resharpen the cutting edges with standard sharpening stones by smoothing the two upper surfaces.
This small edge planer planes in both directions
The radius plane has two adjustable and interchangeable cutting edges. The front one makes the rough pre-cut, while the rear one cuts a little deeper. This produces clean edges with a radius of 3 mm very quickly.
Adjustable radius and bevelling plane
Similar to the Hattori edge planer, the radius and bevelling plane has two cutting edges that point in different directions. The depth, and therefore the bevel width, can be individually adjusted using a knurled screw. The cutting edges are designed as indexable insert blades and each have two straight cutting edges and two gouges. The fillet radius is 4 mm. You can therefore plane a bevel or a rounding with a fixed radius of 4 mm. If the radius cutting edge is advanced so far that the side cutting edges of the insert also engage, you can even attach a quarter-round profile to the corner. The inserts can be quickly rotated and replaced. As this planer also has no chip thickness limit, you should slowly approach the desired final dimension. The printed scales allow the planing depth to be set with repeat accuracy.
Bevel or radius? This edge planer can do both
