Shop Tool: Flush cutting plane

This is a tool I made for the bookcase project. It's not the most inspired tool I've ever made, but it did serve its role admirably.

The germinating thought was that I was tired of the 'worms' left behind by nicks in the planer knives: I've had several instances where this small bit of wood would hit the fence on the jointer when I go to square an edge, and it throws everything out of square. There are a number of ways to deal with that, I know. But this one occurred to me, and it seemed like a good way to move forward.

The basic principle is simple: The edge of the plane gets adjusted to be exactly flush with the sole of the plane. There's a learning curve, as with any new tool or technique. But in practice, this allows the plane to slide across a surface, and remove any discrepancies without affecting the rest of the surface.

It's related, in construction, to a chisel plane. But the extra length of the body allows for a few different grips in practice. And the high pitch on the blade (57 degrees, I think) keeps it from causing too much tearout.