Fig. 632.
To smooth a rough piece of wood, use first the jack-plane, to remove the rough surface and superfluous wood, and then the fore-plane, to straighten and smooth the surface. If there is no need to have the surface true, but only smooth, you can omit using the fore-plane and follow the jack-plane at once by the smoothing-plane. With ordinary machine-planed stock you do not usually need the jack-plane, though it is sometimes useful in reducing a piece of wood to a given shape.
Before beginning to plane, see that all dirt or grit which might dull the tool is brushed from the surface.
Fig. 633.
Turn the plane over and sight along the sole (Fig. 632), not merely to see that the iron projects to the required degree, but also to see that it projects equally, lest one side or corner of the iron should cut more deeply than the other, and thus make a groove or scratch on the wood (Fig. 633). The latest iron planes have appliances to adjust any inequality of this sort, but if your plane is not so arranged a little tapping on one side of the upper end of the iron will correct the trouble. Try the plane on a waste piece before beginning on nice work.
Fig. 634.
Plane with the grain, as a rule, and the fibres will be cut off cleanly where they crop up to the surface and your work will be left smooth. If you plane against the grain, some of the fibres will tend to splinter or chip off just below the surface before they are cut off (Fig. 634).