[C] is what is called the jack plane, which is the first to be used. It is about 17 inches in length, and is used to take the rough parts from a piece of wood. It should be held steadily by fixing the right hand at the handle (h), and the left over the top and side at (s), and pushed forward on the wood, when the knife (k) will take off a shaving which runs through the hole (o), and falls on the side. In using the plane the endeavour should be to take off a clean shaving, which is done by using the instrument uniformly and steadily over every surface to be planed.
[D] is another kind of plane, called the trying plane, having a double top or handle. It is used to regulate and smooth, to a higher degree, the surface of the wood that had previously been smoothed from the rough by the jack plane. Its length is about 22 inches, and it is broader than the jack plane. There is another plane called the long plane, which is used for facing a piece of stuff, which it does with the greatest exactness; its length is about 2 feet 4 inches. There is also the joiner’s plane, which is the longest of all the planes, being 30 inches long. But the most handy of the planes to the boy carpenter is the smoothing plane, [E]. It is the last plane used in joining, and gives the utmost degree of smoothness to the surface of a piece of finished work; it is about 7 inches in length, the sides of the stock are curved, and resemble in figure a coffin; it is used in a similar way to the other.
SAWS.
There are many kinds of saws, but the most useful one is what is called the “hand saw.” It has a blade or plate about 28 inches long; the teeth of which are so formed as to allow you to cut the wood crossways as well as lengthways. The handle of the saw is made so as to allow a full yet free grasp of the hand, either for a pull or a thrust.
The panel saw. This saw has a plate nearly of the same size as a hand saw, and is used for cutting very thin boards, which the rough teeth of the hand saw would not cut through without breaking them.