Jack plane

A jack plane is the general-purpose bench plane, used for general smoothing of the edges, sizing of wood and jointing edges. Jack planes are about 15 inches long, and the blade can have either a slightly curved edge for smoothing stock, or a straight edge for jointing stock.

In preparing stock, the jack plane is used after the scrub plane and before the jointer plane and smooth plane. The name is related to the saying "jack of all trades". Jack planes perform both the work of smooth planes and trying planes.

A jack plane came to be referred to as a "No. 5" plane or a "Bailey pattern No. 5," at the end of the 19th century. Prior to that, all but the blade was made of wood in bench planes. The "No." nomenclature originally used by Stanley Tools to label its Bailey pattern plane products continues to identify planes made by various manufacturers.