The Lie-Nielsen #5 Jack Plane is one of the most versatile of the traditional bench planes. Its "middle-of-the-pack" size allows it to be finely tuned and used as a smoothing plane, more coarsely tuned for rapid stock removal, or even set up to use as a jointer plane to straighten small lengths of wood such as might be used in box making. In this blog entry specifically about the Lie-Nielsen #5 Jack Plane, Lee Laird explains in detail how to adjust the settings on this "jack-of-all-trades" to perform each of these tasks, as well as how and why to add a bit of rounded camber at the ends of a jack plane iron's cutting edge. Some practical advice on sharpening a jack plane is also included.
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