Which plane should I purchase: regular or bevel-up?

What is a plane with a bevel-up blade?

Among hand tools, bevel-up bench planes have recently gained popularity. These are planes in which the blade is positioned so that its bevel faces upward. Unlike traditional hand planes, where the bevel faces downward, these tools cannot use a chip breaker.

What are the advantages of a bevel-up plane?

1. One of the key advantages of this cutting tool is the ability to achieve a wide range of cutting angles. Typically, the bed of such a plane is set at about 12 degrees, and the bevel angle is 25 degrees, resulting in a low cutting angle of 37 degrees (compared to the standard 45 degrees in typical planes). The cutting angle in a bevel-up plane is determined by the bed and bevel angle, allowing you to adjust the cutting angle by changing the bevel of the blade.
2. According to tool manufacturers, the low angle makes this type of plane easier to use.
3. Another advantage is its simple construction—there is no chip breaker.

What are the disadvantages of a bevel-up plane?

The main drawback is the lack of a chip breaker, which leads to more tear-out in the wood compared to planes with a chip breaker. Some may argue that you can plane “with the grain,” but in reality, it’s rare to work with boards where the grain runs uniformly. More often, we choose boards with beautiful, complex grain patterns, and most of us – like me – don’t want the aesthetics of the furniture to be dictated by technical limitations of hand tools. Can you work with such a plane under these conditions? You can, but it’s neither easy nor pleasant. The low cutting angle is also a disadvantage, even though it can be useful in some situations. Why is it a disadvantage? It increases the risk of tear-out. Manufacturers claim that bevel-up planes are easier to use on end grain. I use both bevel-up and standard planes for end grain, and if the blade is properly sharpened, I don’t notice a major difference. That said, a shooting plane with an extra skewed blade works exceptionally well. And this brings us to an important point. While planing, we can dynamically adjust the effective cutting angle of the blade. A plane bedded at 45 degrees can achieve a much lower effective angle, even below 37 degrees, simply by skewing it while pushing. How is this possible? It’s all about the skewed blade. In the case of the Veritas shooting plane, the blade is factory-skewed. To do this with a regular plane (blade at 90 degrees), just angle the tool slightly while pushing. Here’s how it works geometrically:

When the plane is pushed parallel to the cutting direction, the effective cutting angle (green) matches the nominal angle. To reduce the angle, push the plane at a slight skew. This lowers the effective angle significantly, as shown by the red arrow. Angle alpha (straight-on) is defined by bevel length (F1), height (h), and base (B1) of the triangle. Angle beta (skewed) is defined similarly with sides F2, B2, and h. Note that h is the same in both triangles, but F2 and B2 are longer, reducing the effective cutting angle when skewed. That’s why skewing feels easier. This characteristic makes it easier to plane end grain with a regular plane. With a shooting plane, we cannot “adjust” the angle dynamically, so the fixed skew helps. In my day-to-day woodworking, I rarely reach for bevel-up planes. If they were universally better, they would have become standard by now. The bevel-up design is not new, and many specialty planes (like mitre planes) already use it. They’re also cheaper and simpler to manufacture. So why aren’t they widespread? The answer is simple: it’s a marketing trick to sell tools to people afraid of using standard planes. Bevel-up planes often create more problems than they solve.

A plane for special tasks

In my collection of bench planes, I have one bevel-up plane I often reach for. It’s a No. 4 with a blade sharpened at about 45 degrees, resulting in a total cutting angle of about 57 degrees. This high angle, combined with a tight mouth and fine settings, handles highly figured wood better than a standard No. 4 with a chip breaker. But it requires experience to use properly and isn’t a beginner’s tool. Below are pictures from a woodworking class I led. The first shows tear-out from a standard No. 4 with chip breaker. The second shows a much smoother surface using the bevel-up plane at a 57-degree cutting angle. Using a bevel-up plane at a low angle here would have caused massive tear-out.

There are also standard planes with chip breakers and 55-degree beds available. I haven’t tried one yet, but I suspect they perform just as well, if not better, than my bevel-up version. Another option is to modify a standard No. 4 by adding a back bevel to the flat side of the blade. A 10-degree back bevel gives a total cutting angle of 55 degrees. Setting this up requires caution. A steep bevel will shift the chip breaker, and restoring the flat back later will be time-consuming. If you decide to make a special-purpose plane, keep the back bevel shallow—about 0.5 mm is enough, which means just a few strokes on a sharpening stone. In summary, I don’t recommend buying a bevel-up bench plane, with a few exceptions. This design can cause frustration unless used for specific tasks. If you want to use it for shooting or for highly figured boards, as described above, then it may be worth considering.