Razee plane

A razee plane is a style of wooden hand plane which has a section of its rear cut away, so that the plane has a lower handle. This design makes the plane lighter, with a lower centre of mass, and puts the handle closer to the workpiece and cutting edge – giving the user greater control.^[1][2][3]

Razee plane

A razee jack plane
A razee jointer plane
Other names	Recess handle plane Cutaway plane
Classification	Type of wooden hand plane

Use

Historically, because they are lighter and easier to control,^{[compared to?]} razee planes were often used in school and training workshops.^[1][2]

Despite their advantages razee planes are not as common, likely because they were originally slightly more expensive to buy.^{[compared to?][4][1]}

Etymology

The name razee may be derived from the historic razee ship conversion, in which a wooden sailing ship is modified by removing upper decks to lower the ship's centre of mass.^[1]

References

1. Hack, Garrett (1997). The Handplane Book. Newtown, Connecticut, USA: The Taunton Press Inc. p. 90. ISBN 1-56158-155-0. OCLC 36543361.
2. Salaman, R. A. (1975). Dictionary of tools used in the woodworking and allied trades, c. 1700-1970. Internet Archive. New York: Scribner. p. 333. ISBN 978-0-684-14535-8.
3. Dunbar, Michael (1989). Restoring, Tuning & Using Classic Woodworking Tools. Internet Archive. New York, USA: Sterling Pub. Co. pp. 41–42. ISBN 978-0-8069-6670-0.
4. Sellens, Alvin (1978). Woodworking Planes: A Descriptive Register of Wooden Planes. Internet Archive. Augusta, Kansas, USA: Sellens. p. 18.