wooden bench

Wood bodied bench planes include transitional planes.  They are typically the coffin body type or euro-horned smaller planes, but jointers can be up to the 30″ long.

Wooden bench planes were sold alongside metal planes for a long time, because many would not make the switch.  In fact, transitional planes were designed to take the shock out of the transition to metal planes.

There are good reasons why people did not want to switch. Firstly, metal planes are more expensive. And once you understand how to set a wooden plane up, they are great users.  Wooden planes are simpler than metal planes, and typically lighter too.  They often have incredibly thick irons which helps to reduce chatter and makes them highly capable.  You will find many with repaired mouths. However, if the repair has been done well this should not put you off buying.  Throat repairs are often done with harder woods than the original plane body. This means that a well done repair to the mouth is likely to last longer than the original.

Most wooden planes you buy will be at least 100 years old, but some can be centuries old. There are also still a couple of specialist wooden plane makers operating today.