Planemaker's Float

A Planemaker's Float is a traditional woodworking tool generally used when making a wooden plane. The float is used to cut, flatten, and smooth (or float) key areas of wood by abrasion. Despite the name its woodworking uses go well beyond planemaking.

Floats are similar to Rasps and files. Rasps are generally coarse and cannot be resharpened. Files have angled ridges or teeth and cannot be resharpened. Floats have parallel teeth and they can be resharpened as many times as the thickness of the blade will allow.

There are two types of floats. There is edge float and the flat sided float. Edge floats resemble saw blades and are generally used to cut wedge slots in wood. Flat sided floats are more similar to a file or rasp but their cutting edges are a series of parallel teeth.

External links

* [http://www.lie-nielsen.com/instructions.php?id=120 "Float Usage and Care Information" at lie-nielsen.com]
* [http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?cat=542 Joinery Floats]
* [http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?cat=534 Planemaker's Floats]