#5 plane = Jack plane?


JimB1

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Might be a dumb question but I see a #5 plane and a Jack plane are they the same thing? If so, why are they called jack planes?

I understand saying a #4 smoothing plane or a #7 jointer plane. Does the word Jack have some old timey meaning that describes what this plane is for?

Just wondering.

Thanks

-Jim

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I've heard a few theories about where the name came from. I have never been able to confirm any of them.

The term Jack of all trades gets tossed around a lot, but the phrase doesn't really help with the term "Jack". So I'm not sure that is where the term Jack plane came from. Probably the other way around. The phrase more likely came from one of the meanings of the term "Jack". Specifically, the term frequently meant someone who did manual labor for a living. So a jack of all trades would be a workman who was versatile.

"Jack" was also used to define something that was common.

It is also possible that it may refer to the plane's shorter length. In carpentry, a beam or post that was shorter than the others was referred to as a jack, i.e. jack rafter, jack post, jack truss. The jack plane might have been considered a shorter version of the other toted bench planes (i.e. fore plane, jointer plane).

Again, I've never been able to confirm any of these theories, but they are all plausible.

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I've heard the Jack of all trades thing before as well. If you Wikipedia Jack Plane that's what you get. Personally I don't buy that as the origin either. I think Bob is much closer to the answer. At one time any working class male would be considered socially inferior and would have been called a Jack. LumberJack is left over from that time. Carpenters were also called Jacks and my guess is that they would have carried a very common sized plane, so perhaps that's where the term comes from. That's my best guess.

One thing I can tell you is the whole conversation makes me hungry for a Jumbo Jack. If any of you remember those... mmm... them's tasty.

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Let's see, is a jack hammer a really versatile hammer? In mining and before powered hammers, a single person drilling a hole for blasting with a hammer and star drill was called single jacking. One person on a hammer and another holding the drill was double jacking. That's where the term "jack hammer" comes from. The real labor in mining used to be drilling the holes for dynamite and the blast that was set at the end of each day. I think Bob has it right about the laborer except that it goes further than just that. The jack plane is the one that does the heavy lifting--the hard work in stock preparation. It's just another name for a fore plane but, maybe, more descriptive.

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I got into a conversation like this in Williamsburg with one of the joiners and I have to agree with Bob. The "jack" epithet came along before the jack of all trades saying. Jack was the common name for a laborer or joiner/carpenter. The other planes like smoothers and jointers were not used much if at all outside the cabinetmaker' shop and the joiners got by with only a medium sized plane (#5) for much of their work. I'm sure then that many "jacks" may have only had one plane, that being the equivalent of the #5.

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