How smooth a surface can a Jack Plane leave

It’s a matter of honing and tuning, but a jack plane
can leave a nearly flawless surface in most timbers
with appropriate grain structure for surfacing with
a plane with standard pitch.

The smooth plane dives into minor hollows left by
longer planes in flattening the board, and with
a cambered iron the smoother eliminates planing
lines left by longer bench planes in flattening the
board.

You can smooth with a jack, but the smoother is
better sized to the job and gets it done faster.

A jack plane set up as a jack plane or fore plane will have a cambered cutting edge and will leave a scalloped surface. While you want to avoid tear out with the jack/fore plane a smooth surface isn’t the goal. The goal is to use the plane’s length and cutting edge to rapidly and in a controlled manner remove high areas on the face or edge of a board.

If you want to make sounds similar to fingernails on a black-board, just talk about setting up a jack plane as a scrub plane. A jack plane should be set up for roughing and there were no scrub planes in traditional Anglo/American woodworking. Scrub planes were a Continental phenomenon and don’t show up in British or American plane catalogs until they appeared as “Bismarks” in the late 19th Century or early 20th Century.

Pretty darn smooth, depending on how you have it set up.

-- John, BC, Canada

The reason I ask is that I see that I see recommendations of getting a Jack fairly often and I don’t know when I could get a general smoother. The Anarchist Toolchest (which I just read, really like, and keep mentioning) puts a smoother under ‘nice to have’. Don’t really want to use sand paper and not sure I’m confident enough in sharpening etc to have a couple of blades to change out like he recommends. Hmm, what to do.

-- Wood is not velveeta

Used just a jack on this beam

Actually, I have two jacks, one with a cambered iron, the other has a straight edge. i roughed this down with the cambered one, then went over it with the square edged jack. I also hit it with a couple of the long bodied planes, just to level things out. Afterall, i had a top to do

-- A Planer? I'M the planer, this is what I use

Good answers already, but just remember the ONLY difference between a smoother and a jack plane is the length. If your plane is set up and tuned well with a sharp blade and the blade set for a very slim cut, it can do very well.

The reason everyone says get a Jack first is because it is long enough to flatten some stuff, and short enought to smooth some stuff. If you are using it for both, though, you may want to plan on honing the edge between roughing and smoothing, since the deep cuts will put more wear on the edge.

-- I'm strictly hand-tool only...unless the power tool is faster and easier!

Texchappy…..... sharpening is very easy with all the jigs and sharpening machines on the market. Freehand sharpening is also very easy, but alot of people dont like the time it takes to learn.

Please dont let sharpening be a factor when considering hand tools. Sharpening is a no brainer.

Jack of all trades, hence the name for the Jack plane.
I read that some where. True? I’m not sure, but it makes sense.

I have SB #5 that I tuned up. I flattened the frog, sole, sides, etc. I installed a Hock blade and chip breaker. The blades corners were relieved a tad and no marks on the wood. It will cut fluff. The blade is too thick so I cannot take a serious cut with it. My next step is to open the mouth a little at a time to get a little thicker cut. It is my general go to plane and I love it.

-- Jerry