If hand planing feels much harder than it should, the timber might not be the problem. Often, a few simple adjustments to your plane and technique can dramatically reduce the effort required.
A properly set-up hand plane should move through timber with relatively light effort while producing long, clean shavings. If you’re fighting the plane with every pass, check these three common mistakes before blaming the timber or the tool.
Setting the Blade Too Deep
One of the most common mistakes is exposing too much blade. Even when the blade doesn’t appear to protrude very far, an excessively deep setting causes it to grab too much timber with each pass. Instead of producing a thin, clean shaving, the plane can rip at the wood fibres, create chunky shavings and require considerably more force to push.
The solution is to start with less blade than you think you need.
Back the blade off until it isn’t cutting at all. Make a pass to confirm there is no cut, then begin advancing the blade in very small increments. As soon as the blade starts to engage, make another pass. Continue making tiny adjustments until you produce consistent, whisper-thin shavings.
Avoid large movements of the adjustment mechanism. Once you're close to the correct setting, even a fraction of a turn can make a noticeable difference. Starting too light and gradually increasing the depth is much easier than beginning with an aggressive cut and trying to back it off.
Not Waxing the Sole
Once the blade depth is correct, consider how much friction exists between the plane and the timber. Although the metal sole of a plane is smooth, it can still create significant friction as it travels across the workpiece. That resistance can make a correctly adjusted plane feel unnecessarily difficult to push.
The solution is remarkably simple: wax the sole.
You don't need a specialist product. An old piece of candle wax is enough. Apply a few lines of wax along the sole and the plane should glide across the timber considerably more easily. It's a small step, but one that can make a surprisingly large difference.
Not Skewing the Plane
If the plane still feels difficult to push, try changing the angle at which you're presenting it to the timber. Rather than pushing the plane perfectly straight, skew it slightly so the body sits at an angle to the direction of travel. This changes the way the blade engages the fibres, creating more of a slicing action rather than attacking the timber directly across the full width of the blade.
That slicing action makes the plane easier to push and can be particularly useful when working with difficult or figured timbers. You don't need an extreme angle. A relatively small skew can be enough to make the cut feel noticeably easier.