A razee plane is a style of wooden

hand plane A hand plane is a tool for shaping wood using muscle power to force the cutting blade over the wood surface. Some rotary power planers are motorized power tools used for the same types of larger tasks, but are unsuitable for fine-scale planing, ...

which has a section of its rear cut away, so that the plane has a lower handle. This design makes the plane lighter, with a lower centre of mass, and puts the handle closer to the workpiece and cutting edge – giving the user greater control.

Use

Historically, because they are lighter and easier to control, razee planes were often used in school and training workshops. Despite their advantages razee planes are not as common, likely because they were originally slightly more expensive to buy.

Etymology

The name ''razee'' may be derived from the historic razee ship conversion, in which a wooden sailing ship is modified by removing upper decks to lower the ship's centre of mass.

References

Planes Woodworking hand tools {{carpentry-stub