The jack planer is used to smooth a rough wooden surface and can turn a warped piece of wood into a useable work piece. The jack planer has a metal foot with a small blade for cutting into the wood and handles on both its toe and heel. A knob at the heel adjusts the depth of the blade.

The smoothing planer is used after the jack planer for final finishing.

The miniature planer is small enough to smooth crevices such as rabbet joints. It can also make small dado cuts.

The block planer, another small planer, is often used to smooth the end grain of a piece of wood.

The spoke shave is a type of planer available with either a flat or a convex blade. It's pulled, not pushed, across the surface of wood.