[1] It is designed to cut end grain and do touchup or finish work.

Block planes vary in length from 3 to 7 inches (76 to 178 mm).

"[3] Tradition also claims that the block plane gets its name from its traditional use to level and remove cleaver marks from butchers' blocks that were built with the end grain facing up.

This is possible because a block plane has its blade set at a shallow bed angle, allowing the blade to slice through end grain more efficiently; furthermore, for this to work, the plane is frequently held at an angle sometimes as much as 45 degrees to the direction of travel, so that the cutting edge slices the wood fibers as they pass from one end of the cutting edge to the other.

Chamfering (angling square edges) and removing glue lines are some of the other uses woodworkers find for the block plane.