A recessed planing-table is a species of carriage having two long vee-ridges extending from its upper side and along its entire length, being also provided with a large recess situated between the two vee-ridges. Tables or carriages of this class are represented in Figs. 764 and 765. At the under side of such a table vee-grooves are formed which fit vee-ridges belonging to the bed on which the table slides to and fro in ordinary action. On the table's vee-ridges are fastened two, four, or any required number of portable tables, which may be termed chucks, because to these the objects to be planed are bolted. By reference to the Figures it will be seen that these chucks are fixed with loop-bolts, the loops being held with short pins situated in holes along the table, and the nuts being situated in circular recesses that admit a socket-spanner when fixing and unfixing are intended.

A recessed table is advantageous for the convenience of having a large space beneath the chucks to admit portions of objects having irregular forms; also to allow poppets and bolts of any shape to be easily fastened and unfastened. Such a space is also convenient for the reception of shavings during planing, into which they may fall without doing harm, and from which they can be quickly removed. To aid this removal it is proper to use trays of sheet iron, which can be put at the bottom of the recess or trough in any required place along its length, to catch the shavings that will be made at that time; in these places the tray or trays remain until full, when they are easily drawn out at one end of the table, emptied, and again put in. Such trays also catch the water and oil occasionally applied to the surfaces during planing.

In Fig. 765 a gap-end rod is shown fastened to an el-chuck, this chuck being bolted to one of the chucks belonging to the table. Gap-end rods that require their gaps to be angular, instead of semicircular, can be thus fixed and planed, when it happens that neither a slotting-machine, nor a suitable shaping-machine, is available for the purpose.