Greetings, Just got Ian Kirby's "The Complete Dovetail" from interlibrary loan. In the description of the double lap dovetail he says to cut the rabbet with a rabbet plane. This provoked my question: Why plane out the rabbet; why not cut it with a saw, and then trim with a plane? Seems that planing the whole thing is a lot of work with ugly tear-out risks.
Just because you can. Ed
Key word in the paragraph is "rabbet plane." A rabbet plane has two extra blades one on each side called nickers that take a veritical slice through the wood, this prety much prevents any tear out along the edges of the rabbet.
The other thing to remember is that there are usually several different ways of getting any woodworking task done. So if you want to hog out the bulk of the wood with a saw, and then fine tune the result with a plane, do it that way. There is no law preventing you from doing it the way you want to.
BTW I've got the book in my shop, when I find the floor again I'm going to take a swing at cutting some dove tails.
Tigger
Australopithecus scobis wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@die.spammer.die:
Don't you think you need some kind of excuse to buy a minty old Stanley 78? I mean, don't most addicts have to justify their addiction?
Patriarch, who has also been known to use a tailed routah first, and sometimes, even, instead of..
Just a guess, since I've not seen that type of dovetail, but couldn't you do the rabbet first?
Bill.
Kirby does the rabbet first, before the pins&tails. I'm quibbling with the choice of tool to do it. I am now completely convinced by the astute observations of other responders: Yes, I do need a minty rabbet plane. Oh, look, the LV catalog is right here beside me... Oh, my.
Are you sure you're not thinking about a dado plane? Or are you referring to the retractable nickers like on the #78?
FWIW, I almost never even extend the nicker on my #78 (and the nicker is really intended for use on crossgrain cuts). If I'm worried about tearout, I use a marking gage to scribe the rabbets first. It works better than a nicker (it produces a cleaner line).
For crossgrain rabbeting, a skew rabbet plane is the preferred tool. Again, I score the line with a marking gage first to insure a clean cut.
Absolutely. But for doing a rabbet, I can't see any advantage to sawing first, unless he's simply sawing the kerf for the side of the rabbet. As a matter of fact, removing some of the stock for a rabbet could even make it harder to finish the thing with the plane. (Irregularities can make the plane harder to keep level, which is key to getting a good rabbet.)
I'd say he's better off to just get a #78 and learn how to use it. Rabetting and grooving by hand are fun to do. Plus they give you an excuse to buy more tools. :-)
It's a fun book. As usual with Kirby, you have to take some things he says with a few pinches of salt. (Afterall, he's the guy who said the only planes you need are a #7 and a #4-1/2. Silly man. :-) But, he does give excellent advice on various techniques that can help you improve your dovetailing. Plus I like the variations he shows.
Chuck Vance
using a saw doesn't give you as good or clean of a rabbit, or dado for that matter, try using a router, with a good sharp bit it will give you a much cleaner cut and that makes a tighter joint, the nice thing about a rabbet plane is it lets you sneak up
Richard
On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 23:00:22 -0500, Australopithecus scobis calmly ranted:
That or do like I did and buy a shaggy old Stanley off *b*y for $15 or $20. Better yet, have the Veritas plane sent to me and I'll send you a pre-tuned, less-shaggy Stanley in trade. Yeah, that's much better. Got my address? ;)
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Unfortunately, the term "Homo Sapiens" is a goal, not a description. ----
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah, a real DOH! Moment, thanks for the reminder about the #78, I don't feel so dumb know.
Tigger
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.