using hand tools for dadoes ?

[Matthew N. Masail]

Thanks Pedro, I don't think I need them either.. John just out of curiosity, what did you think the thread was about?

[John Coloccia]

Thanks Pedro, I don't think I need them either.. John just out of curiosity, what did you think the thread was about?

Ah...I detect a slight language/culture gap here A Dodo is an extinct bird, but we use the name idiomatically to refer to someone who's a bit dopey and slow. I figured hey, that's my kind of thread

[Jim Koepke]

A few things on cutting dados comes to mind.

I tend to cut dados with chisels. Almost all of my dados are stopped dados. A dado is just a big cross grain mortise when you get down to it.

Using a saw to define the lines can be frustrating if one doesn't first cut the end of the dado for the saw dust to escape. For me just getting it done with chisels is faster. Through dados are a different story.

Another point to consider is that it will be much easier to cut a 19 mm dado with an 18 mm chisel that the other way around. Cutting a 19 mm dado with a 19 mm chisel can lead to chipping out at the edges of the dado.

I do not work in plywood so I am not sure about which chisels would be best.

Cutting a groove with the grain is going to work much better with a plow plane. Lots of those available in the second hand market.

jtk

[Matthew N. Masail]

Ah...I detect a slight language/culture gap here A Dodo is an extinct bird, but we use the name idiomatically to refer to someone who's a bit dopey and slow. I figured hey, that's my kind of thread

L-O-L !! yeah... definitely a gap... oyy... my wife is American and it's crazy how much we miss communicate, as if marriage isn't challenging enough as it is. even though I'm originally from South Africa and my first language IS English.
But, I was stupid (in other words dopey) enough to cut myself on a sliding miter saw with a blade guard... so there's your thread. might be fun "stupidest woodworking accident you ever had".

P.S
I have good Lonny-ton about the dodo...

[Mark Roderick]

This might be totally inappropriate, but once you do a dozen of those by hand you might re-consider a router!

[Matthew N. Masail]

It's totally appropriate, and you may be right, but there is something so wonderful about hand tools, I feel 1000000 times more in control and actually involved with the work. I'd rather spend 700$ on joinery planes than the same on a router and bits (which is what it costs here).

[Jerome Hanby]

This might be totally inappropriate, but once you do a dozen of those by hand you might re-consider a router!

I'd like to point out that while I've thought this ever since this thread started, I wasn't the first to say it <g>.

[Jim Koepke]

This might be totally inappropriate, but once you do a dozen of those by hand you might re-consider a router!

I have done a lot by router and gave up on that a few years ago.

Hand tools make mistakes slower.

jtk

[Chris Griggs]

This might be totally inappropriate, but once you [cut off your] hand you might re-consider a router!

mwwwhahahahahahah

[James Carmichael]

Ah...I detect a slight language/culture gap here A Dodo is an extinct bird, but we use the name idiomatically to refer to someone who's a bit dopey and slow. I figured hey, that's my kind of thread

John,
The two should be mutually exclusive. Dodos should never cut dadoes:-)
I still fire up the tailed router for them.

[Joshua Clark]

Wooden dado planes are very easy to tune up and use. So long as they aren't warped there isn't much that can go wrong with them. They are the fastest way to cut a dado by far. They are also a lot of fun to use. Good, usable planes aren't terribly expensive and you only need a few sized for the work you do.

Videos of a couple of dado planes in use:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgdV4eHrXTE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXhdN1Vl_20

[Matthew N. Masail]

cool planes....