cheeks and shoulders

[Jeff Bartley]

Like many, I like to tune up my mortise and tenon joints by hand. Sometimes I cut the joints by hand, sometimes I use power tools. Fine tuning cheeks for me has meant using a piece of wood with course sandpaper taped to it......basically I cut the tenons and then sand to fit. For tuning shoulders I usually scribe a line with a knife and then carefully pare with a chisel. It works but I want to use hand planes for these tasks now. The Feb issue of Finewoodworking actually has an article to this effect discussing the various planes for this task.

So here's my list of candidates:
shoulder plane
rabbet block
jack rabbit (this was missing from the FW article)

Let's talk about what works for you and why. I have never owned any of these planes but here's my thoughts: the shoulder plane seems like the logical best choice, rabbet block seems really handy but might not work so well on shoulders, and then there's the jack rabbit........could this be the most versatile, or is it too large for this type of work? Please feel free to comment on any others not on my list as well as the different sizes. One more fyi: I do own and use a stanley #78 but I fine it's adjustments a bit course for the work I'm trying to do here. Thanks and Happy New Year!

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

shoulders I do with a sharp chisel - a knifed line gets perfect registration, and a few paring strokes and it's good. Cheeks I've been doing with a broad paring chisel or a coarse file, although for smaller work, having a router plane has been the godsend when something needs tuning. I've been trying to get things as close as possible off the saw - having to finesse every joint makes something take three times as long, it seems. That said, I'm not at the point with mortise and tenon where it works everytime on anything very large.

I've taken to just drawboring whenever I can get away with it. I don't try and use it as an excuse for sloppy work, but it's refreshing knowing that the piece will still be holding even if I have an imperfect glue joint.

[Prashun Patel]

Shoulder plane. It's taller and registers better, IMHO.

I will say, though, that as my chiseling skills improve, I find the chisel to be the best fine tuner for just about everything.

[Sean Hughto]

For cheeks, a router plane is a favorite of mine as it keep things parallel and the tenon centered. All the other tools you mention, plus a straight bench chisel, work fine too.

For shoulders, I've never found a reason to depart from the scribe with and knife and pare with a chisel method. It has always worked great and been quite simple.

[Chris Griggs]

For cheeks, a router plane is a favorite of mine as it keep things parallel and the tenon centered. All the other tools you mention, plus a straight bench chisel, work fine too.

For shoulders, I've never found a reason to depart from the scribe with and knife and pare with a chisel method. It has always worked great and been quite simple.

Yep. Router plane is IMHO the most excellent tool for cheeks. I do find a shoulder plane handy to have but a scribe line and slight undercut with a chisel make getting clean shoulders pretty easy. Get a router plane, it's still my favorite tool in the shop...

[Jeff Bartley]

A router plane! That makes good sense........now I can't believe it wasn't on my first list. And this is why I love this forum; good real-world advise. Between the big two (LN and LV) which router plane do you like?
Joshua---the draw-bore rules doesn't it! It was a watershed moment for me the first time I drove a draw-bore peg in and watched the joint close up tight......I've used them ever since.

[Sean Hughto]

I preferred LV's over the LN's initial offering due to the LN's open throat, but now that LN has a closed throat model, it's a pick-em.

[Chris Griggs]

I preferred LV's over the LN's initial offering due to the LN's open throat, but now that LN has a closed throat model, it's a pick-em.

Agreed! I'm sure you'll be happy with either, but I'm glad I have the LV. One big plus for the LV is that there are more blade options and they are less expensive and there is also an inlay tool addition if that's of interest for you someday. I guess I think the LV has a more versatile fence design as well. Obviously the LN is of equal quality and I hesitate to strongly recommend one over the other, but I honestly feel that the LV's additional options makes it a better pick. That's just my personal opinion, and obviously the LN would be a very nice option as well. If you go LN, I would definitely recommend the closed throat model.

[Sean Hughto]

I should add that LV's fence is better in that one can easily add a piece of wood to make it longer. This is not a consideration in using the plane for tenon cheeks, but is useful in other operations.

[Bob Warfield]

Depends on what size M/T your working with. I find I use a small router plane more often than not. Mine is an old Stanley but if I were to buy a new small one, it would definately be the LN version. As has been mentioned, use a sharp chisel to clean up the shoulders.
Thanks
Bob

[Jim Koepke]

Occasionally mine are done with the shoulder plane, but using a chisel and undercutting seems faster without the danger of blowing out the far edge.

One thing done on my M&T joints might be considered cheating. This is making a shallow socket around the mortise for the piece with the tenon to slip into. This hides any rough edges or misfits. This is usually less than 1/16" deep. It also works well with lap joints.

jtk

[Bob Warfield]

One thing done on my M&T joints might be considered cheating. This is making a shallow socket around the mortise for the piece with the tenon to slip into. This hides any rough edges or misfits. This is usually less than 1/16" deep. It also works well with lap joints.

jtk

Jim I understand what your doing with the tenoned piece but I don't understand what your doing with a lap joint?
Bob

[David Cockey]

Stanley 70 1/2 router plane with Lee Valley/Veritas blade.

[James Owen]

Like most of the others on this thread: router plane for the cheeks and a chisel for slightly undercutting the shoulders.....

[Stanley Covington]

A kiwa ganna (what are they called in English?), or other skewed plane works better than a shoulder plane in my experience because the blade is wider, the angle is lower, the skew helps it cut cross-grain cleaner (although there are skew shoulder planes), and the center of gravity and center of applied force is lower and more stable. Faster, cleaner, more control.

I am fond of shoulder planes, but for shaving tenon cheeks, there are better choices. If you need a router plane for tenon cheeks, I suspect you need to practice on your sawing skills, whether by hand or machine.

The LN skewed rabbet is great as well as their rabbet block. Since getting the rabbet block, I have found it extremely useful and seldom use any other block plane, besides the skew.

Stan