Building a much needed traditional rabbet plane, suggestions please

[Tony Shea]

So I am finally going to build myself a rabbet plane, something I am serious need of for making better use of the few hollow and rounds I've made.

My first issue is deciding on what size to make the plane. I can't decide on 3/4" or 1" wide. Or is there another size that I should consider for my first rabbet plane?

Next thing I would like to know is whether someone here has gone through the process of making one of these or not? I would love a little advise on the mortise and the bed as it seems a bit more difficult than a traditional hollow and round plane. I might be over thinking this plane but just would love to see what others here think about it.

I am pretty sure I have decided on bedding the iron straight on rather than a skewed configuration as I feel it would be easier to control in use but am up for others opinions.

I might as well throw in a little gloat on some wonderful QS Beech that I have finally acquired. I got a few 16/4 by 4.5"wide sticks that is just clear as can be from Horizon. I have to thank David W. for this advise on where to look for this stuff as it is harder to get a hold of than diamonds and almost as expensive. But I am extremely happy with the quality of it and can't wait to slowly build up my tool box full of traditional hand planes. I will post pics of the wood haul when I get around to it, time has been very short lately.

Any good links, information, advise, and most importantly some pictures of making this plane would be greatly appreciated.

[steven c newman]

You might want to check one I made awhile back
IMAG0051.jpg
Uses a 1" wide iron. The iron came from a Cheapo H-F Skew lathe chisel. Wood I had on hand was QSWO.
IMAG0055.jpg

I added a front knob later. Doesn't do too bad a job, for having no nicker
Finished top rail.jpg
Idea came from watching a two-part video by GE Hong.

BTW: this IS a SKEWED Rebate plane. Mainly done with saws. A few chisels as needed, but nothing fancy in the way of tools needed.

[David Weaver]

I think skewed is more useful, but I wouldn't build that as a first plane. I haven't built a side escapement skewed plane, just the panel raiser where I had plenty of room to use chisels into the corners. I would think that if you built a skewed side escapement or rabbet type plane, whatever you'd call the design, you would need to have an edge float cut to the skew.

The more difficult part is making an escapement on the side that looks decent like it does in an old plane. If you have larry's video and have his guide for making angle blocks, etc, then I'd just use those on both sides of the bed and cut in at an angle and then put the plane in a vise and finish the cut. Shouldn't be too bad.

[Warren Mickley]

I would suggest a square mouth plane. A skew rabbet is nice because the skewed iron pulls the plane into the shoulder of the work, so it is a little more stable. However when going the opposite direction it pushes away from the work, not really usable. So a square mouth can be used from both sides which is occasionally helpful. The square rabbet is also easier to make and easier to maintain with sharpening. One plan might be to make a 3/4 inch square and later a 1 1/4 skew.

One thing that is not always obvious from pictures is the shaping of the end of the wedge. The wedge is the first thing a shaving hits after the iron and it is shaped to both curl the shaving and ease it out to the right. Understanding this will help you shape the wedge better than just copying a picture.

[Kees Heiden]

Google for caleb james rabbet plane. He has drawings, videos and information on how to make and use them.

[Kees Heiden]

The drawing from Caleb's website isn't really clear about the wedge and the conical escapement. But when I look at these pictures from his plane:
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/76529, then I'd say that his wedge tapers down to a straight line. His conical escapement is conical mostly from one side. So the wedge pushes the shaving straight up, and then it gets deflected to the side by the roof of the escapement.

I had a look at my rabet planes and they look different. The wedge comes down to a point. And the escapement is conical from both sides. So the shaving gets deflected to the side by the wedge and this effect is strengthened by the conical escapement. Wheater it goes right or left seems to be left to chance. Mine aren't so old though and they lack the elegantness of James 18th century design.

foto 1 (6).jpg

And then I have a rather modern one. It has the flat ending wedge and the escpament is not really conical but rounded over with a router bit. The escapement is huge though and despite its less then ideal design it works fine, and I use it a lot.

foto 2 (6).jpg

Most of my rabbet planes are 1 1/4". I have one narrower at 7/8". If you don't need one for narrow dado's (for which a router plane is better suited) the width doesn't matter too much.

[Bill Rhodus]

I have skewed and straight and both have their advantages. If I were going to use the rabbet with the h&r planes I would want a straight iron. Straight is easier to use without a guide and speeds up the process. The corner of the straight plane can be placed in a cut line from a marker much easier than a skewed. There is a good video illustrating this on BigPink.com

[Tony Shea]

Thanks guys.

So one more question which is unrelated to the rabbet plane. But where on earth can I buy just a single iron tapered plane blade that is 7" + in length? I know LV is selling their tapered plane blanks but they just are a little short for my taste. I may just order their blade to try out on a traditional single iron jack plane but would rather find a good source for a longer blade.

[David Weaver]

ebay.

Gandmtoolsales from the UK. There are several sellers who come across NOS wWII era or earlier stuff from the UK that is tapered and proper length.

My experience with most of the NOS stuff is it's very similar to modern oil hardening irons (i.e., it's completely modern process stuff that looks traditional).

[David Weaver]

By the way, I'm assuming you're talking about taper irons to make a bench plane or something, and not a rabbet iron with a thin tang, as making one out of a full sized iron would be a real bear.

You can find a lot of irons otherwise by searching "taper plane iron" on ebay. The English sellers will differentiate between taper plane irons (for wood planes) and parallel irons (for infills), because they know the difference. Most of what gets posted in the US is just flea market flip stuff and could be labeled anything. "plane cutter" or "planer cutter" or whatever someone guesses at the time of posting.

The english were still making tapered irons in volume at least up until about WWII (marples was making them after that), and thus they know what such things are and they took some pride in their appearance.

[Ryan Baker]

Vintage tapered irons are great if you can find them. They don't exactly grow on trees. However, it is definitely not necessary to have an old tapered iron in order to make a plane that functions well.

For some other options, the Lie-Nielsen irons are tapered and about the right length. That would be an easy place to check. It's also not too hard to make an iron yourself, and then you can choose whether to taper it or not. A blank like that can be tapered pretty quickly on a belt sander.

[Chuck Hart]

Here is a set of plans and a web site you might like

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2xoltep7wl...%3A25%3A13.pdf

[Jim Matthews]

I use a 3/4" shoulder plane to make most of my rabbets.

It doubles to size dados that are too snug
(mostly shelves) - most of my stock is 3/4" when dressed.

You'll rarely use more than a third of a rabbet plane,
if you're making moldings, why wrestle with more
than necessary?

I believe Matt Bickford sources his tapered irons from
Lie Nielsen as they have reliable edge holding steel.

It would be a shame to extend so much effort
for a plane that you can't keep sharp.

[Paul Saffold]

Bill Rhodes,
Will you post the link at BigPink? I'm not having any luck finding it.
Thanks,
Paul

I have skewed and straight and both have their advantages. If I were going to use the rabbet with the h&r planes I would want a straight iron. Straight is easier to use without a guide and speeds up the process. The corner of the straight plane can be placed in a cut line from a marker much easier than a skewed. There is a good video illustrating this on BigPink.com

[David Weaver]

I use a 3/4" shoulder plane to make most of my rabbets.

It doubles to size dados that are too snug
(mostly shelves) - most of my stock is 3/4" when dressed.

You'll rarely use more than a third of a rabbet plane,
if you're making moldings, why wrestle with more
than necessary?

I believe Matt Bickford sources his tapered irons from
Lie Nielsen as they have reliable edge holding steel.

It would be a shame to extend so much effort
for a plane that you can't keep sharp.

I don't think there's much difference between industrial supply steel and what LN uses. Their virtue is that the irons are cut and tapered already, but you still have to harden them. I think if someone is going to pay the cost for LN irons, it's a labor or skill issue, but not in the hardening department. All off the O1 steel that I get from mcmaster carr (who has good prices on steel, but sometimes not other metals) is starrett. I probably would avoid getting hand marked steel on ebay, but it's not necessary to do that for cost purposes, anyway.

I'm not sure if matt hasn't experimented with much, or if maybe he bought from a source that gave him mislabeled metal (like a reseller on ebay), but it's an odd comment for him to make because there is very little difference in O1 stock. I've gotten other than starrett steel from industrial suppliers, and I can't tell the difference between any of them. I'm a loyal buyer of mcmaster, though, because I get an order in a day with a very low ship charge (because I'm close to them), otherwise I'd really just prefer any reputable source that had factory labeled steel so I knew someone wouldn't sell me junk.

For what Matt and Larry charge, it's probably not worth their time to make blades when a tapered iron blank is about 20 bucks. It costs me probably $5 in steel to make a similar blank, but to make it and taper it and grind it to size costs me maybe an extra half hour (the lie nielsen iron blanks are cut oversize, so you still have to do some grinding and filing to get them to fit the plane you're making). Of course, if you're going to use a belt sander to taper an iron, you have to have a belt sander.

At any rate, the trouble if an iron doesn't hold an edge is dependent on the person who does the hardening and tempering and not necessarily the source, and if someone is making the choice between making an iron or buying a blank from LN, they should assume there will be no difference in the quality of the steel vs. O1 bought from any organized industrial supply.

I do think that what everyone should assume, though, is that if they don't want to try to taper the iron, they should buy from someone who does. Even an iron that was tapered slightly with a belt sander works fabulously, but when it's not tapered at all, I have to resort to removing the wedge via placing the finial on the edge of the bench and I don't like to do that.

(I don't buy decarb free or anything special - just precision ground flat stock, the cheapest of the stuff that Mcmaster has. I don't know what decarb free stock is critical form, maybe for diemakers?)