Let's say you want to put a 1/4" wide slot in a small piece of wood, parallel to the edge, 1/4" deep, starting about 1/4" from the edge. What's the best hand tool to use?
I guess you could call the cut a dado, but it's pretty narrow.
I can do this pretty easily with a router table or a table saw, although the table saw won't put a really flat bottom in the cut. I assume there has to be a good way to do it with hand tools, since people cut a lot of slots.
I thought about a router plane, but they don't appear to be made to work well near the edges of things. Most of one side of the plane would hang off the wood. I guess you could fix that by clamping another piece of wood down beside it.