Half-Lap joint exactness

[Steven Mikes]

I am attempting to make a pair of winding sticks. Following ideas I've seen online, they are just beech sticks with a little walnut inset on each side.
I cut a piece of the beech out from each end in the same way as a half-lap joint and set the walnut in.
I finished one stick so far but the precision of the mating wood surfaces does not satisfy me. I did not manage to get them perfectly straight and square.
My question is, what is the right way to do it? I used a shooting board to get the walnut piece nice and square with straight sides, but the half-lap cut into the beech is the trouble.
I have a rabbet plane that I tried using, but the stick is only about 2" wide and I didn't feel like that was enough surface to register the plane against. I also tore out some wood when planing across the grain, after that I tried coming in from the outside edges only but it's hard to get it perfectly flat like that. Is there a tool that I'm missing, or do I just need to get better with a chisel?

[lowell holmes]

Maybe pare with a chisel?

[Mike Baker 2]

For end grain, clamp a small block of wood against the far edge to support the wood fibers so you don't get blowout, and plane straight across... with a sharp, sharp iron.
MHO.

[Rick Malakoff]

Paul Sellers has a good tutorial on YouTube, his is the one I used to make mine. I'm not posting any pics until their finished, but check him out.
Rick

[Pat Barry]

Not sure exactly from the description what the problem is. Maybe a picture would help. Are you trying to get the glued together pieces to be a perfect fit or are you still planning to plane the surfaces flat and true after assembly. I hope its the latter, because otherwise I think you are asking too much of your cutting, and paring, etc.

[Chuck Nickerson]

You can make the winding stick wider and cut a full width dado for full plane registration.
After the dado is cut to satisfaction, plane the edge of the stick to the desired width.

[Steven Mikes]

Here's a picture to show what I mean. I am referring to the two contact surfaces that are glued.IMG_20170814_181916416.jpgIMG_20170814_181916416.jpg

[David Eisenhauer]

I believe you answered your own question. This is similar to cleaning up one side of a tennon prior to trial fit up in a mortise and more practice with a chisel will help. Using a squared-across knife line on your beech to pare the shoulder down to the cheek and checking for plumb on the shoulder with a small square all help. You can use a chisel, a router plane (my most accurate option, albeit slower than other methods), a shoulder plane, a rasp or float and maybe a block plane to flatten/thickness the cheek. Practice and sharp tools (as always with 99% of woodworking tasks) will see you through.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

First, they look nice. I have thought of making my own, then I would own a pretty pair like you have.

I feel like I am missing something. If I did this, I would cut them a wee bit over size and then clean it up to be flush (hand plane, sand paper, etc....) I simply cannot do perfect, so I don't try.

I vaguely remember looking at a recent post about building a door. I noted that after initial assembly, the bottom rail and style were not perfectly flush.... and then a saw was used to make it perfect.

Even if I did a perfect job of cutting, I expect things to go wrong the moment I add glue and clamp.

[Rick Malakoff]

Steven, your sticks look real good but sometimes the wood will not cooperate with your plan as you can see what happened when making mine.
IMG_2913[1].jpg
I cut the dove tails first out of some Birch then transferred them to the Jarrah.
IMG_2915[1].jpg
This is the first one I did and got a little tare out.
IMG_2914[1].jpg
The left one came out much better and the wood behaved. Also I left the Birch proud and planed flush.

[Steven Mikes]

Hmm thanks everyone, maybe I'm expecting too much? If you look closely at my picture you can see very small gaps, particularly near the corners. I was hoping to get the surfaces perfectly flat so there would be a perfect seam between. Would a shoulder plane help? I only have an E.C.E. rabbet plane at the moment.

[Rick Malakoff]

Inside or outside corner?

[lowell holmes]

Working wood is an activity where imperfections are going to happen. Get a small hand plane, sharpen it, and plane translucent shavings until it looks right to you.
When you look back at them, you will never see the imperfection, and if you do, it will not matter. It happens to all of us.
If it really bothers you, fill the gaps with sawdust and glue , then smooth it. Be warned, if you do you will still see the imperfection. A year from now, you will look
at it and never see it, if you do, it will not matter. Don't ask me how I know.

Lovely winding sticks, be proud of them. You are something of a show off.

[David Eisenhauer]

As I stated above, a router plane is my best tool for perfectly flattening and ensuring coplanarity (is that a word?) the tenon cheek or your horizontal half lap surface. I use a chisel to work the shoulder on small shoulders such as you show.