Plow Plane?

[John Powers]

Making kitchen cabinet doors. Mostly hand work but cutting groove for plywood panel with.....a dado blade. I know.....shoot me. Upon seeing Peter Tremblay's recent post I'm up for cutting that groove by hand. What do I use? Is that what a plow plane is for? I see wooden ones on Ebay. Got 10 more to go. thanks

[Wallis Hampson]

Not sure how wide of a groove your talking about but i assume in the 1/4'' range. I recently purchased a Veritas Plow plane and cutters primarily for drawer bottom grooves and could not be happier. Wonderful tool that does a great job.

[Chris Friesen]

A plow would certainly do it, but it's not nearly as fast as a tablesaw. For a production run I'd be tempted to use the power tools.

[David Keller NC]

John - a plow plane is a good tool for this application (so's a tablesaw!), but beware woodies on e-bay. There are some good ones, but a fair number of not so good ones on the 'bay. One issue is that most plows got separated from their original set of irons. Most iron sets will fit most manufactured, 19th century wooden plow planes, but it's also possible that you may have to do some fitting.

Another choice for plowing out those grooves is the grooving plane from a matched tongue and groove set. These planes have fixed fence distances, so you'll have to find a pair that's the appropriate size for your stock. Generally, things were measured by increments of 1/8" in the 19th century, so 7/8 T&G sets are common (7/8" was typically used for floorboards), so are 4/8 (1/2"), 3/8", etc... 3/4" T&G sets are not so common.

Another solution that may be more readily available if you don't go the "new" route is the Stanley #45 combination plane. You can typically pick one of these up with all of its blades and parts for about $150, and a reprinted instruction book is available.

[John Powers]

just knocked another two doors out while waiting for response. I'm giving into temptation and guess I'll stick with the dado.

[Graham Hughes (CA)]

As very much into hand tools as I am, if you are making a lot of the same thing, that's what power tools are for.

[Tony Zaffuto]

I got a Record 43 and one of my Stanley 45's always with a 1/4" cutter in it. Record is set for drawer bottoms, with the fence set for 1/4" in to the groove. The Stanley 45 has much easier to set spacing, with the micro adjuster on the fence and really makes for a great plane for grooves.

T.Z.