Handwork: Three Ways to Cut a Rabbet Joint
The rabbet joint is a useful joint to know. Here, hand-tool expert Vic Tesolin shows three ways to cut one by hand—with a rabbet plane, with a shoulder plane, and with a chisel and router plane.
Although not as glamorous as the dovetail nor as robust as the mortise-and-tenon, the rabbet joint is just as useful. It shows up in casework as a place to put a frame-and-panel back, and is a popular way to fit a drawer bottom into its grooves. So it’s a good joint to learn. In my shop, where I depend on hand tools to cut all joinery, I’ve employed three approaches to cut rabbets. For through-rabbets, I go with my rabbet plane; before I had it, I used a shoulder plane. For a stopped rabbet you can’t use either plane, but a chisel and router plane get the job done. I’ll show you all these methods.
Rabbet plane: The rabbet plane originally looked a lot like a shoulder plane, but has evolved into a tool even better suited for cutting a rabbet. Rabbet planes now have fences…
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Comments
Hi Vic
Good to see you getting some mileage from the router plane!
I have another method of making a stopped rebate (Rabbet .. ugh!). This involves an azebiki saw, and then cleaning up with a cutting gauge.
The other issue is that the panel (in the link below) is dovetailed and creating a stopped rebate would weaken the dovetails. Therefore, cut the stopped rebate about 50mm short to protect the tails. The rebate can be completed with a chisel once the sides are glued together (which will reinforce and protect the tail).
Link: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/ApothecaryChestWeekendThree.html
Regards from Perth
Derek
Derek Cohen
If you are marking the rabbet with the marking gauge, you can set up the rabbet plane off the marking gauge. After striking the width line, set the fence on the plane. After striking the depth line, set the depth stop on the plane.
When using a shoulder plane, you can use a board with a nice jointed edge as a fence on the rabbet line. You can run a knife line along the fence first and then just have at it with the plane without worrying about being square. I would then put the shoulder plane on its side and clean the shoulder with a couple of passes, as necessary. The Veritas shoulder plane have a really nice set screw adjuster that allows you to tilt the blade ever so slightly to undercut the shoulder a tiny bit to ensure you get any cruft out of there for a nice clean should line.
When using a chisel, be very cognizant of the shoulder and base lines, depending on visibility. It's really easy to splinter across your lines when working parallel to the grain. Scribe a nice deep line first.
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