Shopmade sliding dovetail plane
Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)
>Dear friends
A few weeks ago I said I wanted to built a plane to cut sliding dovetails, and I received some valuable advice from the forum. Here is the result.
It started life as a very worn out skew rabbet plane - huge mouth, twisted body, rustly blade.
I added a new sole and reshaped the mouth, closing it up somewhat but leaving it open by 2mm. This enables the plane to take good shavings and not become clogged. The sole has been angled (1:6) to cut into the shoulder of the dovetail. The blade is still skewed, but this is less noticeable now. The leading edge of the skew blade cuts the outside first (as per Steve's instruction).
I have been cutting sliding dovetails with a backsaw, a 1:6 guide I built, a chisel and a router plane to date (in fact, this dovetail plane was really just to clean up the dovetails that had been shaped with a chisel). I have continued to cut the shoulders with a saw (for reasons below).
At this stage the plane is "nickerless". I have the blade of a short 1/4" bevel chisel I can use. Do I fit it bevel down (so that it cuts like a bevel down plane), or bevel down towards the plane (so that the flat back of the blade is flush with the outside of the plane)?
With a nicker in place, can I expect to cut clean shoulders sans marking out?
Regards from Perth
Derek
