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?s on making a left-handed skew rebate

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?s on making a left-handed skew rebate

#1

?s on making a left-handed skew rebate

Dave Mount

>I've had the itch to try my hand at making a wooden molding plane for some time, and I've gathered the materials and have the Herrli (sp?) video, etc. But I already have some odds and ends in vintage H&R, and frankly, I'm not sure fleshing out a set of those is really going to give me much more than some planemaking experience, because I don't use H&R much at present (at which point Adam C says, "I told you so. . .").

However, a task that I'd really like to have a good plane for is shaving down tenon cheeks in final fitting. I know there are several different ways to skin this cat, including a router plane (which I have), a 140 (which I don't), or just a chisel; I've been using a 78 sans fence and stop. I like using a plane rather than a chisel because you can begin the cut at the near edge of the tenon and still have the tool registered to the work. However, having the iron at right angles and a wide mouth (the plane, I mean) can make for a kind of rough cut and encourages tearout at the far side.

I have a right-handed skew rebate woodie that I've partially rehabbed (read: it still chatters a little because of imperfect iron bedding). Although it is right-handed (as am I) when I use it to cut a rebate, it's a leftie when I trim tenon cheeks, which I usually do with a bench hook, holding the stock with my left hand and the plane with my right.

All this babble to say, it struck me that what I could do to align my plane-making itch and my actual needs is to make a left-handed skew rebate especially for trimming tenon cheeks.

So, my questions are: 1) am I right in thinking that a left-handed skew rebate would be a good tool for trimming tenon cheeks; and 2) if this plane is more or less dedicated to the specific task of trimming tenon cheeks, what would be the best bedding angle (or skew angle for that matter) to choose? Would dedicated use cross-grain change the choices relative to a regular rebate?

I know that a skewed iron plane is not the simplest place to start planemaking, but I ain't a scairt.

Thanks for any help,

Dave

Dave Mount

Northeastern MN

Re: ?s on making a left-handed skew rebate

#2

Re: ?s on making a left-handed skew rebate

Paul in NJ

>Dave,

why not just use the tradional angles for a skew rabbet. I measured a couple of mine and the bed angles were 45 and 50 degrees while the skew was 65 degrees. Most rabbets I have seen have a more open mouth so that you can take a ranker cut. Unless your are doing through tenons a little break-out on the far side won't matter.

Paul Dzioba

Re: ?s on making a left-handed skew rebate

#3

Ideas from the Stanley #140 skew block (PIC)

Derek Cohen (in Perth Australia)

>For the past couple of years I have used a Stanley #140 to trim tenon faces. After a tune up (in standard form it really is very mediocre) it cut as well as the LN. The details of this process are in the Articles section here. It has since been my preferred method for trimming tenon faces, which is reinforced every time I get lazy and grab a shoulder plane or wide chisel. Although you are considering making a skew plane rather than buying the #140, my experience may help you make a decision about skew direction.

A while back I was thinking of buying the LN #140. To use the Stanley I would have to clamp the board with the tenon facing left. Like so:



This just did not seem right. I am right-handed and my instinct is to plane with just my right hand (i.e. one-handed) with a plane as small as this block plane. This is where the misunderstanding about handedness occures when using this skew bladed plane.

The #140 needs to be held in a two-handed grip. That knob at the front is not decoration! This aids in keeping the plane flat on the tenon face (or purposely angled if you need to square it up). Planing across the grain requires a little more force than planing with the grain. It is very easy to plane at the wrong angle. DAMHIK!

If I were to plane one-handed, then holding the board with my left hand and planing from the right side would be the natural way. Let's assume that I had gone out and purchased the "right-handed" LN #140 (skew of blade points to the left) and I tried to use it this way, I now suspect what would happpen would be (1) I would want to revert to a two-handed grip, and (2) this would not work from the right side since, if I planed with my left hand on the front knob (natural position), I would be pushing the plane away from the tenon shoulder rather than towards it as desired. In other words, the left-angled skew is the left-handed plane.

So I came to realise that the standard Stanley #140 is designed for right handers.

Hope this helps.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: ?s on making a left-handed skew rebate

#4

Re: ?s on making a left-handed skew rebate

Dave Mount

>Thanks for the response Paul. Copying the RH skew I have is what I'd do absent any other input. I was just wondering if the typical geometry was driven in part by the need to cut along the long grain, as many rebates are, and if a different pitch and skew would be better for work exclusively cross-grain. Perhaps not.

Best,

Dave

Re: ?s on making a left-handed skew rebate

#5

Re: Ideas from the Stanley #140 skew block (PIC)

Dave Mount

>Thanks for the response Derek -- you bring up some things I hadn't considered. As I said, I've been using a 78 with one hand (right) holding the stock on a bench hook with my left. I was assuming I'd use a left hand skew rebate woodie with one hand also. I might be getting the LH/RH stuff confused here. I'm calling a RH skew where the forward part of the skew is on the right of the plane, so that the skew would pull the plane into the stock when running a rebate working from right to left (or shaving a tenon on the left).

Since I have a skew rebate with the same skew as your 140, perhaps I should experiment with putting the pieces in the vice and working with the tenon on the left as your picture shows.

Thanks again,

Dave

Re: ?s on making a left-handed skew rebate

#6

Re: breakout on the back side

Dave Mount

>Paul--

I forgot to mention the breakout issue. I agree with you for a fully housed tenon. I do a lot of frame and panel stuff with haunched tenons, and that's the situation where the breakout creates a problem, on the haunch that shows. I guess I could just build with slightly over width stock and trim it afterward.

Thanks again,

Dave

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