# Problems with skewed rabbet



## superdav721 (Aug 16, 2010)

Guys I am having problems getting constant results with my wooden skewed rabbet planes. I am getting stair steps up the wall of the rabbet or my bottom is not flat. Any techniques or tips to the operation of the idiot behind the plane?
I have a one inch skewed and a skewed jack with knickers.
I think it is the setup or position of the iron.


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

I use a minimum setting on the blade. Is your blade square with the sole? Make it easier to cut and don't have any tear out issues. I'd rather take a bit more time than have to deal with planing probs.
Bill


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

I´m sure I have the right R/c control for the shovel behind the stearing wheel 
but I´m not sure it will help you here 

it doesn´t matter if its a rabbetplane or a shuolder plane you need to handle it 
correct … yes ..  and you have to set the iron fluss with the site or a thou out to the side that will
run along the wall of the rabbet if not you will get stairs 
and the plane need to be plomp and level when you make shaves

Dennis


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

When my rebates go bad, it's usually a nicker problem for me. It's not very galoot, but sometimes I'll pre-score the rebate before planing. Once I get down about 1/8 inch or so, I'll score again. The nice thing about it is that when you're done, you can deny you did this


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## superdav721 (Aug 16, 2010)

Bill will set for a minimal pass and check for squareness.
Dennis what you are saying Is it needs to be flush and square with the side and bottom of plane?
Bertha you made me laugh thanks much needed today.


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

Buy a #79 to clean them up, perhaps?

heh heh heh


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## superdav721 (Aug 16, 2010)

Oh Smitty that was wrong. Heck I got a table saw. Wheres the fun in that. 
New tool, new set of skills to operate the blasted thing.


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## superdav721 (Aug 16, 2010)

cr1 throat opening is not adjustable. I can only make it larger and that's permanent.
But depth of cut and squareness looks to be a lot of my problems.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

They are really a pain to get right. Your setup of the plane has to be
within tolerances that are hard to describe, your workpiece has to 
be held right, and your technique has to be correct. The grain direction
can make you a bit crazy too.

I found during the period when I fussed a lot with trying to do this
stuff with planes I found that I could hack out the rabbet roughly 
with the rabbet plane and then I would use a pair of L-N side rabbet
planes to clean up the mess I made.


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## superdav721 (Aug 16, 2010)

Loren thank you. Its the setup and technique that has me baffled. Like do you sharpen the side of the iron? If so what does that do to the placement of the blade?


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

Sorry…. I mis-read the title…. I thought we were going to have a recipe for a bunny in a pot.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Well, I sold my 289 and no. 46 so I'm out of the business of fussing
with skew rabbet planes, but as I recall you want the corner of the iron
protrubing out the side by maybe 1/64-128th of an inch. Just a hair. 
Then, if you're using the nickers, you want them set just a tad deeper
than the blade and you want the corner of that angled iron to split
the line the nicker carves… as I recall. Garrett Hack's book on hand
planes may have some advice on setting up skew rabbet planes.

You also have to set the iron so it is parallel to the face of the plane, 
and that means a real attentive approach to grinding and honing
because the amount of play in the angles you can get away with 
that keep the edge parallel and the corner sticking out just right
is minimal - maybe 1 degree each way or something. If some bozo
messed up the angle before you got the plane, you'll have to 
regrind the iron to the proper angle.

You don't cut the shoulder with the side of the plane, you cut
it with that acute angle on the corner of the iron. You *do*
however need to use the edge of the plane to register the cut
as you deepen the rabbet, and there's a feeling of pushing the 
corner of the iron into the shoulder sideways. Add to that
you have to keep the sole close to parallel to the face of the 
board and apply enough downward pressure consistently to
take a cut of uniform depth.


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

Loren said it much much better than I can 
its a pain in the A… to set skewed plane up but its not a dado plane so 
you don´t need the spurs to score with unless you want to make a rabbet a cross some panels 
and then you are better with a fillister in your hands

Dennis


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## superdav721 (Aug 16, 2010)

Dallas now that was down right* funny.*
Loren thank you. Thats the kind of information that I was looking for. Thanks for the book, I will give it a read.
Dennis I know its a pain that's why I asked you guys for help. It's a skill set that I would like to learn.
If I master the skew then the fillister will be a brease to use.
Thank you guys for your input.
rabbit fer dinner anyone?


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

Dave you can benefit from adding a board were the edge is jointet flat 
and use it as a fence to hold your skew plump and straight on the line 
just like if you wuold make a dado with your shoulderplane in the mittle of a panel

Dennis


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

Loren, those are two planes on my short list.


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## superdav721 (Aug 16, 2010)

Dennis great idea.
Bertha is the short list good or bad?


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## djohnson2061 (Aug 31, 2011)

I had trouble with the rabbet sloping downward using my metal-bodied plane. Chris Schwarz suggested in one of his blog posts to push the plane with an open hand-just use your palm and do not wrap your fingers around the handle. This helps prevent you from pushing the plane left or right. It seemed to help, although I needed to check my progress periodically and fine tune at the end with a shoulder plane set for a very light cut. I realize that your plane is wooden, but perhaps you could experiment with how you are positioning your hand at the rear of the plane.

Derek


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## superdav721 (Aug 16, 2010)

Great tip Derek. Stance and technique are 75 percent of the task. Good technique even with a cheap tool can produce. Thank you I will try that.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Al, the 46 and 289 were both great fun to own and tune up
but I just didn't use them in the work I was doing when I had 
them and I found that they were only fun to use in working
softwoods. In firmer hardwoods working with those planes was
just hard work and the results were not clean. You dream 
of whipping out the plane and making a groove or rabbet in
a few happy strokes, but it's not that easy in my experience. I
found it easier to rough out grooves and rabbets on a table
saw and clean them up with chisels. I have some Buck Bros
dog leg paring chisels that works great for that stuff, and some
Crown skew chisels for the rough spots where the grain goes
odd.

I had a 10 1/4 too and I really liked that one. I could get
some muscle into the cuts with it and it had a balanced
feel.

I kept my pair of side-rabbet planes though - I find those
vital for furniture work.


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