shop made fence for panel raising with hand planes?

[Glenn Lewis]

hey guys. i did some hand raised panels this evening for a prototype of a cabinet i'll be building a little later. the plan was for what i consider to be "old style" raised panels, in which the raised portion faces in, strictly serving to fit the panel into the groove in the stiles and rails and not as a cosmetic feature visible to the casual observer. from the outside it appears to be a flat panel.

i was pretty happy with the results, just freehanding with a #4 for the long grain and block plane for the end grain. it came out well enough that i got to thinking, if i just had a little more guidance (ie. a fence) to keep my hand steady and straight, i might wind up with appearance-grade raised panels, if still with a little hand-made charm.

i have a couple simple ideas in my head, but figured there's a lot of knowledge on here so i'll throw it out there and see what you guys can suggest. thanks!

Glenn

[harry strasil]

old timers resawed thinner pieces for drawer bottoms and planed the edges at a taper to fit a groove to save the time of thicknesssing, they used a mullet to gauge thickness.

my Mullets

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/mullets.jpg

[Jim Koepke]

hey guys. i did some hand raised panels this evening for a prototype of a cabinet i'll be building a little later. the plan was for what i consider to be "old style" raised panels, in which the raised portion faces in, strictly serving to fit the panel into the groove in the stiles and rails and not as a cosmetic feature visible to the casual observer. from the outside it appears to be a flat panel.

i was pretty happy with the results, just freehanding with a #4 for the long grain and block plane for the end grain. it came out well enough that i got to thinking, if i just had a little more guidance (ie. a fence) to keep my hand steady and straight, i might wind up with appearance-grade raised panels, if still with a little hand-made charm.

i have a couple simple ideas in my head, but figured there's a lot of knowledge on here so i'll throw it out there and see what you guys can suggest. thanks!

Glenn

I have bought some wooden rabbet planes with the idea of turning them into panel raising planes and dove tail planes.

jim

[Eric Brown]

Clamp some boards along the edge as a guide. Another possible solution would be to use a fence like the Stanley adjustable or the Veritas magnetic and then attach a filler to bring the plane out where you want it.
To get around the problem of the mouth keeping you out of the corners, use a rabbet plane with the fence. Shoulder planes could also be used with a board guide.

Eric

[Robert Rozaieski]

Glen,

You can do raised and fielded panels with just an unfenced rabbet plane. Clamp a batten to the board to define the field.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2043/2467793860_349fe3ac2a.jpg?v=0

Ride the rabbet plane against the batten to create a rabbet around the entire board.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3019/2467793866_948abd672e.jpg?v=0

Then freehand the bevels keeping an eye on the corners where the bevels meet. They should meet in a straight line from the corner of the field to the corner of the panel (this one wasn't done yet in this pic).
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2170/2467001551_dc7bdf5933.jpg?v=0

If you want to get fancy you can carve a tombstone in the top with just a wide chisel and one carving gouge.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=104914&d=1230406576

[Glenn Lewis]

thanks, guys. as usual, i've found what i was looking for here. I like the idea of the mullets to check thicknes... never heard of those before, except for the haircut and fish of the same name!

as for the batten method, I was picturing that but with an angle ripped into the batten to guide the plane not only straight, but also along the desired bevel angle. Think that would work?

thanks again...

Glenn

[Robert Rozaieski]

as for the batten method, I was picturing that but with an angle ripped into the batten to guide the plane not only straight, but also along the desired bevel angle. Think that would work?

thanks again...

Glenn

Maybe but the batten would need to be awful thick to register on the plane at the beginning of the cut. Honestly, it's really not necessary. The angle doesn't need to be perfect as it can be adjusted easily as you progress. It's not as hard as it sounds and any minor differences in bevel angle won't be noticable. The most important spots to pay attention to are the corners where two bevels meet.

[Mark Roderick]

That is a fantastic post! I am just about to do my first raised panel (for the top of a jewelry box) using hand planes, and I was wondering how to get the crisp line. The shoulder plane will work perfectly.

[David Keller NC]

Glenn - While you can make raised panels with a lot of different planes that have irons all the way to the edge (like a rabbet, a badger, a bench rabbet, and a panel raiser), it might be worth your while to buy an antique panel raiser and tune it up. Compared to metal bench planes from LV & LN, they're not terribly expensive, and oh-so-useful to the neanderthal.

Here is one example:

http://www.thebestthings.com/oldtools/graphics/wp90215.jpg

Some of them even have a built-in "kink" in the profile so that it not only profiles the bevel, it also flattens the bevel out in the last 1/4" or so to form a tongue. Personally, I don't find making tonges at the bottom of the slope of the panel necessary nor useful, but a lot of other WWs would disagree.

If you can find one, a "badger" bench plane would be a good candidate for making into a panel raiser with the addition of a shop-made fence and a depth stop (no nicker required)