LN Dado Plane

[Kent A Bathurst]

FWIW - in an email converation with Deneb earlier this week, he mentioned that LN will be releasing a dado plane (Stanley 39 concept, but improved, of course) in "a couple months".

Don't spend all your money for Christmas.

The punch line - I wanted to do something with my #71 router plane that wasn't intuitively obvious to me, so I asked, and he promptly replied (as always). As part of that conversation, Deneb said that I would be very happy with the results from a pair of side rabbet planes and the new dado plane. My response - "Go figure, huh? Just a few more LN planes and my problems are solved. It's that kind of logic that got the first 10 planes into my shop."

[Jim Koepke]

FWIW - in an email converation with Deneb earlier this week, he mentioned that LN will be releasing a dado plane (Stanley 39 concept, but improved, of course) in "a couple months".

Don't spend all your money for Christmas.

The punch line - I wanted to do something with my #71 router plane that wasn't intuitively obvious to me, so I asked, and he promptly replied (as always). As part of that conversation, Deneb said that I would be very happy with the results from a pair of side rabbet planes and the new dado plane. My response - "Go figure, huh? Just a few more LN planes and my problems are solved. It's that kind of logic that got the first 10 planes into my shop."

A dedicated dado plane would likely be a nice tool to have, but the comment on the "pair of side rabbet planes" raises my suspicion that even a dedicated dado plane might not make smooth walls. Patrick Leach's comments on the #39 leads me to believe if set up properly it can make smooth cuts.

The side rabbets also come in handy when you want to make a dado just a few shavings wider.

The draw back to a #39 style dado plane is it only cuts one size. Of course, if one does a lot of dados of one size this is a good thing. For me, doing stopped dados may be easier with a chisel.

Just my 2¢,

jim

[Kent A Bathurst]

Jim - yeah, I agree - I shortened the conversation a lot - his answers were specific to the questions I had asked, and helpful, but that one was also partly tongue-in-cheek.

[Graham Hughes (CA)]

Having done several relatively recently, stopped dadoes are a gigantic pain in the ass. Chiseling them out works for short ones, and I found I preferred a stair saw for longer ones, but the #39-type planes' strength is really through dadoes, or at least really long stopped dadoes.

[Jim Koepke]

Having done several relatively recently, stopped dadoes are a gigantic pain in the ass.

And thinking of them as big mortises does not help one bit.

jim

[Pedro Reyes]

I have a few wooden dadoes, I think I could get away with having just one size around 1/4", for what I do now anyway.

I also have an old nice #79 (side rabbet) which can help make them wider, not sure anyone needs the flexibility of an adjustable dado if there were one.

I cut a stopped dado using chisels and saw, not as bad as I thought, I enjoyed most of it.

Just my $02

/p

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu274/pars73/116-1656_IMG.jpg

[Kent A Bathurst]

Having done several relatively recently, stopped dadoes are a gigantic pain in the ass. Chiseling them out works for short ones, and I found I preferred a stair saw for longer ones, but the #39-type planes' strength is really through dadoes, or at least really long stopped dadoes.

Gigantic - yep. Chiseling - also can be a PITA. Stair saw - I did not know there was such a thing until now, just looked it up. Cool. Source? Recommendation?

[Robert Rozaieski]

Dado planes can do more than just their stated size. They just can't do smaller than their stated size. FWIW, in Nicholson's "The Mechanic's Companion" the dado plane is specified as 3/8" wide. He does not mention that they come in several sizes, he only says 3/8". The premise is that you can cut dados from 3/8" wide and up using a single plane but makig multiple runs. You make the first 3/8" dado with the plane, then you move your batten and widen the dado by planing another dado adjacent to the first. Using this method, you can make an infinite number of dado widths 3/8" and wider simpy by continuing to move the batten. ;)

134829

[Graham Hughes (CA)]

It was more of a carpenter's tool than for fine cabinetmaking, I think. They're not always the most accurate beasts and were used a lot for making stair stringers. Mine's an old Disston, I know ECE sells a new one, and you can just make the things. Very very specialized, but very useful when you get to what they're good at.

[Jim Koepke]

I also have an old nice #79 (side rabbet) which can help make them wider, not sure anyone needs the flexibility of an adjustable dado if there were one.

I cut a stopped dado using chisels and saw, not as bad as I thought, I enjoyed most of it.

Just my $02

/p



For an adjustable dado, there are planes like the multi-planes, #45, 46, 50, 55 and many others.

I find it is easier to make knife scores across the grain than to try and get the nicker sharp and cutting just right. At least on the 45s and 55 of mine. The blade is just a little bit wider than the skate. Even if the nicker is doing its job, the blade is going to tear a little bit of the edge. A side rabbet comes in handy to clean up the edge a bit.

For dados, the #46 may be one of the best as it uses its blades skewed.

jim

[Andrew Homan]

[...] but the comment on the "pair of side rabbet planes" raises my suspicion that even a dedicated dado plane might not make smooth walls.

Jim, I've been thinking about this and I don't think that wall smoothness is the issue, but rather, fitting. The #39 is a fixes width, and when you are fitting hand thicknessed pieces into the dado, it is effective to begin with a fit that is too tight (determined by the thickness of the piece, the shelf for instance) and then make small adjustments to the dado's width, than it is to re-thickness the entire shelf.
An alternative to this is to fit the shelf by rabbetting it, but this yields a result with a different appearance, and still requires an additional tool.

[Kent A Bathurst]

It was more of a carpenter's tool than for fine cabinetmaking, I think. They're not always the most accurate beasts and were used a lot for making stair stringers. Mine's an old Disston, I know ECE sells a new one, and you can just make the things. Very very specialized, but very useful when you get to what they're good at.

Graham - thanks - I'd found that one, but couldn't find any other new makes. I'm not so sure I'd do well making one, but maybe easier than I think, if I could get a cheap used dovetail saw and cut it up. ECE not all that pricey, and I've certaily spent more money than that (wisely or not) on other very specialized tools, and I find myself doing stopped dados more frequently.