I just thought I new how to use this.

[Josh Bowman]

I have a couple of Stanley 70 router planes. After I got them I played with them by using a saw and cutting the sides of a dado, then hogging the wasted out with the router plane.
Last night I got serious and wanted to use them for a project that has a blind dado. Do you have to cut the kerf with a saw or is there a way to use them that I dhttp://www.idareds.com/catalog/pictures/tools/nov16-2008/DSCN0025.JPGon't know about?

[Steve Dallas]

Chisel the stopped end of the dado almost to depth. Saw the dado walls - you do have to use a short, jabby stroke for this. You could knife, chop, and pare the dado walls. Excavate the dado evenly, and fairly close to depth with a chisel. Use the router plane to FINISH the dado to design depth all the way to the stopped end, being careful as you approach the stopped end with the plane so as not to bruise the end. A router plane is not a "hogging" tool IMO. It finishes excavations to a smooth even depth. Learn to wield a chisel!

Why do you have two of the same router plane?

[george wilson]

True:saw or otherwise cut down the edges of whatever you want to rout. Remove most of the material from the cavity(could be an inlay job). Get the router very sharp. Pare away thin layers,like you would do with a plane. After all,the router is sort of a plane,and you aren't going to try to plane 1/8" in a single pass.

If you go to the Neander FAQ section,and look up the lion's head violin neck I made,you will see relief carving on the sides and back of the neck's peghead. The relief was done with a little router plane I made of wood,with a 1/32" wide cutter honed very sharp. It was all done in curly maple,so was easy to chip. The router had to be used in different directions to not chip the maple. It left a very smooth,flawless finish from many thin,over lapping passes.

I would never have had access to these areas with a Dremel type router. Too close to the scroll,and curving surface on the back. There are times when this simple tool is indispensable.

[Eric Brown]

When cutting stopped dados with a handsaw, sometimes it helps to drill a flat-bottemed hole at the stopped end for saw clearance. Clean up the round hole with a chisel.

Another way is to chop a mortise to the depth and width you want and then cut with a saw and chisel out the waste (mortise chisels work great for this). Clean up with the router.

Eric

[Richard Niemiec]

Cranked paring chisels are a great help here as well.