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View Full Version : Skew Blade Rabbet Block Planes: Gotta Love 'Em



Jonathan McCullough
10-19-2010, 12:15 PM
I wondered how to get a nice flat surface on this saw handle as I sanded it for a new finish. Most of the handles on the saws I'm fixing up are beaters, and this one was so beat up, one previous owner put his initials on the stump where the horn had broken off.

http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/DSC02959.jpg

Obviously you need a clean surface area to glue new horn material on to, and this was an old break, worn and dirty, quite unsuitable for repair. What I needed was a smooth, clean surface plane to graft a new horn, but the peculiarities of where the break was made a lot of the possible solutions tricky or unworkable.

If I used a chisel, there really wasn't enough registration to ensure a truly flat plane.

http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/DSC02960.jpg

If I used a block plane, I wouldn't be able to get into this little corner here.

http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/DSC02961.jpg

Well I got a Veritas rabbet block plane some while back and use it occasionally here and there.

http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/DSC02962.jpg

These are really handy because not only can you get right into those corners, but the skewed blade made cutting cross-grain a cinch, and I was able to prepare the surface with the minimum amount of material loss.

http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/DSC02963.jpghttp://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/DSC02964.jpg

The LN or vintage equivalent would also be quite suitable for this work (my dad had a Stanley 140 when I was a kid) but the Veritas really is a tooling marvel; really well thought out. I've also been using it to make rabbets to fit drawer sides together when marking out dovetails, and you could use it like a #78 on small boxes and stuff--it comes with a fence--or you could clean up a rough rabbet left by a #78 or suchlike. It's not really long enough to act as a shoulder plane, but I'll bet you could use it in a pinch.

I'm thinking that with this, a router plane, and a bench plane of some sort, you could probably do 95 percent of joinery operations.

Now if apple wood for repairing horns grew on trees, I'd be set.

Kirk Poore
10-19-2010, 12:30 PM
I've got a Millers Falls 07 that I like a lot. The only problem is that I'm left handed, and I have to be sure I'm holding it straight. If I cock it to the right a little like I do with my regular planes, it's cutting almost straight on and the skew has no benefit.

Kirk

Richard Kee
10-19-2010, 4:38 PM
Now if apple wood for repairing horns grew on trees, I'd be set.

Jonathan,

Send your address by PM and I'll send some pieces of old saw handles that I picked up from garage sales.

Richard

David Weaver
10-19-2010, 4:53 PM
As usual, Richard, you're a quality guy!