if I already have Veritas skew rabbet block planes...

[Zach England]

...Is there any advantage to getting the skew rabbet filister plane?

I am kind of getting the new toy itch.

[Matt Radtke]

It really depends. The biggest advantage of fillester planes is the depth stop. If you need to churn out a few matched rabbets, the stop can be huge.

[Rob Lee]

...Is there any advantage to getting the skew rabbet filister plane?

I am kind of getting the new toy itch.

Hi Zach -

Grip (one hand, vs two hands), toe registration length, and fence length/location are the biggest differences... they'll do much the same function. (depth stop too!)

I'd say it has more to do with your scale of work than anything else.

If you decide to go for the larger plane - I'd recommend just one - as having the rabbet blocks means you can handle grain reversals if you encounter them....

Cheers -

Rob

[Zach England]

Thanks, Rob. That is about what I figured. I hadn't planned on buying the pair.

So are you encouraging me to buy FEWER of your tools?

[Jon Toebbe]

So are you encouraging me to buy FEWER of your tools?
Reverse psychology at work, my friend. Be wary... he's a tricksy one. :-) Another thing you can do with a skew rabbet plane (with long rods), is screw on an angled auxiliary fence to raise panels. Easy, fast, and consistent bevels.

[Rob Lee]

(snip)
So are you encouraging me to buy FEWER of your tools?

Zach -

Hopefully, neither of us is going anywhere for awhile... so I suspect we'll have another shot at you later....

'Sides... I've learned that most of us can talk ourselves into buying what we want, whether it makes sense or not....:D

Cheers -

Rob

[David Weaver]

Zach -

'Sides... I've learned that most of us can talk ourselves into buying what we want, whether it makes sense or not....:D



Only you can see the order history, but I'd suspect that a lot of people you advise to get one of something get both, anyway.

"but there's two, and they're less each if I get the pair!" :)

[Tony Shea]

Not to hijack this thread, which plane would you reccomend someone to get first? The Skew block plane or the Skew Rabbet plane? I have been really wanting a plane to make some small rabbets with, all the more reason to use the table saw less. I really need the rabbet plane to make a small registration ledge for transferring my dovetails to the pin board. It really is difficult to hold the board in position without the shallow rabbet. I also would use it for many other operations. Where the block plane doesn't have a depth stop I'm concerned that I would be able to get consistant depth rabbets. What are your reccomendations?

[David Weaver]

Not to hijack this thread, which plane would you reccomend someone to get first? The Skew block plane or the Skew Rabbet plane? I have been really wanting a plane to make some small rabbets with, all the more reason to use the table saw less. I really need the rabbet plane to make a small registration ledge for transferring my dovetails to the pin board. It really is difficult to hold the board in position without the shallow rabbet. I also would use it for many other operations. Where the block plane doesn't have a depth stop I'm concerned that I would be able to get consistant depth rabbets. What are your reccomendations?

I can only give you a piker's recommendation.

If you are only making a very small rabbet once or twice, it doesn't matter. You can manage without the depth stop if you mark your rabbet and cut to your marks.

If you decide all of the sudden that you want to start cutting long rabbets, and they're deeper, the bigger planes miles (light years?) ahead. They are taller and easier to use by feel for long cuts, have much longer registration surfaces, and you can lean into them much much better. They are not so handy for trimming jobs on things like tenons, though.