Rabbit PLane; LV Skew Rabbit vs. Bevel Up Jack Rabbit?

[Mike Allen1010]

I am looking to upgrade from my Stanley 78 rabbit plane and am considering the Lee Valley Skew rabbit as well as the Lee Valley bevel up Jack rabbit and would appreciate opinions and suggestions about what would make the most sense for me.

I like the Skew rabbit, but can't afford both the right-handed and left-handed version and was wondering how often I might encounter reversing grain that would be difficult planing with just one of these?

Alternatively, I like the Bevel up Jack rabbit because I could attach the fence to either side depending on grain direction and the greater mass would allow me to take nice thick shadings to speed up the process, however it is about $75 more expensive. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks, Mike

BTW, over the Thanksgiving holiday started a neander chest-on-chest build based on a piece in one of Glen Huey's books. On building it in cherry and it has been a lot of fun so far. I will post some pictures of the build process as I make more progress.

[David Weaver]

Either the LV skew rabbet or a good quality wooden moving fillister. It's not necessary to have rabbet planes that go both ways.

I have used my right hander skew rabbet (LV) a lot, but never used the left hand yet, and have a LN carriage rabbet plane and had to use that on a wide rebate only once to see why a lot of them don't get used much.

There have, of course, been times that I've gotten tearout in the rabbet because I've only used a rabbet plane that goes one direction, but rabbets usually aren't show surfaces, so you can just back off of the depth of cut a little bit and the surface will be fine for whatever its intended purpose is.

In terms of the carriage rabbet planes, I think people imagine them being useful when looking at them, but when you put them into practice, they just aren't very practical unless you're working a wide surface and taking a light cut, too.

[Jim Koepke]

In terms of the carriage rabbet planes, I think people imagine them being useful when looking at them, but when you put them into practice, they just aren't very practical unless you're working a wide surface and taking a light cut, too.

My #10-1/2 comes in useful when cleaning up lap cuts or a large tenon on 2X material.

jtk

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I really like having a nice wooden moving fillester plane now that I've got it tuned up quite well. ( I still think Zach Dillenger should write an article akin to his "care and feeding of a plough plane" article on these! ) I got the plane for under 30 bucks.

As Dave said, I rarely find the need for a plane that skews the other way, because my rabbets aren't show surfaces. If I'm getting bad tearout, I reduce the cut towards the end, and then come back for the final passes with a regular rabbet plane to smooth things out.

In the work I do, I don't really see the need for a larger jack-rabbet/carriage rabbet plane - and in fact, I can see it being quite unwieldily in most of the work that I do. I would make the decision on which to purchase based more on the scale of work that you do rather than the perceived benefit of being able to mount the fence on either side.

If you have a rabbet or shoulder plane, you can always come back if you're making a rabbet that shows, or if you have a plow with a reversible fence you can use that for show rabbets along the grain.

Where these planes really shine is working across the grain, and for that I'd rather have something with a skewed blade - the surface ends up being much nicer.

[Mike Allen1010]

Thanks guys – as usual really helpful feedback!

It's always helpful to me to hear from people who have hands-on experience with different handtools to get an accurate appreciation of what really works/is useful in practice - versus what always looks good to me in the catalogs.

Now I can write my Christmas wish list with confidence!

All the best,

Mike