Making grooves, no grooving plane in the shop

[steven c newman]

Have a slight problem. Seems to make a frame and panel chest the Neanderthal way, one needs a T&G, or a plow plane. I do not have anything even close. Some of the grooves to house the raised panels will be over 24" long. Very hard to hand saw that much, and keep things straight.

No money in the budget to go out and buy a plane of this sort. Currently using a NOISEY CORDED ROUTER to cut the grooves. Already have snapped one bit of, too.

Have a couple "beater" 1/4" chisels. Maybe a way to make a jig of some sort. Grooves are 1/4" by 1/4". Just enough to house a raised panel.

[Sean Hughto]

Well for the price of new router bit, you could probably find a user quality 48, 49, or Record 043. And you'd use it for the rest of your life.

If you must use, your router, use one of these (slot cutter as opposed to straight bits, and you should have no issues with snapping:
http://www.rockler.com/3-wing-slotting-cutters-router-bits-1-4-shank

[David Weaver]

Heavy marking lines and a sash mortise chisel. Pain to do that, but it'll work.

[steven c newman]

Tried a backsaw and a 1/4" chisel, just to clean out the mess from the broken bit......Whew! Went back and looked through the box of bits. Found a round nosed 1/4" bit with a 1/4" shank, and the 1/4" collet. Tried it again. Still LOUD, and I even dropped the speed down a bit.281553Used two pieces to steady things up. Not the prettiest things, but might work for now. Yard Sale Season starts in about three months, so I will be on the prowl for a match, or a plow plane....

Unless, I could get a second iron for a #78? and re-grind it into a groover? Have a Wards #78 (Stanley)281554 Used it to rebate the backs of those P. Sellers style raised panels.

[Warren Mickley]

Steven, you would laugh to see the Roubo Bouvet I made 40 years ago. I made my plough from part of a bed rail and part of an old knife for a cutter, no cash. I did not know what to expect so I was shocked to see what clean and crisp grooves it made. This type of plough makes finer grooves than a universal plough because the mouth is the full width of the cutter (minus a little clearance on each side). The plough has an open mortise so it is easy to make. In the illustration Figure 2 has a dotted line to show the depth of the mortise; the stock is one solid piece.
281556

[David Turner]

Make a side escapement plane and use one of the 1/4" beater chisels as the blade. I made one for drawer bottom grooves and it is 1/4" wide x 1/4" deep. Attach a wooden guide on one side of the plane to locate the groove in the center of your work piece. The plane can be made out of any hardwood (maple is good) and requires a piece of wood about 3/4" thick x 3 1/2" high x 10 1/2" long. If necessary, I can take a picture of mine but not sure how to get on the site.

David Turner
Plymouth, MI.

[Jack Curtis]

Why not try a good cutting gauge with an appropriately sized chisel? That way you can easily control marking in two dimensions and chisel out any leftovers.

[Brian Thornock]

Since these are for housing raised panels, you could do a paul seller's style poor mans router, but cut a groove in the base that just fits the thickness of the frame piece that you are grooving. So it's a poor mans router with a dado in the base and the chisel protrudes such that the groove in the frame piece is located correctly. Could do that in all of 15 minutes, I would think.

[Eric Brown]

A lot of times when I'm cutting grooves, square or sliding dovetail, I use a board with the angle I want as a guide for a backsaw. I hold the saw against the guide and start cutting. I then check my progress with a scraper blade that has blue tape on it as a depth guide. Once proper depth is reached I clean out the waste with either chisels or hand router. Check my recent post on repairing a guitar for pictures. The guitar neck had a stopped groove. I first chopped out the stopped end and then sawed up to it. Good luck. Eric

[Pat Barry]

Steven, use your noisy router. Take multiple passes and don't cut too deeply. I am assuming you are using a guide so that you get a nice, straight groove. Cut about 1/8 inch deep per pass. You will be done in no time.

[Max Withers]

I'm no expert, but I did not find it very hard to cut several 36" stopped grooves with a backsaw and a router plane and a chisel on my last project -- admittedly in poplar.

If you don't have a router plane and don't feel up to making one, google "Paul Sellers poor man's router".