Dovetail plane

[Brian Holcombe]

I have a project coming up in which I would like to incorporate sliding dovetails. Previously I have always done these with a router bit, but it's rather difficult to do the ends of large boards with a router, so I would prefer to cut them by hand.

I saw Derek's post doing this (thanks derek, your website is an incredible resource!), but I was wondering if you guys had any preferred dovetail planes, japanese, american or otherwise. I can't seem to find much with exception to a few on ebay, i'm always a little concerned with regard to ebay and tools in areas i'm not completely familiar with.

Any help is appreciated as always (except 'google it' :P)

[Sam Stephens]

the ECE dovetail planes look very nice, but I have no experience w/ them. FWIW, I made a DT plane based on Derek's post using a skewed rabbet off of ebay ~$10. It was pretty easy to do. Like any plane, you just have to match the blade to the DT profile. Took a couple of tries, but not hard to get it right. I didn't bother w/ a depth stop or nicker.

[Anthony Moumar]

HNT Gordan sells side rebate planes with a dovetail fence. They're pretty expensive though. I haven't used them but own a few of his other planes and they're all awesome.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks gents.