Customary Tool for Making Slots in Wood?

[Steve H Graham]

Let's say you want to put a 1/4" wide slot in a small piece of wood, parallel to the edge, 1/4" deep, starting about 1/4" from the edge. What's the best hand tool to use?

I guess you could call the cut a dado, but it's pretty narrow.

I can do this pretty easily with a router table or a table saw, although the table saw won't put a really flat bottom in the cut. I assume there has to be a good way to do it with hand tools, since people cut a lot of slots.

I thought about a router plane, but they don't appear to be made to work well near the edges of things. Most of one side of the plane would hang off the wood. I guess you could fix that by clamping another piece of wood down beside it.

[paul cottingham]

How long a slot?

[Jim Koepke]

Currently my favorite tool for making slots with the grain is a Stanley #50 plane.

It is smaller than a #45. Mine is kept set up for this operation.

As Paul asked, the length of the slot makes a difference. For less than 5 or 6" my choice might be a backsaw filed for a rip cut.

If the work is cross grain, then scoring the edges would be done first. If it is going cross grain, being so close to the edge you may find the wood between the slot and the edge breaks away fairly easy.

jtk

[Frederick Skelly]

I thought about a router plane, but they don't appear to be made to work well near the edges of things. Most of one side of the plane would hang off the wood. I guess you could fix that by clamping another piece of wood down beside it.

Hi Steve,
Lotta ways to do this. As you're hearing, answer depends on how long the groove (i.e., a with the grain slot) needs to be and how much money you're willing to spend for the tool.

Assuming you're talking about a groove that's less than a couple feet, your router plane idea and approach will work. Be a bit tedious, but it will. You can buy a brand new Small Router Plane for less than $75 or you can MAKE one for just a couple bucks. (See Derek Cohen's site "intheworkshop".)

Another option is to cut your slot on the tablesaw and then use the router plane to flatten the bottom. I do this whenever I cut grooves or dados on my tablesaw.

Yet another option is a 1/4" rabbet plane for grooves (make one or buy an old dado plane for $20 and just remove the nicker blade, if you can find one).

Finally, there are plow planes and old Stanley's like Jim mentioned. My Lee Valley small plow was about $250 IIRC but she cuts every groove I can dream up.

If you want to cut dados (slots across the grain), I use an old wooden dado plane. You can find them from $30 - $60 from antique dealers.

Anyway, sorry for the long winded answer. I've spent the last couple years learning and buying the tools to do all this, so it's fresh on my mind. I'm sure someone else will chime in if I've forgotten something or if they know a better way.

Edit: You can use chisels too.

Hope it's helpful.
Fred

[Jim Matthews]

Score two lines with a knife and use a sharp mortise chisel.

Make sure to clamp two pieces of straight grained material
on either side of the piece you'll keep, to avoid blow out.

The method I use is to cut the slot first, and then trim the piece to thickness
with a plane. Thin stock behaves pretty badly, when the sidewalls
are thinner than the amount of material excavated.

If you're making more than one of these,
a router plane, followed by a saw would be my suggested.

Plane the sawn faces to the precise thickness required.

[Steve H Graham]

I am increasing my wood vocabulary. Apparently what I want to cut are grooves, since they would be parallel to the grain, apart from the figuring.

I would really like to make a simple dovetailed box, just so I can say I've made one thing with hand tools. I am thinking of an extremely small project, about 5" by 3" by 1.5". I haven't even conquered cutting the wood yet. Anyway, I would need grooves at the top and bottom of the sides, to hold the bottom and the sliding top of the box.

I just read that one guy uses a chisel and crosscut saw. He scribes lines, opens them up with a chisel so a saw will slide in them, cuts them to the depth of the desired groove, and then follows with a router plane. So three tools for this small job! It makes me want to cheat and do it on the milling machine, but I suppose that would defeat the purpose.

I guess I could do it on the table saw and then clean up with a chisel.

[Steve Meliza]

As you can tell by the varieties of answers, there are many ways to accomplish the groove, but the purpose built tool for the job is the plow plane. You can get old wood ones (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Fellows-of-London-Sliding-Fence-Wooden-Plow-Plough-Plane-/351430858948?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51d2e958c4) (mine has a 5/16" wide iron), older metal bodied (http://www.ebay.com/itm/STANLEY-NO-45-COMBINED-PLOW-AND-BEADING-PLANE-INCLUDING-14-CUTTERS-/371353717515?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5676680b0b) plow planes such as Stanley, or new manufacture (http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=69788&cat=1,41182,48945&ap=1) from Lee Valley.

[Stew Denton]

Hi Steve,

I would probably use my Stanley 45, simply because that's the best choice I have. Especially for a small job, or if I just wanted to use strictly hand tools.

That said, the last set of grooves I cut were for some replacement sliding cabinet shelves for my wife, the existing ones were shot, and I used my table saw. I had to rip for two shelves and then cut grooves for both shelves, as well as cut 4 dados, etc. There was enough to do that the table saw made more sense to me. I had 12 feet of grooves, and also that amount of ripping, etc. Since I had the table saw out anyway, I used it to cut the grooves. I then smoothed up the bottoms with a chisel, if I recall. Same with the dados, cut them with the table saw and then pared the bottoms flat.

The Stanley 45 is a combination plane, as you know, and can be set up as a plow plane, which is the tool of choice, as Jim, Jim, Steve, and the others have suggested. I don't have a Stanley 50, but from what Jim mentioned above, and what I have seen of them, they are also a combination plane, but because of the size look handier than the 45 that I have. Like the others mentioned, there are lots of way to do this.

Stew

[Jim Koepke]

I am thinking of an extremely small project, about 5" by 3" by 1.5". I haven't even conquered cutting the wood yet.

The easy way to do this is to cut the grooves with a plow plane before cutting the pieces. That would be two grooves in a piece about 16" by 1.5".

You might want to cut the bottom groove, cut off one end piece and then create the top groove for the sliding lid.

Of course the length may be a touch longer to allow for dovetails or just cleaning up the ends on a shooting board.

jtk

[paul cottingham]

Plow plane, or saw and chisel. Use a batten to keep the saw where you want it when you start cutting.
someone posted a video in the past couple days on making a bench using this technique.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?232410-Shaker-Bench

[Kees Heiden]

A plow plane, a plow plane or a plow plane. :D

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CFsKUsVboCY/Urh_LbpQp_I/AAAAAAAABNI/ncmWDj33j2E/s1600/IMG_1086.JPG

Only in very specific circumstances I would choose something else. Like a very short groove, or a groove with stopped ends. The latter is being avoided as much as possible in hand tool work, because it is very cumbersome.

A router table can do a lot of things, you just need several different kinds of cutters. In the handtool world every job has it's own specific tool.

[Derek Cohen]

Five plough planes, Kees!!!

And I thought that you were a minimalist! :)

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Kees Heiden]

I quit collecting them. They take up too much space.:rolleyes: But I liked the idea to have an American Stanley, a British Record, a British wooden plow, A German example and a typical Dutch 18th century design (allthough made in the 19th). So I have most grounds covered. Only really missing a Japanese plow in the line up.

[Karl Andersson]

Steve,
Do a search in Sawmill Creek (and other places) for "drawer bottom plane"; if you're just making grooves for the top and bottom of a box that are the same distance from the edge, then you're essentially doing "drawer bottom grooves"; you're just doing them at the top and bottom. There are several internet articles on how to make one quickly, and I believe I saw some designs that allow you to just use your 1/4 in chisel as the blade. Number 336 in this old illustration is the cross section of a drawer bottom plane (basically just a fixed-distance plow plane):
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That will get you started quickly and inexpensively - plus you'll have accomplished two hand tool essentials: building a tool and making a groove. Once you've made a few grooves by hand, though, it will become addictive and you'll want to groove everything - then you can start shopping for a plow plane or combination plane.
Karl

[Brian Holcombe]

I quit collecting them. They take up too much space.:rolleyes: But I liked the idea to have an American Stanley, a British Record, a British wooden plow, A German example and a typical Dutch 18th century design (allthough made in the 19th). So I have most grounds covered. Only really missing a Japanese plow in the line up.

Japanese plows are more like a dado plane with a fence. They are sized like chisels rather than one plane with replaceable blades like a plow.
They are called;
kikai-shakuri kanna

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Since you mention a router plane, I assume you may have one (as opposed to a plow, which I agree is the best choice, but one you may not want to buy for this project). Personally, I would try the router plane above a chisel or saw. Rig up a fence out of some scrap wood to keep the blade at the distance from the edge you want, and I think you will get pretty decent results. As with a plow, it would probably help to start the groove "at the end" and work back towards you.

I have used my router plane with one side in the air, but I think your idea of clamping a board next to it is probably a good one.

[Zach Dillinger]

Lots of ways to do this (the plow being the most sensible), but the most important thing is to make sure you lay out the groove with a mortise gauge before cutting no matter what tool you use. Fences slip and you could end up with a ruined piece and not even realize it until its too late. Laying out the groove will help you see when (not if) your fence slips.

[Steve H Graham]

I'm starting to realize why people like power tools. I already knew they require less skill and do some things more quickly, but it looks like they're also cheaper. Every time I have a new task to do with a hand tool, I find out I need something that costs $250. My table router was something like $400 with the lift and enough gadgets to make it work, but it does a million things.

I thought I was splurging when I spent $850 on a huge band saw, but that's only three or four new hand planes. Old plow planes aren't cheap either! I guess I'll have to try to be shrewd about what I buy.

Right now I'm thinking I'll use the router or drill press for this, just so I won't be stuck. It turns out a 2-flute HSS end mill in the drill press works very well.

[Mike Henderson]

If you want to do a hybrid approach, cut the grooves on your table saw and then flatten the bottom with a hand plane, probably a router plane. I find that easier than cutting them with a powered router. The table saw cuts quickly and easily - and cleanly on the sides.

Mike

[Steve Meliza]

I'm starting to realize why people like power tools. I already knew they require less skill and do some things more quickly, but it looks like they're also cheaper. Every time I have a new task to do with a hand tool, I find out I need something that costs $250.

This is why I like Paul Sellers approach to teaching, he uses a minimum of tools and shows several ways to accomplish a given task depending on the tools that you have at hand. A plow plane is truly the best tool for the job, but if you don't have one he shows how to cut the sides of the groove with a hand saw then remove the waste in the middle with his "poor man's router". It is paid content, but if you sign up for the free month you can see him doing it in this video (https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com/2013/01/dovetail-boxes-episode-5/).

You can easily spend a king's ransom on hand tools, but you don't have to. My wooden plow plane cost me under $40, my #5 Stanley plane was $30 shipped, a 16" backsaw was $25 including re-teething and sharpening by Mike Wenzloff, but on the other hand I have splurged $125 on a Lie-Nielsen dovetail saw and $149 on a Veritas router plane. Paul Sellers shows how to make a router plane (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_2a_FwjAgk) and rebate plane (https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com/2014/09/making-rebate-plane/) out of a 2x4 and 1/2" chisel and I can already picture in my mind how your could easily make a plow plan from some scrap wood and 1/4" chisel using the same techniques as that "poor man's router plane" but with a fence fixed to your needed width.

[Zach Dillinger]

http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/31907/shop-made-grooving-planes

You can also do it this way.

[Steve H Graham]

I am thinking I might make a one-purpose tool just to do this job.

[Johan Gustavsson]

Take a look at this:


https://youtu.be/gxpR3ZWiYDE


https://youtu.be/pv2mazSwkhU

[Steve H Graham]

Right now I am busy fabricating a replacement for the disintegrating cheese/metal fence support on my Rikon planer/jointer, but once I get done with that, I might try to make a tool for grooves.

I cannot understand why Rikon uses pot metal. You can literally snap it between your fingers.

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