Dados By Hand

[Robert Engel]

I find they are really quite satisfying, and if you only have a few to do, don't take much more time than setting up a dado blade.

Plus, you get to use a router plane, which I happen to think is one of the coolest hand tools there is. :)

I encourage you to give them a try. (BTW, a big 2" chisel really speeds things up).

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[Phil Mueller]

Agree on both points. Love the router plane. Frankly just read the pointed blade is best for cross grain and straight edge blades for with the grain. Will give this a try on the next dado.

[Normand Leblanc]

IMO cutting dados across the grain with a chisel and router plane is easier than with the grain. The problem I get when it's with the grain is to get nice straight wall. If I'm not careful, the wall can easily be tear out.

In any cases, you're getting very nice results. I'm going to have to find a very large chisel...now I have an excuse for buying one.

Have a good day,
Normand

[Allen Hunt]

Really beautiful dados.

Allen

[Andrew Hughes]

Well I be darn I have one of those Router planes didn't know they were capable of such fine work!

[Steve Beadle]

I have a shop-made "Old Woman's Tooth" router plane for which I have made a straight blade only. Phil's comment about the superiority of a pointed blade for cross-grain work with a router plane has now inspired me to make one for my tool. Good idea! BTW, Robert, those are really nice looking dadoes!

[Patrick Chase]

In any cases, you're getting very nice results. I'm going to have to find a very large chisel...now I have an excuse for buying one.

Might I suggest a nice, inexpensive (or not) 2" PM-V11 butt chisel (http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/page.aspx?p=70931&cat=1,41504)?

I started out using the 2" Narex bench chisel for this sort of thing, but it's a handful and the extra length doesn't buy you anything for this sort of work. The butt chisels are a lot easier to handle.

[Patrick Chase]

Agree on both points. Love the router plane. Frankly just read the pointed blade is best for cross grain and straight edge blades for with the grain. Will give this a try on the next dado.

I don't find pointed blades to be all that much better for cross-grain work, though I suspect that there will be a very wide range of opinion on that point. The pointed blade does force you to make a tradeoff between clearance and bottom flatness. If you hone a V-blade with a normal amount of relief for a router plane then it will cut a slight V-bottom. Of course you can fix that by grinding the triangular portion of the blade back parallel to the plane sole, but then you'll have zero clearance.

[Normand Leblanc]

Might I suggest a nice, inexpensive (or not) 2" PM-V11 butt chisel (http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/page.aspx?p=70931&cat=1,41504)?

I started out using the 2" Narex bench chisel for this sort of thing, but it's a handful and the extra length doesn't buy you anything for this sort of work. The butt chisels are a lot easier to handle.

I wasn't even aware that LV had 2" PM chisels. Thanks for pointing to that.

Normand

[Phil Mueller]

Some say dados are best done with saw and chisel, using a router plane only to flatten the bottom to final depth. To your point, Patrick, I guess that would negate this approach with a pointed blade.

[lowell holmes]

I wasn't even aware that LV had 2" PM chisels. Thanks for pointing to that.

Normand

They sure are proud of them.:)

[steven c newman]

Used a saw, a 1" wide chisel, and a very narrow chisel for this two
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both are 1/4" wide. I use the same set of tools for stopped dados
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Mainly just a chop down to cut the walls, and then pare out the waste. For dados 3/8" wide that aren't stopped..
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All I need is to clamp a guide batten, the #39 does the rest. Wide dados?
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Drop both spurs down, set the fence to how far in from the edge, and cut the dados. One of the 7 jobs this Stanley 45 was designed to do..

[Adam Stevens2]

I just made six stopped dados in the last few days. I find that using a chisel to define the walls has worked pretty well, and my router plane does the rest (once a chunk of the waste has been popped out).

[steven c newman]

Tried the 45 out to make a dado, just some scrap pine for now..
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One of the "Seven" jobs this plane was designed to do. As long as the spurs/nickers are sharp, and the first three trips across a board are made pulling the plane back towards you ( to give the spurs a cut) Dados do not take all that long to do
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The board is to stand in for a drawer's side. The #45 had already made that groove. I normally clip the back corners on drawers I make. I was a bit too close to the edge with the set up.

One can also add a strip of wood at the far end of the dado's cut, to prevent the edge from splintering out.
The #45 will not do stopped dados, though.

[Allen Jordan]

How are you getting such clean sidewalls on your hand cut dados? Lots of careful chiseling between passes?

[steven c newman]

The Stanley 45 has it's own "chisels"
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aka Spurs or Nickers. They cut ahead of the main cutter. One on each side. When going with the grain, I rotate them up out of the cut. little candle wax rubbed on all the parts.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

How are you getting such clean sidewalls on your hand cut dados? Lots of careful chiseling between passes?

I don't know for sure how Robert does it, but here is what works for me:

1. Mark the wall with a sharp marking knife.

2. Use a chisel to create a shoulder for the saw to ride in. Here is an article that describes how to do it.

http://www.leevalley.com/newsletters/Woodworking/1/5/article1-3.htm

3. Saw the sides.

4. Clear the waste (I use a router plane because it gives me accurate depth control).

[lowell holmes]

That is the exact technique Paul Sellers taught 20 years ago at Homestead Heritage in Elm Mott, Texas (near Waco). He cleared the waste with a bench chisel.

[Robert Engel]

How are you getting such clean sidewalls on your hand cut dados? Lots of careful chiseling between passes?
The techinque is just as Nicholas described.

I use a crosscut carcase saw (LV model) and keep the saw at 90 degrees by hooking the index finger of my other hand over the saw back while sawing.
Or you can use a guide block.

[Derek Cohen]

Another alternative is a dado plane. This one is by HNT Gordon ...

Review: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/HNTGordonDadoPlane.html

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/HNTGordonDadoPlane_html_m7467b084.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Robert Engel]

Another alternative is a dado plane. This one is by HNT Gordon ...

Review: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/HNTGordonDadoPlane.html

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/HNTGordonDadoPlane_html_m7467b084.jpg

Regards from Perth

DerekLove those tools. [wiping drool from mouth]. :D