Next Step - Raised Panel

[Richard Gillespie]

As described in several previous posts, I'm building a box for a Stanley 45 I was given as a gift. In the spirit of the moment I decided to do it with all hand tools. An after thought is that, maybe I was in the spirits at that moment.

Anyway, I decided that the lid should be a raised panel that slides in and out on 1/4" dado's. The two sides and one end have the dado's and the other side's height has been reduced to allow insertion of the top. This is the same style top on a hand built tool container I bought years ago at a yard sale.

I've cut the dado's and glued up the box. The next step is raising the panels on the top. Since I don't have a panel raising plane, cutting the end grain will be a challenge. This box is made with Ash and I have ripped and planed my stock down to 3/8". My first instinct is to use a LV LA Smoother or Jack and after marking the area of the transition, work from the middle of the top towards the end removing the 1/8" of material. Any comments or suggestions on how to do this would be appreciated.

I have available to me a number of planes, both BU and BD, shoulder planes and plow planes. I also have two woodies with skewed blades. Unfortunately, I have little experience with woodies and have yet to receive good results with them.

[Dave Anderson NH]

While there are many ways to skin this cat, I'm a firm believer in the KISS principle (Keep it simple stupid). Take your sized board and layout the raised area with a marking knife and a steel straightedge (deep cuts are fine). A simple saw cut kerf done with a backsaw to your desired depth on all 4 sides. Clamp on a wooden fence as a guide and plane away the excess with your choice of implement: rebate plane, carriagemakers rebate, Stanley or LN #140 block plane, any low angle block plane, etc, etc, etc. The final step is to clean up the vertical edges with a shoulder planeor anything else handy.

I've raised panels before with just a backsaw, a block plane, and a shoulder plane. Remember to plane the endgrain areas first.

[Richard Gillespie]

Okay, a follow-up to my earlier post. I went out to the shop and started playing with my LV LA Jack and it worked so well raising the panel I'm finished. There may well be an easier way but this worked with a plane I already have.

[Richard Gillespie]

Thanks for the reply Dave.