Plough/Dado planes in plywood?

[Michael Campbell]

Does anyone use a plane to cut a dado, groove, rabbet, etc. in plywood, or is this a fools errand? I haven't tried it yet, but it seems to me that the grain-crossing laminations would be very difficult, stringy, and with bad results.

Then again, I'm not used to working on any "nice" plywood other than the run of the mill stuff at the bix boxes.

On a related vein, I picked up a #78 clone and a #50 recently (with all its cutters!). Do you hone/sharpen these blades as you would any bench plane, or are there different techniques? I'm speaking of the flat cutters here, not the beading cutters for the #50, naturally.

Thoughts welcome.

[Mark Singer]

Michael,
Same sharpening technique. Flaten the back and add a micro bevel if the hollow bevel is good. Not good in plywood! That is a job for a tablesaw or router. There will be a lot of tear out and a knife cut first helps....but its better done with power.

[Michael Campbell]

Thanks Mark, that was my suspicion.