veritas skew rabbet plane

[Ian Coop]

Hello, I'm new to this forum but have enjoyed researching various threads so I thought I would post some pictures and note a quick impression of the rabbet plane.

I received the plane as a very thoughtful birthday gift from my family. It was the right handed model as I can't as yet justify the left handed version as well. The iron was flattened (came pretty much perfectly flat anyway) and honed using the MKII guide and skew angle guide by veritas.

I have never attempted raised panels before simply because I don't own a specific raised panel bit for the router and lately much prefer the use of hand tools. Anyway I was building a cabinet for my sons room and figured I'd try the new plane on the door panels.

Because I'd be planing against the grain half the time and the walnut at hand was not the best in terms of grain direction and small knots, I chose to remove the majority of the waste using a shoulder plane. This worked well and saved a considerable amount of muscle and time.

I attached a 10 degree fence to the skewed rabbet plane and adjusted the iron to take a very fine shaving. Again, in preparation for planing against the grain. In practice, everything went reasonably well for my first attempt. I did not get much in the way of tearout. I found that planing across the grain strangely was the easiest and left a wonderfully smooth surface. Taking a very light cut allowed me to plane against the grain on the panel sides with little trouble, although I definately see why the two handled versions of this plane exist (perhaps one day I will get the left handed model as well).

Most of the door components were made using primarily hand tools and the rabbet plane made it easy to rabbet the backs of the panels and drawer bottoms for a nice fit into the door rails and stiles. I was very happy with the experience and pleased with the results.

Again, the only negative issue I encountered was the sloppiness experience when trying to adjust the iron due to the sloppy fit of the independent traveller. It seemed to me to be much too small and lacked sufficient height. It kept coming out of the slot milled into the iron. Once properly adjusted and tightened though the iron and plane worked beautifully.

Thanks Rob Lee, a great easy to use plane even for a rookie like myself. Thank you for looking and any suggestions are welcome.

Ian

[Randy Klein]

Nice job. I was wondering how they would work as panel raisers.

[Brent Smith]

Hi Ian,

Welcome to the Creek!! Thanks for your review on the Rabbet plane. I found much the same problem with blade adjustment at first, but after a few uses it became more intuitive. Be sure to show us some pics of the cabinet once it's finished.

[Ian Coop]

Thank you Brent. The piece was moved into my son's bedroom this morning. So it is actually finished. Appreciate the comments.

Ian

[Brent Smith]

Nice piece Ian! How did you go about making the pulls and knobs?

[jamie shard]

Ian, Great looking work, thanks for posting!

I was very curious about using the tool this way. One question: given the length of the rods, how wide of a wooden guide can you make and still make a full blade width cut?

Thanks!

[Ken Slemmer]

Ian,
Well done and welcome to the Creek.

Having used the right hand model on raised panels, would you consider purchasing the left hand as well…?

The LV Rabbet Plane is on my list.

Cheers,
Ken

[Ian Coop]

Thank you for the kind comments.

Brent the pulls had to match the ones I made on the drawers beneath my sons captains bed - I made that a couple of years ago. I started with a length of figured walnut 14 inches or so long. Basically a combination of roughing out the profile using a couple of router bits. Drilling the inside radius using a forstner bit to match the curve that runs parallel to the long axis of the pulls. The beads and curves were then cleaned up with a Stanley 66 beading tool. Only then are the individual handles cut from the long piece using a saw and a guide to establish an angle of approximately 15 degrees. I would have liked to purchase hardware to save time, however, my wife suggested it would look better if the piece more closely matched the drawers under the bed.

Jamie, I jsut went out and measured the fence, rods and their relationship to the blade. The blade will cut a rabbet up to 1 1/2" wide. At the furtherst distance the rods allow one to move the fence away from the blade, I measured only about 1/4" thick for a sub-fence. The problem is then compounded by the fact you have to attach the sub-fence by some means. The fence does have holes for screws but I think you would have to try double-sided carpet tape as the sub-fence would not be thick enough to use screws. All in all I think you would have a hard time making a raised panel with 1 1/2 bevelled border surrounding the field. I think up to perhaps 1" to 1 1/8 wide bevel you could manage. The rods screw into the plane body so you cannot simply buy longer metal stock unless you are a machinist and can thread the rod. Perhaps down the road, Lee Valley will make longer rods available as an option. The rods would only have to be another 1 " longer and you would have no problem making a robust bevelled sub-fence and still allow access to the full width of the blade.

Ken, I myself will hold off on the left handled model. The walnut I used did not have straight grain and I had few problems with tearout by using a very sharp blade set to take very light cuts. Bear in mind that I hogged out a substantial amount of the waste using the LV large shoulder plane set to take a medium cut. Once I started on the panel with the skew rabbet there was no stopping to rehone the blade. I was concerned that I would not be able to match the blade depth, angle and relationship to the nicker properly if I stopped to rehone half way through. I think it might be fussy to set two planes to cut exactly the same bevel angle, width etc., but I could be wrong. For someone using less behaved wood than walnut and making more than a few panels I think it would justify the cost of a second plane.

Beside no money will be spent on tools until after November 24th, if you know what I mean.

Ian

[Ian Coop]

Sorry few more pics explain.

[jamie shard]

The blade will cut a rabbet up to 1 1/2" wide. At the furtherst distance the rods allow one to move the fence away from the blade, I measured only about 1/4" thick for a sub-fence. The problem is then compounded by the fact you have to attach the sub-fence by some means. The fence does have holes for screws but I think you would have to try double-sided carpet tape as the sub-fence would not be thick enough to use screws.

Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks.

-j

[Rob Lee]

Hi Ian -

Can you shoot me your address/shipping details??? I've got something I'd like to send you...

rlee@leevalley.com

Cheers -

Rob

[Todd Hyman]

Hi Ian -

Can you shoot me your address/shipping details??? I've got something I'd like to send you...

rlee@leevalley.com

Cheers -

Rob

:eek::eek::eek:

[Tony Zaffuto]

I'm glad I specified to SWMBO that I also want the LV RH skew plane for Christmas. I also received a LV box from the delivery many yesterday and I didn't order anything!

T.Z.

[Johnny Kleso]

Looks like you did a great job,
Thanks for Sharing..

[Chuck Tringo]

Hi Ian -

Can you shoot me your address/shipping details??? I've got something I'd like to send you...

rlee@leevalley.com

Cheers -

Rob

That's the type of service I like to see from a company. I'm very anxious to play with my LA Smoother when it arrives (crossing his fingers 'tomorrow pleeeaaaassssee :D) If it is half as good as everybody says LV Planes are, I'm sure it will be only the first of a large collection that I will acquire from our neighbors to the north, espescially with service like that.

[Ian Coop]

Sorry all, busy at work and the kids don't let me have much time on the computer at home. So, I missed an email from Rob Lee!

Actually Rob did in fact go through the trouble of contacting me through my email address.

For any of you reading this thread you will no doubt have guessed what Mr. Lee and his staff have been up to. I will post more pics when I receive a very pleasant surprise in the mail. This will allow me to use the rabbet plane to full advantage on my next set of raised panels i.e., the full width of the 1 1/2 inch wide blade can now be utilized when I bevel the panels!

I am incredulous and don't know how to express how impressed I am by Rob's thoughtfulness. This is not just customer service, it goes far beyond that. I am a relative novice in woodworking, nobody particularly talented. It is incredible that an individual who must certainly have a million other things on his plate, takes the time to read these posts, much less turn a suggestion into reality and then send off the results to a stranger who bought some of his tools.

I will post again soon. Going early, travelling far to pick up a couple hundred bf of walnut. Thanks.

Ian