Review: The Veritas Jack Rabbet Plane

[David Marcus Brown]

Derek,
When used on your shooting board, how did you like it? With your ramped shooting board, how hard was planing Jarrah end grain? Does it compare favorably with the Veritas shooting plane?

I own the Veritas shooting plane and like it, but I rarely use it. I'm considering selling it to purchase the Veritas jack rabbet. I'm currently building a large dining table and my wife would like another for our farm, so I see a lot of breadboard ends in my future. I've been using my Veritas skew rabbet plane and LN jack rabbet to cut breadboard tenons. I clamped a batten to the table to use as a fence and 90 degree reference. This worked well but I kept bashing my knuckles into the batten. My batten was thick (a 2x4) and neither the Veritas skew rabbet nor the LN jack rabbet have tilting totes.

[Jim Koepke]

I clamped a batten to the table to use as a fence and 90 degree reference. This worked well but I kept bashing my knuckles into the batten. My batten was thick (a 2x4) and neither the Veritas skew rabbet nor the LN jack rabbet have tilting totes.

This was a problem of mine with using a batten. My solution was to use a batten lower than knuckle level. The batten is only needed for the first few cuts. If all is going well, the rabbet will provide a batten as it progresses.

Do either of your rabbet planes accept a fence? this could be used against the end of the piece being worked or on a batten on the underside of the work.

jtk

[David Marcus Brown]

Thanks for your thoughts Jim. Yes, I’ll use a thinner batten next time—probably 3/4” oak. That will help save my knuckles. The Veritas skew rabbet has a fence but I wanted to try the batten since it would keep the plane aligned in the horizontal and vertical planes. The LN jack rabbet doesn’t have a fence.

[Derek Cohen]

David, I do not use the Jack Rabbet on the shooting board. I simply demonstrated that it could be done, and that it would work well ... should someone choose to do so. There are many tasks this plane can do very well, but I somehow doubt that this would be the reason to purchase one. The main reason is that it is a plane which can butt against a wall, and has the ability to move from a low- to a high cutting angle. Wide rebates and breadboard cheeks, raised panels, and flattening inside drawer cases are the three reasons I use one.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[David Marcus Brown]

David, I do not use the Jack Rabbet on the shooting board. I simply demonstrated that it could be done, and that it would work well ... should someone choose to do so. There are many tasks this plane can do very well, but I somehow doubt that this would be the reason to purchase one. The main reason is that it is a plane which can butt against a wall, and has the ability to move from a low- to a high cutting angle. Wide rebates and breadboard cheeks, raised panels, and flattening inside drawer cases are the three reasons I use one.

Understood. Thanks Derek.

[James Pallas]

Great plane. Agile enough to start rabbets in a gauge or knife line. Nice long toe helps. Cuts wide rabbets very well. Blades will different bevels to help with tear out on wide rabbets. Fence should you prefer that method. Good for big wide tenons, breadboards etc. Squaring edges if you use a straight iron method. As a jack if you wish too. You will need a cambered blade for this. I guess on a shooting board, too much fiddling involved for me. Big powerful plane that handles like a sports car. Even as a big smoother if again you want to grind a blade for it.