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Thread: Dado Plane

  1. #1
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    Dado Plane

    I got the Veritas small plough (plow?) plane for Xmas. Though I haven't yet used it for a real project I have set it up, made a fence, sharpened the blades, and played with it to make grooves in a variety of woods. I love it. Now (since I am already way, way, way down the slippery slope) I am thinking dado plane. The only ones I know about are the Stanley 39s, HNT Gordon dado planes (wood), and the Brass City HP 6V2 (22nd century design and very complex). The latter two, HNT Gordon and Brass City, are very expensive; and I am not sure of the utility of the Stanley 39s. Patrick Heath's website does not speak well of the Stanley 39s. He states that they are difficult/painfull to use on hardwoods.
    Does anyone know of other sources for dado planes?

  2. #2
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    Sargent made dado planes that have a little finger grip at the front. They're not as common as the Stanleys, but Sargent doesn't carry the collector magic of Stanleys, either.

    I mention this only because I'm not presently trolling eBay for dado planes...if I were, I'd have kept my mouth shut...

  3. #3
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    The Veritas Small Plow Plane is very versatile, but not intended as a dado plane. It lacks nickers to plough across the grain without tearout. This can be overcome by first knifing the outer lines of the dado.





    There is information in the review I wrote. Still, I would not recommend the small plow for this task (I was just exploring the possibilities at the time).


    LINK: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolRev...w%20Plane.html


    The HNT Gordon Dado Plane is superb and does everything one could wish for in such a plane. There is a review here:

    http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolRev...DadoPlane.html





    Regards from Ottawa


    Derek

  4. #4
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    Patrick Leach knows his stuff. I prefer to saw my dadoes using a clamped down board as a fence, then zip out the waste with a chisel. If necessary, I'll clean the bottom with a hags tooth router, but I can usually get it close enough with a long paring chisel. After all, its just the bottom of an unseen groove.

    This is mostly due to my almost total aversion to new tools, and the scarcity of good, useable dado planes in the wild. Every one I find is warped., so I just learned to do without.
    Your endgrain is like your bellybutton. Yes, I know you have it. No, I don't want to see it.

  5. Quote Originally Posted by David Dalzell View Post
    I got the Veritas small plough (plow?) plane for Xmas. Though I haven't yet used it for a real project I have set it up, made a fence, sharpened the blades, and played with it to make grooves in a variety of woods. I love it. Now (since I am already way, way, way down the slippery slope) I am thinking dado plane. The only ones I know about are the Stanley 39s, HNT Gordon dado planes (wood), and the Brass City HP 6V2 (22nd century design and very complex). The latter two, HNT Gordon and Brass City, are very expensive; and I am not sure of the utility of the Stanley 39s. Patrick Heath's website does not speak well of the Stanley 39s. He states that they are difficult/painfull to use on hardwoods.
    Does anyone know of other sources for dado planes?
    Record 050Cs have the best nickers in the business (little knives that take a pretty nice edge) and can be used as a dado plane but not quite as elegantly as a purpose-made one.

    As Zach points out, the most important part of the dado is the wall - it needs to be vertical and it needs to be snug. The bottom doesn't matter a whole lot since you can't glue endgrain and of course the shelf end is, you guessed it, all endgrain.
    Last edited by Charlie Stanford; 01-08-2013 at 8:34 AM.

  6. #6
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    I do it pretty similarly to Zach (except for the new tools thing, I LOVE new tools). I also typically cut a trench at my knife line with a chisel instead of using a fence (though I'd probably do well to use a fence like Zach does). Sometimes with shallower dados, I'll actually skip the chisel and just hog out all the waste with the router plane. This isn't how its typically recommended to do it, but I find I can take a pretty big bite going crossing with my router plane and if the plane is out and setup its sometime just quicker and easier for me to do it that way. For me i just depends what's that most convenient at the time and the size/depth of the particular dado. Zach's right though, the bottom of the dado doesn't really matter so as long as you can pare to you marks reasonably accuratly there is no requirement for hags tooth/router plane.

    One thing I do wish I had for this is one of those double bladed Japanese inlay knives. It would make the layout twice as fast, and more accurate - though being the cheapskate that I am I haven't wanted it enough to spend $70 on it. Maybe I'll see if I can make my own.
    Woodworking is terrific for keeping in shape, but it's also a deadly serious killing system...

  7. #7
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    What about starting the dado with knife lines and chisel until one has a shallow dado, but enough to register for the plow plane. Then hog out all the remaining wood with the plow plane? This seems that you can get nice clean walls fairly fast with the plow plane plus clean edges by starting with knife and chisel.

  8. #8
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    That would theoretically work, but I think you'll find chiseling the waste to be much easier. You would be asking the plow to do something it isn't designed to do and you would already be doing the hardest part with a chisel (i.e. starting the edges of the dado on your line and square). Chiseling to depth is simple.
    Your endgrain is like your bellybutton. Yes, I know you have it. No, I don't want to see it.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by David Dalzell View Post
    What about starting the dado with knife lines and chisel until one has a shallow dado, but enough to register for the plow plane. Then hog out all the remaining wood with the plow plane? This seems that you can get nice clean walls fairly fast with the plow plane plus clean edges by starting with knife and chisel.
    It seems like an invitation for blowing out the back side of the mortise. You'd want to saw cut the last bit of the back side of the mortise if you did that. I agree with zach - chisel.

  10. #10
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    Most of my dados for shelves and such are stopped.

    The dados are laid out with a knife. A quick cut with a single bevel knife with the bevel down notches out the edges of the dado. Then a sharp chisel slightly smaller than the size of the dado is used to "plow" out the waste. Repeat until the desired depth is obtained.

    Chisel Cutting a Dado.jpg

    The chisel is used bevel down in this image.

    If one's chisel skills are not as good as desired, this is good practice. Otherwise, if one wants the bottom of the dado to look great, this can be achieved with a router plane.

    It actually goes fairly quickly.

    jtk
    Last edited by Jim Koepke; 01-08-2013 at 5:36 PM. Reason: add image and comment
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  11. #11
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    Derek,

    Just curious, have to relocated to Ottawa?

    Lowell

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by David Dalzell View Post
    Does anyone know of other sources for dado planes?
    Some other options:

    I've found some old but good wooden dado planes at local tool swaps for as low as $30-$35. Just make sure to bring a straight edge to test the body/sole for warp, and make sure all parts are present (including wedge, iron, knicker and stop). When in good shape they can be pressed into service quite well, even if they are not nearly as pretty as the HNT Gordon.

    I also have a Stanley 13-050 combination plane that includes dual-knickers for dado work, as well as blades up to 7/8" if I remember correctly. It is a bit of a contraption, and has a brown plastic handle, but does good work when its told. I got mine for $60, but it looks like the big auction site has them sold for around $100 lately.

    Stanley 13-050 Manual

    Finally, I have one of those Bishop Patent saws with the adjustable fence. I've tried it a few times, but mine is a bit hard to adjust. I will have to give it a good once-over quite soon to make the adjustment smooth, but it should be useful for sawing the walls of a dado to a fixed depth.

    -Scott
    Last edited by Scott Vanzo; 01-08-2013 at 8:09 PM.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scott Vanzo View Post
    , and has a brown plastic handle, but does good work when its told. I got mine for $60, but it looks like the big auction site has them sold for around $100 lately.

    Stanley 13-050 Manual

    Finally, I have one of those Bishop Patent saws with the adjustable fence. I've tried it a few times, but mine is a bit hard to adjust. I will have to give it a good once-over quite soon to make the adjustment smooth, but it should be useful for sawing the walls of a dado to a fixed depth.

    -Scott
    Scott, thanks for the link to the instruction manual. My #50 is a bit older, but the same general idea.

    The Bishop saw, if it is a #10 with three sets of teeth, has teeth at the end of the fence to hold it in place. It is easiest to take the hole thing apart to set the depth and then reassemble the works. It also helps if the little pin behind the lock lever is there to keep the blade from moving around in use.

    Bishop Saw.jpg

    Is this the beast of which you speak?

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  14. #14
    Stanley 46! Rabbets, dadoes, and matching plane, multiple widths, all in one!

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by lowell holmes View Post
    Derek,

    Just curious, have to relocated to Ottawa?

    Lowell
    Just on holiday with friends.

    Re topic: For a comparison of dado methods, please go to the link on the HNT Gordon review above.

    One quick comment about dados. My preference has long been a saw and chisel. What the HNT Gordon plane demonstrated was a more efficient method. Further, while the relative smoothness of the floor of the dado is unimportant for fitting, the smoothness of the planed floors just reflects the ease with which they were made.


    Regards from Mont Tremblant

    Derek

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